On New Year’s Eve, HC Davos crowned the Spengler Cup’s 100^th anniversary with a 5-3 win over Dynamo Pardubice in the final. The game was decided by three goals within 207 seconds from the 39^th to the 43^rd minute of play. The tournament title was the first for HCD since 2011 and its 16^th overall.
The final really came into gear in the 13^th minute of play. Martin Bucko celebrated what seemed to be the go-ahead goal. But HCD’s highly attentive video crew demanded a coach’s challenge due to an apparent preceding Pardubice offside – and the head referees confirmed. However, there was nothing to contest 49 seconds later, when on the other side of the ice Dennis Rasmussen raised his arms in triumph. The Swede successfully finished a nice combination of the first forward line by Matej Stransky and Henrik Haapala to make it 1-0.

In the second period, the hosts controlled the game with their active playing style. Yet, Enzo Corvi’s 2-0 on a cross-ice pass from Jesper Olofsson (32^nd minute of play) was a modest yield. Only the goalpost prevented further scoring on shots by Leon Bristedt (26^th minute) and Marc Wieser (36^th minute). And then came the fatal 37^th minute of play. Bristedt was given the first penalty of the game. On the powerplay, Pardubice needed merely 17 seconds to cut their deficit in half through Tomas Hykas. 13 seconds later, as the stadium speaker had barely announced the goal scorer’s name, Robert Kousal tied it at 2-2. But Klas Dahlbeck’s 3-2 marker shortly before the second intermission on a flat long-range shot through the legs of several Czech players, prevented any undue hectic on the side of HCD.

In the third period, HCD put the game away. 31 seconds in, Peter Ceresnak redirected a shot by Rasmussen into his own net. And Olofsson made it 5-2 simply slipping the puck into the empty Pardubice net only two minutes later. The completely ecstatic 6,247 spectators – the arena was sold out for the 11^th time in as many Spengler Cup games – made the final period a unique victory parade for HCD.

Quelle: Spengler Cup-Online Redaktion   Foto: Keystone