Liege Bulldogs celebrate memorable triumphs in Round 1 of the 2024 IIHF Continental Cup. Belgium´s reigning champions Liege Bulldogs silenced the home crowd in Jaca, Spain to finish top of Group A. The team sealed historical progress in the competition and can now look ahead to Round 2 of IIHF Continental Cup staged between 13-15 October 2023.
Liege Bulldogs unstoppable in Jaca
Trailing by a goal against the Spanish hosts, Liege Bulldogs bit back scoring half a dozen unanswered goals in a memorable 6-1 win against HC Jaca in Round 1 of the Continental Cup Group A
Liege’s success earns the team a place Round 2 of the Continental Cup where it will compete in Group C. The Belgians travel to Latvia, where they will face hosts Zemgale Jelgava, Slovenia´s HK Celje and CSM Corona Brasov from Romania in a round-robin contest played from 13 to 15 October 2023.
The reigning Belgian champions will be heading there on merit. In the decider for top-spot in Group A, Jaca´s Alfred Encinar got the home crowd inside Jaca´s Pabellon De Hielo on their feet when booming home a slapshot to open the scoring at 15:03.
Having squandered an earlier opportunity to convert his penalty shot, Liege´s Milan Jurik soon redeemed himself at 26:59 when tapping home a Bryan Henry feed to tie the game. At 36:53 the Belgians were 2-1 up when Kurt Sonne went for glory on a two-on-one rush to score past Spain´s national team netminder Raul Barbo.
Having competed in the inaugural edition of the IIHF Continental Cup back in 1997/98, HC Jaca returned to the competition this season following a seven-year hiatus. Against the Belgians, they stepped out in the third frame hoping to seal progress to the next round of the competition for the third time in the club´s history.
But any hope of a Spanish fightback was soon extinguished in quick succession. At 46:07 Yoren De Smet stretched the Belgian's lead to 3-1. 25 seconds later the Belgians sailed away with a three-goal cushion courtesy of a Bryan Kolodziejczyk goal.
Jurik piled on the misery for the Spanish hosts scoring his second of the evening on a two-man-advantage. With 1:58 left of the game Loris Darques closed the scoring 6-1 to the delight of the jovial travelling contingent of Belgian