Sandro Rizzi lifts the trophy
HC Davos has won its 15th Spengler Cup title after a 3:2 win in today’s final against Dinamo Riga. It’s the host team’s first win since 2006. With this victory, the local team has also ended the predominance of the KHL teams, which won the tournament in the three previous years. Overall, it was a deserved victory.
During the last few minutes of the game, the audience in the sold-out Vaillant Arena rose to their feet and celebrated their team with a standing ovation. The fans in the stadium were very pleased with their team’s performance in the last game in 2011.
It was the perfect ending of an immaculate week for the home side: Davos’s highlights were a convincing first game in which they humiliated Team Canada (8:1), two strong wins against last year’s Czech playoff finalist Vitkovice, and an attractive final and a deserved victory against Latvia’s unofficial hockey national team.
15th Spengler Cup Win for the Host Team
Switzerland’s best hockey club (30-time national champion), which is celebrating its 90th club anniversary this year, has added another trophy to its many achievements. 6,500 HC Davos supporters cheered on their team and celebrated the team’s 15th triumph at its home tournament – no other team has won the Spengler Cup this often. KHL team Dinamo Riga, which won all of its previous games in the tournament, didn’t have the means to keep up with the reigning Swiss national champion. With this win, the host team has ended the predominance of the teams from the Russian league, which won the three previous tournaments.
The very strong Czech players on its squad are one of the main factors for HC Davos’s recent success. Petr Sykora scored his fifth (!) goal of this year’s tournament and smoothed the way for Davos’s win early on in the game (11.). Pavel Brendl, loaned from the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers for the Spengler Cup, scored the third goal to put his team two goals ahead (31.). This was a real blow to the Lativans and stopped them from getting back into the game; they had momentarily found new hope after they’d scored their first goal of the match. HC Davos only had to concede one more goal when Lucnius's scored Riga’s second of the day (2:3) just 26 seconds before the final whistle. But this late goal didn’t bring any real threat either – HC Davos was not going to let Riga take away their victory anymore.
Riga: A Welcome Guest in Davos
Riga’s defeat in today’s final of course doesn’t change the excellent and extremely professional impression that the teams from the KHL have made during the previous years.
The representatives from the best hockey league in Europe are very welcome guests in Davos. Therefore, it’s no secret that Fredi Pargätzi, President of the Organizing Committee, is again trying to invite two teams from the KHL for the 86th Spengler Cup next year; this had already been the case in 2010.
Successful KHL Teams in Davos
A KHL team has made it to the final six times out of the last seven Spengler Cups. Dinamo Riga is only the second of these teams, after Salavat Ufa (finalist in 2007), which couldn’t win the final. The Spengler Cup winners from the KHL so far are Metallurg Magnitogorsk (2005), Dynamo Moscow (2008), Dynamo Minsk (2009) and SKA St Petersburg (2010).
Dinamo Riga - HC Davos 2:3 (0:2, 1:1, 1:0)
Vaillant Arena. – 6,500 spectators (sold out). – Referees Hebert/Jablukov (Canada/Germany), Arm/Kohler. – Goals: 2. Sciaroni (Rizzi, Sejna) 0:1. 11. Sykora (Forster, Reto von Arx) 0:2. 22. Lundmark (Cipulis) 1:2. 31. Brendl (Grossmann/penalty Mikelis Redlihs) 1:3. 60. (59:34) Lucenius 2:3. - Penalties: 4 xl 2 minutes against Dinamo, 8 x 2 minutes against HC Davos.
Dinamo Riga: Jucers; Krisjanis Redlihs, Galvins; Jekabs Redlihs, Ozolins; Rekis, Sotnieks; Cibulskis, Andersons; Mikelis Redlihs, Lucenius, Karsums; Cipulis, Lundmark, Meija; Indrasis, Bicevskis, Podzins; Stals, Ankipans, Bukarts.
HC Davos: Berra; Joggi, Forster; Ramholt, Grossmann; Untersander, Niinimaa; Back; Sykora, Reto von Arx, Taticek; Guggisberg, Earl, Brendl; Sejna, Rizzi, Sciaroni; Bürgler, Steinmann, Sieber.
Notes: HC Davos without Marha, Jan von Arx, Stoop, Wieser, Guerra (all injured), Neuenschwander (surplus player), Riga without Warg (injured). 18. Berra saves penalty by Mikelis Redlihs. 60. (59:34) timeout Riga, from 59:49 without goaltender.
85th Spengler Cup. All Star Team. Goaltender: Malek (Vitkovice). – Right Defender: Forster (Davos). – Left Defender: Ozolins (Riga). – Right Wing: Sykora (Davos). - Center: Hospelt (Wolfsburg). – Left Wing: Earl (Davos). (Si)
