Spengler Cup

46°47′54.4″N9°49′35″E / 46.798444°N 9.82639°E / 46.798444; 9.82639

Spengler Cup

Most recent season or competition: 2024 Spengler Cup
Spengler Cup logo
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1923
Founder	Dr. Carl Spengler
First season	1923
Organising body	HC Davos
Motto	The Peak of Hockey
No. of teams	6
Countries	Switzerland, Canada, various other European countries
Venue(s)	Eisstadion Davos (Davos, Switzerland)
Most recent champion(s)	Fribourg-Gottéron (1st)
Most titles	HC Davos Team Canada (16 each)
Qualification	Invitation only
TV partner(s)	SUI: Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen Europe: Eurosport 2 RUS: Match TV & NTv2 GER: Sport1 CAN: TSN & RDS USA: ESPN+ CZE / SVK / HUN: Sport1 DEN: TV2 SLO: Šport TV SRB / CRO / BIH / MNE / MKD: Arena Sport GBR: Viaplay
Official website	www.spenglercup.ch/en

The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team HC Davos and played each year in Davos from 26 December to 31 inclusively. Currently, all games are held at the Eisstadion Davos.

It was originally devised by Dr. Carl Spengler as a means to promote teams from German-speaking Europe, who might have suffered ostracism in the aftermath of World War I. Eventually, the tournament grew well beyond expectations. Many of Europe's most prestigious clubs and national programs have appeared, including Soviet, Czechoslovak, Swedish, German, and Finnish powerhouses. Through its history, club or national teams from 13 countries have won the tournament, with HC Davos tied with Team Canada in winning the most cups as a club (16) while various teams from Switzerland have won the most cups for one country (22).

Among non-European organizations, Team Canada, Team USA, nationally ranked U.S. collegiate teams, reigning AHL Calder Cup and Ontario Hockey Association champions, and even Team Japan (in 1971, building international experience before playing as hosts of the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics) have competed for the Spengler Cup. Since at least 1990, Team Canada has been the only participant from North America, with the exception of the AHL's Rochester Americans in 1996 and 2013. Future participation of the AHL has been discussed by tournament organisers and the league. ^[1]

In the 2018 tournament, Finnish club team KalPa from the city of Kuopio defeated Team Canada 2–1 in the final. The game was decided in the 8th round of a shootout, the first series of game-winning shots in tournament history that determined the winner of the Spengler Cup.

The Spengler Cup tournament was not played in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2024 tournament, Swiss club team HC Fribourg-Gottéron defeated German club team Straubing Tigers 7–2 in the final.

History

The former Spengler Cup trophy on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Many participating teams are club teams, rather than national teams, where a club team might have players from many nations on the roster. The first tournament was won in 1923 by the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, composed of Canadians studying at the University of Oxford. ^[2]

The first 24 tournaments were dominated by host HC Davos (7 wins, 12 runners-up) and the Czechoslovak club team LTC Prague (7 wins, 2 runners-up). The LTC Prague team was shut down by the Czechoslovak communist authorities after players defected at the 1948 Spengler Cup tournament. Between 1965 and 1983, the tournament was dominated by various Czechoslovak and Soviet teams. Since joining the tournament in 1984, Team Canada has been the dominant participant, with 16 wins and 10 runners-up. Team Canada is made up of Canadians predominantly playing in Europe, as the tournament occurs during the NHL and AHL seasons, though active NHL stars Joe Thornton and Rick Nash played for HC Davos during the 2004–05 NHL lockout.

From its inception until 1978, the tournament was played on an outdoor rink. The outdoor rink still exists outside the indoor arena, and is one of the largest outdoor rinks in the world. Starting in 1978, all tournament games have been played indoors.

