Fights between Davos and Canada are legendary

Players of HC Davos and Canada's national team will be challenged by the Cracks of Adler Mannheim from Gemarny, HC Moeller Pardubice from Czech Republic and HC Salavat Yulaev Ufa from Russia when the eighty-first Spengler Cup takes place from December 26 till December 31 in Davos, Switzerland.

Davos is the current champion in Switzerland and Adler Mannheim the one in the German hockey league (DEL). The Adler dominated the last season in their league and after the qualification round they lost just one playoff game on their way to the title. Many German national team players are part of the Adler's pool and the available places for foreign players are taken up by North American Cracks. Two of the most famous players in Switzerland are the former Swiss National League Superstars Pascal Trepanier and Jeff Shantz. Shantz, who won the German Championship five times in the past ten years, attended the Spengler Cup in 2001 for the last time - but this year he will be back.

HC Moeller Pardubice will be part of the Spengler Cup exactly 20 years after their last participation. In 1987's heat the team won it's only tournament game against the host HC Davos under the previous name of TJ Tesla Pardubice with a certain Dominik Hasek as goalkeeper. Pardubice won the Czechoslovakian championship three times in 1973, 1987 and 1989. In 2005 Pardubice celebrated the fourth and up to now last championship under the current Name of HC Moeller Pardubice. The last season Pardubice finished as runner-up to Sparta Prague. By the way Pardubice belongs to the highest league of Czech Republic (respectively Czechoslovakia) for more than a half century. Currently the most famous player of the Czech team is the goalkeeper Jan Lasak who won the world championship in 2002 with the national team of Slovakia.

A Spengler Cup debutant is HC Salavat Yulaev. The team from Ufa in Russia was founded in 1957 and since 1962 it bears the name of a former freedom fighter and national hero. To this day the club has not won the Russian championship but since it was promoted to the highest Russian league in 1992 the results become better and better. After the third place in the last season's qualification round Salavat was eliminated in the playoffs quarter finals - surprisingly early. In the past few weeks HC Salavat Yulaev was frequently mentioned as the winner of transfers ‘battles'. Amongst others the club took in players like the Goalkeeper Alexander Eremenko, Defender Vitali Proshkin (both Russian) as well as directly from the NHL (Montreal Canadians) the Russian forward Alexander Perezhogin.

Thus, Spengler Cup OC president Fredi Pargätzi is once more able to present a field of world class teams at the traditional ice hockey tournament in Davos which leads to expectations of absolute high class fights on the rink. Pargätzi is most delighted of the engagement of the five teams and he is convinced that this year's Spengler Cup will once more outperform the high level of the previous year. This year's titleholder is HC Davos after a 3:2 win against Team Canada in Spengler Cup finals one year ago.