Neman Grodno will hope to break last year’s regulation curse by making it two wins from two when they face an EV Zug side that refused to go down in Berlin.

Nothing heals the past better than time, which is something the returning Champions of Belarus have had a lot of to reflect on their previous campaign, where they failed to progress from the Group Stage despite going unbeaten on the road in 60 minutes. EV Zug, as well as Champions JYP and the Vienna Capitals, provided Grodno with stern competition that year however the Swiss team were the only ones successful in handing Grodno a loss without needing OT.

Confidence will be equally high in both camps for very different reasons; Neman Grodno came out on top in a battle of the champions in their opening game against Kometa Brno, which they won 4-2.  Zug won’t be phased by this however after coming back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Eisbären Berlin in their own arena.

Both games were tight knit affairs and this one shouldn’t be any different. Zug Coach Dan Tangnes will hope his team can mirror their performances of last year and deny Grodno the excuse of being unlucky again in this tournament.