On Sunday afternoon there will be a premiere for the Spengler Cup’s 100 th anniversary in Davos: For the first time in the tournament’s long history, HCD and the Czech championship leading Dynamo Pardubice will face off in the final at 12.10pm.

The two teams qualified for the final game in a similarly dramatic fashion and with the identical final scores in their respective semi-final matchups. HC Davos only achieved the 4-3 triumph over Frolunda Gothenburg 51 seconds into overtime through Henrik Haapala. Pardubice’s Matej Paulovic scored against Team Canada 38.4 seconds before the end of regulation time – after the Czechs had trailed 3-1 until the 57 th minute of play.

Dynamo Pardubice desperately wanted to take part at the Spengler Cup this year, because the club is celebrating its 100 th anniversary. It does not take a prophet to recognise that the Czechs want to round off that jubilee with a Spengler Cup win. On the Czech team, both coach Vaclav Varada and forward Robert Kousal have a past at HCD. In the 2006-07season, Varada won both the Spengler Cup and the Swiss championship with Davos, Kousal was a forward for HCD from 2016 to 2018. And count in a third: The current Pardubice scout Petr Sykora was among the top scorers during the HCD championship title runs in 2009 and 2011. Pardubice has a chance to win its first Spengler Cup. The last Czech team to conquer the winner’s trophy was Dukla Jihlava in 1982.

Team Canada is the Spengler Cup record title holder with 16 titles. With a victory in today’s final, HCD could move into a tie with the Canadians. Davos’ last tournament victory already dates back 12 years. On December 31, 2011, HCD defeated Dinamo Riga 3-2 in the final game. The goal scorers for the hosts were Gregory Sciaroni, the aforementioned Sykora, and Pavel Brendl. None of players on the current HCD roster played at the 2011 Spengler Cup. Andres Ambuhl was playing for the ZSC Lions that season, Marc Wieser for EHC Biel. Ambuhl had won the Spengler Cup with Davos twice before then – 2004 and 2006.

HCD centre Enzo Corvi expects a hard-fought final today. ‘Pardubice has an incredibly strong team. The Czechs are defensively solid. They have many big players on their squad and are also highly skilled’, says the forward. HCD lost a preseason game 5-1 against Pardubice in South Tyrol in August. ‘We learned from that loss. We have to play physically against Pardubice. Then we will see what is possible’, says Corvi.

Quelle: Spengler Cup-Online Redaktion   Foto: Keystone