Ahren Spylo out-played the Canadians

The Mannheim Eagles continue to play an active role in this year's Spengler Cup. The German team defeated Team Canada 5:2 and will be playing against HC Davos for a place in the Finals on Wednesday.

Team Canada lacking focus

After their impressive performance against HC Davos (6:2) Team Canada had started as a clear favorite for the game against the Mannheim Eagles. However, the Canadians took a laid back approach to the game and were promptly handed the bill for their lack luster playing. Mannheim, after having displayed a very harmless offense in the first two games, they found themselves leading 5:1 after 33 minutes.

Ahren Spylo, who under the name of Ahren Nittel, played centre forward for Davos, Langnau and Rapperswil in Switzerland three seasons ago.  Today he completed a classic hattrick performance taking the score from 1:1 to 4:1 for the Germans. Then Daniel Steiner put the icing on the cake for the 5:1 score after he had been rested during the Eagles game against Karlovy Vary on Monday.

Line-up for Finals still wide open

The jostling for a position in the Finals on New Year's Eve is the closest it has been at this stage of the tournament for years. The Mannheim Eagles, Team Canada and HC Davos all still sit at the top of the leader board with 4 points after three games each.

Today's evening game between Karlovy Vary (Czech Rep.) and Dynamo Minsk (Belarus) the winning team will join the leading trio to form a nech-and-neck foursome. Should Minsk pull off a victory against Karlovy Vary tonight, two semi finals will be played on Wednesday with Team Canada playing against Minsk and Davos facing the Mannheim Eagles.

Adler Mannheim - Team Canada 5:2 (1:0, 4:2, 0:0)

Vaillant Arena. -- 5937 Spectators. - Referees: Reiber/Stalder, Fluri/Müller. -- Goals: 20. (19:47) Methot 1:0. 21. (20:27) Trudel (Dupont) 1:1. 22. (21:14) Spylo 2:1. 24. (23:10) Spylo (Seidenberg, Methot) 3:1. 30. Spylo (Pollock/disqualification Brooks) 4:1. 34. Steiner (Forbes, Scalzo) 5:1. 38. Heins (Jackman, Aubin/dasqualifications Beardsmore; Roche) 5:2. -- Penalties: 7 times 2 minutes against Mannheim, 9 times 2 minutes against Team Canada.

Adler Mannheim: Brathwaite; Reul, Petermann; Hedlund, Butenschön; Trepanier, Schmidt; Pollock, Scalzo; Steiner, Beardsmore, Arendt; Robinson, Methot, Seidenberg; Spylo, Papineau, Urguhart; King, Forbes, Kink.

Team Canada: Dubielewicz (34. Leneveu); Dupont, Tremblay; Heins, Jackman; Roche, Murphy; Siklenka, Rivers; Vigier, Aubin, Trudel; Brett McLean, Brown, Bell; Brooks, Robitaille, Daigle; Ouellet, Kurtis McLean, Pecker.

General Notes: Team Canada without Devereaux (injured). 24. Timeout by Team Canada. 26. Timeout by Mannheim.

Translated by Olivia Kaferly