The Spengler Cup was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the tournament was scheduled to return in 2021, Team Canada withdrew from the competition due to problems scheduling a quarantine isolation period before the start of play, and HC Ambrì-Piotta withdrew from the competition due to COVID-19 cases among the club's players. ^{[3] [4]} The 2021 event was ultimately cancelled on 25 December due to COVID cases within HC Davos. ^[5]

Sponsorship

The Spengler Cup is the second-largest sporting event in Switzerland, after tennis' Swiss Indoors in Basel. The tournament had a budget of CHF 11 million in 2016. About 40% of the total tournament budget amount comes from corporate sponsors. ^[6] Since 1985, UBS has been the main sponsor and presenting partner of the Spengler Cup. ^[7] Other current major sponsors are Würth, Schenker Storen, Škoda, Calanda, and Hostpoint.ch – each of whom, along with UBS, are the main tournament sponsor of one of the six teams each year.

International broadcasts

The Spengler Cup is broadcast on Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen in Switzerland, on Eurosport 2 in most of Europe, on Match TV and NTv2 in Russia, on Sport1 in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, on Šport TV in Slovenia, on TSN and RDS in Canada and on the streaming service Viaplay in the United Kingdom.

Spengler Cup winners

The Spengler cup trophy

Canada national team against Rochester Americans in 2013

Year	Winner	Runner-up
1923	Oxford University	Berlin SC
1924	Berlin SC	HC Davos
1925	Oxford University	HC Davos
1926	Berlin SC	HC Davos
1927	HC Davos	Berlin SC
1928	Berlin SC	Cambridge University
1929	LTC Prague	HC Davos
1930	LTC Prague	HC Davos
1931	Oxford University	Berlin SC
1932	LTC Prague Oxford University 1	HC Davos (3rd place)
1933	HC Davos	Paris Rapides
1934	Diavoli Rossoneri Milano	Oxford University
1935	Diavoli Rossoneri Milano	HC Davos
1936	HC Davos	LTC Prague
1937	LTC Prague	HC Davos
1938	HC Davos	LTC Prague
1939	Tournament not held due to World War II
1940
1941	HC Davos	Berlin SC
1942	HC Davos	Zürcher SC
1943	HC Davos	Zürcher SC
1944	Zürcher SC	HC Davos
1945	Zürcher SC	HC Davos
1946	LTC Prague	HC Davos
1947	LTC Prague	HC Davos
1948	LTC Prague	HC Davos
1949	Tournament not held due to high Cold War tensions
1950	Diavoli Rossoneri Milano	AIK Stockholm
1951	HC Davos	Preussen Krefeld
1952	EV Füssen	Zürcher SC
1953	HC Milano Inter	HC Davos
1954	HC Milano Inter	EV Füssen
1955	Rudá Hvězda Brno	HC Davos
1956	Tournament not held for financial reasons [8]
1957	HC Davos	Rudá Hvězda Brno
1958	HC Davos	Diavoli Rossoneri Milano
1959	ACBB Paris	EV Füssen
1960	ACBB Paris	HC Davos
1961	ACBB Paris	EV Füssen
1962	Sparta Prague	EV Füssen
1963	Sparta Prague	Klagenfurt AC
1964	EV Füssen	Modo Hockey
1965	Dukla Jihlava	VIK Västerås HK
1966	Dukla Jihlava	CP Liège
1967	Lokomotiv Moscow	Kingston Aces
1968	Dukla Jihlava	Rögle BK
1969	Lokomotiv Moscow	HC Davos
1970	SKA Leningrad	Dukla Jihlava
1971	SKA Leningrad	Dukla Jihlava
1972	HC Slovan Bratislava	Torpedo Gorkiy
1973	HC Slovan Bratislava	Traktor Chelyabinsk
1974	HC Slovan Bratislava	Team Poland
1975	Czechoslovak Olympic Team	Team Finland
1976	USSR B	Czechoslovakia B
1977	SKA Leningrad	Dukla Jihlava
1978	Dukla Jihlava	AIK Stockholm
1979	Krylya Sovetov Moscow	Düsseldorfer EG
1980	Spartak Moscow	TJ Vítkovice
1981	Spartak Moscow	HC Davos
1982	Dukla Jihlava	Spartak Moscow
1983	Dynamo Moscow	Dukla Jihlava
1984	Team Canada	Dukla Jihlava
1985	Spartak Moscow	Team Canada
1986	Team Canada	Sokil Kiev
1987	Team Canada	Krylya Sovetov Moscow
1988	USA Selects	Team Canada
1989	Spartak Moscow	Färjestad BK
1990	Spartak Moscow	Team Canada
1991	/ CSKA Moscow	HC Lugano
1992	Team Canada	Färjestad BK
1993	Färjestad BK	HC Davos
1994	Färjestad BK	HC Davos
1995	Team Canada	Lada Togliatti
1996	Team Canada	HC Davos
1997	Team Canada	Färjestad BK
1998	Team Canada	HC Davos
1999	Kölner Haie	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
2000	HC Davos	Team Canada
2001	HC Davos	Team Canada
2002	Team Canada	HC Davos
2003	Team Canada	HC Davos
2004	HC Davos	Sparta Prague
2005	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	Team Canada
2006	HC Davos	Team Canada
2007	Team Canada	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
2008	Dynamo Moscow	Team Canada
2009	Dinamo Minsk	HC Davos
2010	SKA Saint Petersburg	Team Canada
2011	HC Davos	Dinamo Riga
2012	Team Canada	HC Davos
2013	Genève-Servette HC	CSKA Moscow
2014	Genève-Servette HC	Salavat Yulaev Ufa
2015	Team Canada	HC Lugano
2016	Team Canada	HC Lugano
2017	Team Canada	Team Switzerland
2018	KalPa Kuopio	Team Canada
2019	Team Canada	HC Oceláři Třinec
2020	Tournament not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021
2022	HC Ambrì-Piotta	Sparta Prague
2023	HC Davos	Dynamo Pardubice
2024	HC Fribourg-Gottéron	Straubing Tigers

