A museum on the Spengler Cup’s 100-year history has been established in the spectator corridor of Eisstadion Davos. Next to it the Spengler Cup Hall of Fame has been created. On Friday, the first players and officials were ceremoniously inducted.

50 players and nine officials are on the shortlist for the Spengler Cup Hall of Fame. In six stages, starting this year (the 100-year anniversary of the first Spengler Cup) until 2028 (100^th edition of the Spengler Cup) a number of players, which have helped shape Spengler Cup history and the world of hockey in a meaningful way, will be honoured yearly in chronological order. For their selection process the Hall of Fame working group, the Hall of Fame commission, and the board of directors emphasized that players from different eras, various hockey cultures as well as forwards, defensemen, and goaltenders were considered without overly relying on fixed metrics.

On Friday morning, the first seven players were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Representatives from all of the clubs of the inaugural Spengler Cup edition were present for the celebration. Oxford University was represented by Shaan Baig, the captain of the current team, as well as Leanne Iorio, the acting captain of the women’s team. Cambridge University sent its acting captain in Ivan Grega, too, as well as co-president Simrat Sodhi. Belin SC, which in the meantime merely competes in the Berlin Landesliga, was represented by president Karsten Dallmann and treasurer Daniel Klement. The representatives present for Vienna EV, which today plays in the 3^rd Austrian league, were president Thomas Meixner and general manager Michael Vorlaufer.

The first seven Hall of Famers were pioneers that ignited the Spengler Cup’s initiation phase in the Golden 1920’s and, within short time, moved the tournament into the epicentre of world ice hockey. They were Lester Pearson (key player for first Spengler Cup winner Oxford University), Max Holsboer (Berlin SC, HCD), Gustav Jaenecke (Berlin SC), Rudi Ball (Berlin SC, St. Moritz, Diavoli Rossineri Milano, teams in South Africa), Herbert Bruck (Vienna EV, Berlin SC), Fritz Kraatz (HCD), and Alexander Spengler (HCD).

Together with the players of the 1920s, the nine most influential officials of the entire 100-year history of the Spengler Cup were honoured in the Hall of Fame on Friday as well: Spengler Cup founder Carl Spengler, HCD founder Paul Muller senior, the coaches Arno Del Curto (HCD), Ron Francis, Andy Murray (both Team Canada), and Victor Tichinov (CSKA Moscow) the long-time heads of the organizing committee Alfred “Putz” Gfeller and Fredi Pargatzi as well as the former Landammann (chief magistrate) of Davos Christian Jost as a patron and supporter of the team.

Quelle: Onlineredaktion Spengler Cup  Foto: Keystone