Arno del Curto and Leonardo Genoni

The International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF welcomed the Spengler Cup Organization Committee as their guest of honor as they celebrated their 100th anniversary this year.  The information sent out to the media consisted of an update about the Organization Committee itself, as well as background regarding the five teams participating in the tournament.  HC-Davos coach, Arno Del Curto had nothing but praise for the Spengler Cup: "I would gladly attend a second tournament which is run on such a high level."

This is an event that teaches any team how to grit its teeth and work in harmony.  "These are two important aspects which are later very important for success in the playoffs," explained the outstanding Davos coach.  Sven Zywitza, managing director for Ingolstadt which is new to the Spengler Cup this year, described the enormous amount of excitement and anticipation felt by the German team, and promised that his team will offer the fans exciting games to watch despite Ingolstadt's average standing in the DEL (14th position with 8 wins out of 23 games). Team Dynamo Moscow together with the public's favourite, Canada, are being touted as favourites.

Reinforcements for Davos and Ingolstadt

Tony Salmelainen (Genève-Servette), Nick Naumenko and Martin Sonnenberg (both Ambri-Piotta) and Johnny Pohl (Lugano) are the designated alternates for the HC Davos team at the Spengler Cup.  Naumenko, who already supported Davos last year, have again promised to join the team at the famous tournament.  Since HC Davos can only have a 25 man squad allotted, and only 23 participants for the tournament can be announced, not all of the Davos NLA players will be able to take part in their home tournament. Arno Del Curto said, "It has happened in the past that the decision on who would play and who would not, rested on the toss of a coin."  The Ingolstadt team from the German League will also reinforce its troops.  The Germans have already nominated Oliver Setzinger and Mathias Joggi both of whom play for the SCL Tigers.

Working for the future

Everyone is already looking towards the future.  Fredi Pargätzi, director of the tournament, stressed that coaxing teams to come to Davos is getting more and more difficult every year.  The difficulty does not stem from the teams' reluctance to attend, but rather "because it will become ever more complicated to work around the national championship games.  Many clubs in Europe share their arenas with other sports teams which means they must schedule their home games at least a year in advance."

Heading the tournament for the 17th time, Pargätzi was already travelling this past autumn to sound out the situation for the 2009 edition of the Spengler Cup.  Next year he absolutely wants to have a Scandinavian team returning to the tournament.  The discussion about whether to change the format and invite a 6th team has not been finalized yet.  All current Spengler Cup contracts are based on the presence of five teams at the tournament. Pargätzi explains, "It is still our goal to have a tournament for six teams as of 2009, however it may be possible that the addition of one more team can only be realized for the 2010 edition."