´óÏó´«Ã½

Cardiff Devils rekindled their hopes of reaching the Continental Cup finals with a comfortable win over Latvian side Zemgale Jelgava.

Cole Stanford scored either side of Justin Crandall's solo strike in the opening period.

Marcus Crawford and Cole Ully then added further goals as Devils claimed their first win of the semi-final group stage in Grenoble, France.

Devils lost their opener but face group hosts Bruleurs de Loups on Sunday.

The top two teams from each group will progress to the final round in January.

Devils finally lived up to their billing as favourites for this semi-final group, having lost their first game 4-3 to Kazakhstan champions Nomad Astana, by over-powering the Latvian league leaders.

Stanford opened the scoring for Devils but they held onto the lead for just 30 seconds before Zemgale equalised.

Crandall and Stanford, again, then both struck late in the first period for a 3-1 lead that Crawford extended with the only goal of the second period.

Zemgele cut the lead for 4-2 before Ully handed Devils a comfortable finish.

The Continental Cup is European ice hockey's second-level club tournament behind the Champions Hockey League [CHL] with teams from 18 countries competing this season.

The 2023 tournament started in September, with Cardiff joining the tournament in the third round due to the Elite Ice Hockey League [EIHL] ranking.

Grenoble is the host city of Group E matches this weekend, with the 2026 Winter Olympics co-host town Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy holding Group F games.

All matches at Pole Sud, Grenoble, France

Friday 17 November

Nomad Astana 5-4 Cardiff Devils

Bruleurs de Loups 1-3 Zemgale Jelgava

Saturday 18 November

Cardiff Devils 5-2 Zemgale Jelgava (15:00 GMT)

Bruleurs de Loups v Nomad Astana (19:00 GMT)

Sunday 19 November

Nomad Astana v Zemgale Jelgava (14:00 GMT)

Cardiff Devils v Bruleurs de Loups (18:00 GMT)