Devils and Ducs move on to final

Les Ducs bounce back

Angers, meanwhile, had to show great character to recover from that Friday night loss. A 2-0 win over Zemgale Jelgava on Saturday set up a winner-takes-all battle with Jesenice for second place in the standings and for a berth in next year’s final. The Slovenes, who qualified for this stage as a ‘lucky loser’ after Saryarka Karaganda withdrew, surprised Zemgale in the opening game and had hopes of becoming their country’s first ever finalist in this tournament.

However, the decider was settled early on. Angers outshot Jesenice 22-2 in a one-sided first period, opening a 2-0 lead on goals from Brendan Harms and Tommy Giroux. It could have been more, with Nicolas Ritz hitting the bar as the Ducs dominated.

Early in the second, Phillippe Halley extended the lead before Patrik Rasjar got the Slovenes on the scoreboard. At 3-1, Jesenice kept looking for a way back. If Eric Pance’s shot off the post had found the net midway through the third we might have had a grandstand finish to match his overtime winner against Zemgale. Instead, though, an empty net goal from Cedric di Dio Balsamo sent the French team through to the final four.

For head coach Mario Richer, progress was reward for the character that his team showed in bouncing back from the opening night loss to Cardiff. Looking ahead, he is hoping that the Continental Cup can be part of Angers’ upswing since opening a new rink in the Loire Valley city last season.

“With the new rink, we can get more fans to the games,” he said. “That means more money and better players, so Angers can try to go to the same level as Rouen and Grenoble, who are the best teams in France over the last 10 years.

“Now Angers wants to play at that level, to compete against them and the bigger teams. That’s why this Continental Cup is very important for us as an organization.”

The venue for January’s final has yet to be decided, but Richer has no doubt that Angers would make a great host.

“It means a lot to us,” he added. “You could see the fans who followed us here and if we host the final we could have a sell-out at every game. We might have close to 4,000 people, maybe 5,000 if we can let people in to stand. That would be very good for us, and for the Ligue Magnus to show that we have a good league over there and the competition is very good.”

Jesenice’s defeat meant Slovenia’s representative finished third in Group E. For captain Gasper Galvic, that’s an encouraging sign…