Redemption Day In Davos

The Spengler Cup isn't a complicated tournament in terms of how it's played, and this might be why it's a fun tournament to watch. The basic premise through the preliminary round is not to lose twice as two losses prevent a team from advancing to the playoff round. As we saw on Thursday, both Swiss-based teams were needing wins on Friday to keep their hopes alive as Fribourg-Gottéron dropped a 3-2 shootout loss to Dynamo Pardubice while HC Davos could not keep up with Team Canada in a 6-2 loss. With both squads sitting at 0-1 records in the tournament, it was "must win" Friday for them as the two local teams needed wins over their respective opponents today to stay in the hunt for a medal round berth. Would we see one or both teams in trouble today?

Th early game had Finnish squad Kärpät Oulu squaring off against Fribourg-Gottéron as the Finns got their tournament underway. Just two minutes in, they got on the board as Saku Mäenalanen beat Loic Galley, but that lead would disappear at 6:28 when TJ Brennan tied the game for Fribourg-Gottéron. However, that even score lasted all of seven seconds as Reid Gardiner scored on the next rush down the ice following the face-off, and Kärpät Oulu was back on top at 2-1. That lead would last all of 4:14, though, as Dave Sutter levelled the score at 2-2, but Kärpät Oulu go into the intermission ahead when Viljami Juusola scored at 15:58 for a 3-2 lead.

6:35 into the second period, Fribourg-Gottéron would tie the game for the third time as Kevin Nicolet one-timed a pass from Daniel Audette past Niclas Westerholm to make it 3-3, and Fribourg-Gottéron would take their first lead seven minutes later when Benoit Jecker tipped a puck past Westerholm for the 4-3 lead. For a game that seemed like Kärpät Oulu had the upper hand, they now trailed heading into the second intermission.

Galley may have sparked Fribourg-Gottéron in a big way when he stoned Maxim Korpimaki on a breakaway before making a couple of big saves during a five-minute power-play as Marcus Sörensen was excused for cross-checking. After a couple of big saves, Jacob De la Rose scored shorthanded to make it a 5-3 lead for Fribourg-Gottéron with just under 15 minutes to play. Patrik Virta would make it a 5-4 game with 8:38 to play, but Jakob Lilja scored into an empty net to give Fribourg-Gottéron the 6-4 victory over Kärpät Oulu!

The result of that entertaining game is that Fribourg-Gottéron now has four points in the tournament (a win plus a shootout loss), Dynamo Pardubice has two points with one game to play, and Kärpät Oulu has zero points with one game to play. Fribourg-Gottéron's four points guarantees them a playoff round berth, so it comes down to the Pardubice-Oulu game tomorrow to determine who gets the other berth in the playoff round.

The math on this one is easy: if Pardubice wins, they earn first-place. If Oulu wins, Fribourg-Gottéron earns top spot in the pool while Kärpät Oulu would get second-place and Pardubice would end up in third-place. In short, it's a "win and you're in" game for both of these teams tomorrow as both teams look to improve their playoff positions!

In the "evening" game depending on where you were when this one was played, Germany's Straubing Tigers met HC Davos as the Germans hit the ice for the first time in this tournament. Things were pretty even through the first period as neither team could find the back of the net despite Straubing having the lone power-play opportunity. The intermission saw the teams tied at 0-0.

Calle Andersson would finally break the zeroes when he scored on the power-play past Zane McIntyre at 7:47 for HC Davos as the Swiss side took the lead. It seemed like Andersson wanted to erase that goal he scored when he took a double-minor for high-sticking later in the period, but give credit to Davos' penalty-killers and goaltender Luca Hollenstein who stood tall for the four minutes. At the end of two periods, Davos clung to the one-goal lead.

For the first six minutes of the third period, these two teams played tight hockey where nothing got to the net easily. And then the ceiling caved in on Straubing as Adam Tambellini scored at 6:20, Tino Kessler found room at 5:33 later, Yannick Frehner added a fourth goal 1:22 after that, and Brendan Lemieux scored his first goal for Davos at 15:30 as Davos notched four goals in 9:10 to sit at a 5-0 count. The final 4:30 didn't see any other goals scored, but the damage was done as HC Davos beat Straubing 5-0 to keep their hopes alive!

HC Davos ends their pool play with three points as they await the result of Saturday's Canada-Straubing game. If Canada wins, Davos advances as the second-place team while Canada claims first-place. If Straubing wins, Davos could still advance in second-place unless Oulu beats Canada by six goals. In short, the 5-0 shutout by Davos today put the Straubing Tigers in a very bad spot for Saturday's game. Because of Canada's head-to-head win against Davos, they cannot miss a twop-two finish unless Straubing wins by six-or-more goals.

Clearly, Saturday's contests at the Eisstadion Davos have significant impact on who will play whom in the playoff round. It would seem that Pardubice may be the favorite in the early game, but they're missing starting netminder Roman Will who looked like he was seriously injured in their opening game against Fribourg-Gottéron. Assuming that Tomas Vomacka starts between the pipes, Pardubice will need a big effort from him.

Canada comes in healthy to meet Straubing, so the Tigers will need a much better offensive effort than what they showed today if they're going to make a run at advancing. I'm not certain they have the talent to outscore Canada by six goals, but they'll see the same Canadian team that Davos did where hard work, a solid effort, and some hustle in the backcheck will be the foundation of their game.

If you haven't tuned into the Spengler Cup yet this year, now is the best time to do so as the stakes are at their highest. Two teams will be eliminated tomorrow from the tournament, and that will set up the 2-vs-3 crossover games on Sunday. Games will be televised on TSN's channels tomorrow, so make sure you check your local listings for broadcast times and channels!

Six teams remain. Four days remain. Only one team will win on New Year's Eve. The 96th iteration of the Spengler Cup is living up to its reputation of great hockey, fantastic action, and an incredible tournament!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!