Opening game of Continental Cup

The opening game was a strange one as it was won by the team from Belarus, Yunost Minsk. 

Strange in that although Sheffield were dominant possession-wise their opponents with their clinical finishing meant they still overcame them.

Minsk got off to a great start when, with only 80 seconds gone an awkward bounce fell to KOGALEV who rifled home.  The game was only eight minutes old when MITSKEVICH scored the second. Sheffield continued to have all the play but were frustrated by a solid defence. With a minute to go in the period Fretter took a penalty for Sheffield and almost immediately TURKIN rifled home a long range effort to put Yunost 3 goals to the good.

Sheffield may have felt hard done by to be three goals in arrears but it got far worse as a shot from ZAKHAROV cannoned off a Sheffield player (Wallace) and past Ervins Mustokovs. RAZVADOVSKI made it five on the powerplay and inside the final minute of the period SLOVAK scored the sixth.

Sheffield were now in damage limitation mode and replaced their netminder for the start of a pretty lack lustre third period. They dominated the period and got a goal back through ROY. However, they ran into penalty trouble at the end and on a five on three powerplay  TURKIN got his second with just 30 seconds left. 

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