Panthers v Katowice

Match Report

Nottingham Panthers booked their place in Saturday's Continental Cup Gold Medal Game with a 4-0 victory over Katowice of Poland.

An crowd of over 6,000 - with insane support from both sets fans - lit-up the Motorpoint Arena for one of the best atmospheres ever heard in the building.

Jason Grande - who secured a 24-shot shutout - started between the pipes with Luca Sheldon as back-up.

No goals in fast-paced first session
Backed by a cauldron of noise from both sets of supporters, the first period was played at a fast pace but lacked clear-cut chances.

Grande made good saves to stop Jean Dupuy and Jonasz Hofman while at the end, Panthers went close through Nolan Volcan and David Noêl.

Volcan and Doherty put Panthers in second period
Didrik Henbrant fed Volcan who put Panthers ahead with a beautiful one-timer early in the second period (22:23).

Noël's shot trimmed the bar before the Panthers defenceman combined with Ross Armour to set-up Tim Doherty to score from the slot (33:41).

Katowice continued to push and Grande had to be at his best to turn away shots from Hofman and Ian McNulty.

Panthers seal win with goals from Henbrant and Doherty
Grande made two great stops to deny Patryk Wronka inside the opening four minutes of the third period.

Henbrant stepped out the box and moments later cut inside off the left and went top-shelf for a sweet solo goal (49:01).

With Katowice netminder Jesper Eliasson lifted for the extra skater, Armour fed Doherty to score into the empty net from the blueline (54:35) to set-up the chance of Panthers becoming the first UK side to win the Continental Cup twice.