Notes

¹Oxford University and LTC Prague play to a 0–0 score after overtime. Both teams are declared winners. ^[8]

Performances

By club

Performance in the Spengler Cup by club

Club	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
HC Davos	16	25	1927, 1933, 1936, 1938, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1951, 1957, 1958, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2023	1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1937, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1960, 1969, 1981, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012
Team Canada	16	10	1984, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019	1985, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2018
LTC Prague	7	2	1929, 1930, 1932, 1937, 1946, 1947, 1948	1936, 1938
Dukla Jihlava	5	5	1965, 1966, 1968, 1978, 1982	1970, 1971, 1977, 1983, 1984
Spartak Moscow	5	1	1980, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1990	1982
Oxford University	4	1	1923, 1925, 1931, 1932	1934
SKA Leningrad / SKA Saint Petersburg	4	0	1970, 1971, 1977, 2010	–
Berlin SC	3	4	1924, 1926, 1928	1923, 1927, 1931, 1941
Diavoli Rossoneri Milano	3	1	1934, 1935, 1950	1958
ACBB Paris	3	0	1959, 1960, 1961	–
HC Slovan Bratislava 1	3	0	1972, 1973, 1974	–
EV Füssen	2	4	1952, 1964	1954, 1959, 1961, 1962
Zürcher SC	2	3	1944, 1945	1942, 1943, 1952
Färjestad BK	2	3	1993, 1994	1989, 1992, 1997
Sparta Prague	2	2	1962, 1963	2004, 2022
HC Milano Inter	2	0	1953, 1954	–
Lokomotiv Moscow	2	0	1967, 1969	–
Dynamo Moscow	2	0	1983, 2008	–
Genève-Servette HC	2	0	2013, 2014	–
Rudá Hvězda Brno	1	1	1955	1957
Krylya Sovetov Moscow	1	1	1979	1987
CSKA Moscow	1	1	1991	2013
Metallurg Magnitogorsk	1	1	2005	1999
Czechoslovak Olympic Team	1	0	1975	–
USSR B	1	0	1976	–
USA Selects	1	0	1988	–
Kölner Haie	1	0	1999	–
Dinamo Minsk	1	0	2009	–
KalPa Kuopio	1	0	2018	–
HC Ambrì-Piotta	1	0	2022	–
HC Fribourg-Gottéron	1	0	2024	–
HC Lugano	0	3	–	1991, 2015, 2016
AIK Stockholm	0	2	–	1950, 1978
Salavat Yulaev Ufa	0	2	–	2007, 2014
Cambridge University	0	1	–	1928
Paris Rapides	0	1	–	1933
Preussen Krefeld	0	1	–	1951
Klagenfurt AC	0	1	–	1963
Modo Hockey	0	1	–	1964
VIK Västerås HK	0	1	–	1965
CP Liège	0	1	–	1966
Kingston Aces	0	1	–	1967
Rögle BK	0	1	–	1968
Torpedo Gorkiy	0	1	–	1972
Traktor Chelyabinsk	0	1	–	1973
Team Poland	0	1	–	1974
Team Finland	0	1	–	1975
Czechoslovakia B	0	1	–	1976
Düsseldorfer EG	0	1	–	1979
TJ Vítkovice	0	1	–	1980
Sokil Kiev 2	0	1	–	1986
Lada Togliatti	0	1	–	1995
Dinamo Riga	0	1	–	2011
Team Switzerland	0	1	–	2017
HC Oceláři Třinec	0	1	–	2019
Dynamo Pardubice	0	1	–	2023
Straubing Tigers	0	1	–	2024

