Spengler Cup
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2008) |
Upcoming 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) |  HC Davos (16th) |
| 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 |
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 (21).
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.
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 2023 tournament, HC Davos defeated Czech club team Dynamo Pardubice 5–3 in the final.
History
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.
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. The 2021 event was ultimately cancelled on 25 December due to COVID cases within HC Davos.
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. Since 1985, UBS has been the main sponsor and presenting partner of the Spengler Cup. 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
Notes
- Oxford University and LTC Prague play to a 0–0 score after overtime. Both teams are declared winners.
Performances
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
|
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 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
|
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 |
Notes
- Slovakia was a part of Czechoslovakia until 1993, so HC Slovan Bratislava in the 1970s represented both communist Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Socialist Republic.
- Ukraine was a Soviet republic at the time, so Sokil Kiev represented both the Soviet Union and Soviet Ukraine.
By nation
| Nation | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
 Switzerland
|
21 | 32 |
| Czechoslovakia
|
19 | 10 |
| Canada
|
16 | 11 |
| Soviet Union
|
13 | 5 |
| Germany
|
6 | 10 |
| Italy
|
5 | 1 |
| Russia
|
4 | 5 |
| United Kingdom
|
4 | 2 |
| France
|
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
- Includes 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.
- Includes the runner-up 1967 Kingston Aces of the Ontario Hockey Association.
- Includes hockey clubs based in today's Russia and Ukraine, and Soviet national teams.
- Includes hockey clubs from the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, Allied-occupied Germany, West Germany, and today's united Federal Republic.
- Includes hockey clubs from the Kingdom of Italy and today's Italian Republic.
- Includes CSKA Moscow's Cup win in 1991.
- Includes hockey clubs from the French Third Republic, the Fourth Republic, and today's Fifth Republic.
References
- ^ "WILLIAMS: Developing a European audience – the AHL has eyes on Spengler Cup". EP Rinkside. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- ^ 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.)
- ^ "Hockey Canada withdraws from 2021 Spengler Cup, citing COVID-19 concerns". Sportsnet. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Canada and Ambri are replaced, Slovan Bratislava moves up". SpenglerCup.ch. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ Ellis, Steven. "Spengler Cup Cancelled for Second Straight Year". The Hockey News. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ Ruch, Fabian (2015-12-23). "Ein Berner vermarktet den Spengler-Cup". Berner Zeitung (in German). ISSN 1424-1021. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
- ^ "Presenting and gold partner – Spengler Cup". www.spenglercup.ch. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
- ^ SpenglerCup.ch
External links
