Wolfsburg with Sensational Win against Team Canada
Marty Turco: Loss against Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg has kicked Team Canada out of the Spengler Cup - it’s the first big surprise at this year’s tournament. The club from the German DEL has won tonight’s second pre-semi-final 2:1 after penalties; the game had been tied (2:2) after regulation time. Team Canada, the 11-time tournament winner, missed two opportunities to decide the game before going into overtime.
Kai Hospelt decided the penalty shootout in an impressive manner: The Wolfsburg captain converted both of his penalty attempts. However, the first of these two goals was highly controversial since the shot may have bounced back from the post and not actually gone in, but the referees decided for goal.
Canada in the Final 18 Times
After watching this penalty scene on video several times, the referees stuck to their first decision and gave Hospelt’s goal because the video footage was not 100% conclusive. This defeat to Wolfsburg is Team Canada’s second disappointing defeat within two days after losing against hosts HC Davos last night.
The 18-time Spengler Cup finalist lost against a team that hadn’t been able to convince with its performances in the two previous games at the tournament. Looking at it from the Canadians’ perspective, usually a team used to success, this premature out of the tournament is a huge disappointment.
Perrault Unable to Control the Puck
When Joel Perrault from Swiss national league club Ambri-Piotta couldn’t get the puck under control in his final penalty attempt, the first big surprise of the 2011 Spengler Cup became true. No one had expected such an exploit from the Germans, who’d previously suffered two losses: In their first two tournament games, they had lost against the Kloten Flyers (0:6) and against Dinamo Riga (1:3).
It remains to be seen how much energy the Wolfsburg team used up for this win after overtime and penalties tonight; this extra time on the ice may already be an important factor in their game against Dinamo Riga tomorrow evening. Another series may also come to an end soon: In the three previous years’ finals, a team from the KHL succeeded to win the tournament every time – also this time round? Since Team Canada’s last tournament win in 2007, a team from the Russian hockey league has been in the final very year.