Notes

¹Slovakia was a part of Czechoslovakia until 1993, so HC Slovan Bratislava in the 1970s represented both communist Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Socialist Republic.

²Ukraine was a Soviet republic at the time, so Sokil Kiev represented both the Soviet Union and Soviet Ukraine.

By nation

Performance by nation

Nation	Winners	Runners-up
Switzerland	22	32
Czechoslovakia 1	19	10
Canada 2	16	11
Soviet Union 3	13	5
Germany 4	6	11
Italy 5	5	1
Russia 6	4	5
United Kingdom	4	2
France 7	3	1
Sweden	2	8
Finland	1	1
Belarus	1	0
United States	1	0
Czech Republic	0	4
Austria	0	1
Belgium	0	1
Latvia	0	1
Poland	0	1

Notes

¹Includes hockey clubs from the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Third Czechoslovak Republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and the last Czech and Slovak Federative Republic based in today's Czechia and Slovakia, and Czechoslovak national teams.

²Includes the runner-up 1967 Kingston Aces of the Ontario Hockey Association.

³Includes hockey clubs based in today's Russia and Ukraine, and Soviet national teams.

⁴Includes hockey clubs from the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, Allied-occupied Germany, West Germany, and today's united Federal Republic.

⁵Includes hockey clubs from the Kingdom of Italy and today's Italian Republic.

⁶Includes CSKA Moscow's Cup win in 1991.

⁷Includes hockey clubs from the French Third Republic, the Fourth Republic, and today's Fifth Republic.

References

1. "WILLIAMS: Developing a European audience – the AHL has eyes on Spengler Cup". EP Rinkside. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
2. The Isis , 23 Jan. 1924, page 19. (Future Prime Minister of Canada Lester Pearson was a member of the Oxford University team in the spring of 1923; however, he returned to Canada in the summer of 1923 and therefore did not compete in the first Spengler Cup played at the end of December 1923 and early January 1924. See: Pearson, Lester B. Mike : The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972, page 50.)
3. "Hockey Canada withdraws from 2021 Spengler Cup, citing COVID-19 concerns". Sportsnet. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
4. "Canada and Ambri are replaced, Slovan Bratislava moves up". SpenglerCup.ch. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
5. Ellis, Steven. "Spengler Cup Cancelled for Second Straight Year". The Hockey News. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
6. Ruch, Fabian (2015-12-23). "Ein Berner vermarktet den Spengler-Cup". Berner Zeitung (in German). ISSN   1424-1021 . Retrieved 2017-07-25.
7. "Presenting and gold partner – Spengler Cup". www.spenglercup.ch. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
8. SpenglerCup.ch

External links

• Spengler Cup (in English)
• NHL.com article on Spengler Cup
• Archive of Hockey Results