Let's go: The Spengler Cup promises great action!

Hard checks, catches fast as lightning, shots into the corner of the net - all of this coupled with an incomparable atmosphere in the stadium: It's Spengler Cup time! 5 teams are fighting for victory. Who will succeed last year's winner Dynamo Moscow on the throne?

Hard checks, catches fast as lightning, shots into the corner of the net - all of this coupled with an incomparable atmosphere in the stadium: It's Spengler Cup time!

The 83rd edition of this spectacular ice hockey tournament starts today and culminates in the final on 31 December. Alongside hosts HC Davos, the list of participants features the German team Adler Mannheim, HC Energie Karlovy Vary from the Czech Republic, Team Canada and Dynamo Minsk from Belarus.

Thanks to Carl Spengler

Tradition, suspense, spectacular action and emotions: It's all here at the world's oldest ice hockey tournament. Tickets for this extraordinary event sell like hot cakes. But still: The Spengler Cup is more than a party and its history goes back almost as far as World War I.

Carl Spengler, the tournament's founder, saw it as a way of harmonizing the relationship between antagonistic European countries which had just experienced an atrocious war. While Team USA and Team Canada have been among the participants, most contenders have essentially been European and especially from Switzerland.

6 Teams for Next Year's Tournament

This year marks the end of an era: Growing interest in the event and a tight playing schedule for the teams have made it necessary to change from one group with 5 teams to two groups with 3 teams each from 2010. One starting place is intended for a second Swiss team. But this is still a long way off in the future; let's enjoy this year's edition!