Nottingham Panthers players celebrate a goal at the 2026 IIHF Continental Cup Final
photo: Karl Denham / Panthers Images
The 2026 IIHF Continental Cup is set to be decided by a clash of hockey cultures.
Host team Nottingham Panthers, like many teams from Britain’s Elite League, draws heavily on North American hockey traditions. Canadian head coach Danny Stewart leads roster with 13 players who arrived from across the Atlantic. The team has 550 AHL games and forward Chase Pearson managed three appearances in the NHL for the Red Wings in 2021-22.
Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk represents a very different tradition. The Kazakh town has been a hockey stronghold since the Soviet era. And the trademark emphasis on technical skill and highly structured play is visible on Andrei Korobeinikov’s roster.
His players have spent their careers almost entirely in the Kazakhstan and Russian leagues – although forward Maxim Musorov had a brief spell at one of Nottingham’s rivals in the Elite League last year.
For Panthers head coach Stewart, it’s a test that makes the Continental Cup special.
“It’s exciting. You really have to adapt, but I think it’s a fine balance between adapting and not overcoaching,” he said. “We have to stick to our own strengths as well.”
Having watched Torpedo’s games in Nottingham he is expecting something similar to the opening game of the tournament against Latvia’s HK Mogo.
“They’re going to trap it up, try and hit us on the counter,” Stewart added. “They skate well, they have a lot of speed and skill. We’re certainly going to have to manage the puck and play with the puck, put it in good areas, make sure we’re playing in their zone and turning them around all night.”
Host team Nottingham Panthers, like many teams from Britain’s Elite League, draws heavily on North American hockey traditions. Canadian head coach Danny Stewart leads roster with 13 players who arrived from across the Atlantic. The team has 550 AHL games and forward Chase Pearson managed three appearances in the NHL for the Red Wings in 2021-22.
Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk represents a very different tradition. The Kazakh town has been a hockey stronghold since the Soviet era. And the trademark emphasis on technical skill and highly structured play is visible on Andrei Korobeinikov’s roster.
His players have spent their careers almost entirely in the Kazakhstan and Russian leagues – although forward Maxim Musorov had a brief spell at one of Nottingham’s rivals in the Elite League last year.
For Panthers head coach Stewart, it’s a test that makes the Continental Cup special.
“It’s exciting. You really have to adapt, but I think it’s a fine balance between adapting and not overcoaching,” he said. “We have to stick to our own strengths as well.”
Having watched Torpedo’s games in Nottingham he is expecting something similar to the opening game of the tournament against Latvia’s HK Mogo.
“They’re going to trap it up, try and hit us on the counter,” Stewart added. “They skate well, they have a lot of speed and skill. We’re certainly going to have to manage the puck and play with the puck, put it in good areas, make sure we’re playing in their zone and turning them around all night.”
Torpedo forward Andrei Runov reacts as his team scores on Herning Blue Fox at the 2026 IIHF Continental Cup Final.
photo: Panthers Images
Torpedo was the first Kazakh club to win a Continental Cup medal, taking bronze in 2008 in Riga. The club has not been back in the competition since then - until now. However, Torpedo has players with recent experience of winning the Continental Cup. In 2024, Musorov and Mikhail Rakhmanov were all on the Nomad Astana team that won in Cardiff, while Nikita Kolobov featured in the successful semi-final campaign but missed the trip to Wales.
Musorov was his team’s leading scorer in that year’s edition with 9 (4+5) points through six games in the semi-final and final.
He enjoyed the experience two years ago and values the Continental Cup.
“It’s an important tournament,” he said. “The Continental Cup brings together the best teams from different countries and we want to show that in Kazakhstan we’re at that level.”
Team-mate Kolobov echoed that sentiment. “This matters,” he insisted. “When we played [in the Continental Cup] with Nomad we really enjoyed ourselves, it was great. We all wanted to come back and play in these finals again.
“I think it’s a really big tournament for us in Kazakhstan.”
Meanwhile, Nottingham’s North Americans are bitten by the Conti Cup bug – especially after a rocking atmosphere on Friday night against GKS Katowice and the prospect of a near capacity crowd at the Motorpoint Arena for Saturday’s decider.
“It’s a unique competition,” said Tim Doherty, who scored twice in the 4-0 win over the Poles. “None of us really experienced any thing like it. It’ really cool, it’s a chance to win a trophy at home and I don’t think it gets much better than that.”
And for American goalie Jason Grande, who was part of last season’s playoff winning team in Nottingham, it’s another chance to reward the Panthers public for their support.
“Winning tonight would be huge,” he said. “Any time you have a trophy to bring back to this fanbase is special. I think they deserve it so if we can provide that for them it would be great.”
Nottingham Panthers play Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk on Saturday, Jan. 17. The game starts at 1900 local time. Earlier on Saturday, Herning Blue Fox and GKS Katowice face off for bronze (1500) and HK Mogo takes on Angers Ducs in a placement game (1100).
Musorov was his team’s leading scorer in that year’s edition with 9 (4+5) points through six games in the semi-final and final.
He enjoyed the experience two years ago and values the Continental Cup.
“It’s an important tournament,” he said. “The Continental Cup brings together the best teams from different countries and we want to show that in Kazakhstan we’re at that level.”
Team-mate Kolobov echoed that sentiment. “This matters,” he insisted. “When we played [in the Continental Cup] with Nomad we really enjoyed ourselves, it was great. We all wanted to come back and play in these finals again.
“I think it’s a really big tournament for us in Kazakhstan.”
Meanwhile, Nottingham’s North Americans are bitten by the Conti Cup bug – especially after a rocking atmosphere on Friday night against GKS Katowice and the prospect of a near capacity crowd at the Motorpoint Arena for Saturday’s decider.
“It’s a unique competition,” said Tim Doherty, who scored twice in the 4-0 win over the Poles. “None of us really experienced any thing like it. It’ really cool, it’s a chance to win a trophy at home and I don’t think it gets much better than that.”
And for American goalie Jason Grande, who was part of last season’s playoff winning team in Nottingham, it’s another chance to reward the Panthers public for their support.
“Winning tonight would be huge,” he said. “Any time you have a trophy to bring back to this fanbase is special. I think they deserve it so if we can provide that for them it would be great.”
Nottingham Panthers play Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk on Saturday, Jan. 17. The game starts at 1900 local time. Earlier on Saturday, Herning Blue Fox and GKS Katowice face off for bronze (1500) and HK Mogo takes on Angers Ducs in a placement game (1100).