Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s oldest hockey tournament, the Spengler Cup, will not take place this year.
This year’s tournament in Davos, Switzerland, was scheduled for December 26-31.
In the tournament’s 97-year history, it has only been canceled four times. In 1939 and 1940, hockey players did not gather in Davos due to the Second World War, in 1949 test matches took place instead of the tournament, but in 1956 the competition was not held for financial reasons.
The decision to cancel the tournament was made on the basis of social, sporting and economic aspects. There is also a risk that one of the participants may not show up in the event of a Covid-19 outbreak, which would lead to the cancellation of several games.
“In our view, the most important thing is the safety of the participants and the return of the teams home. But we cannot guarantee that,” said Mark Janola, chairman of the organizing committee.
This year, in addition to the hostess Davos, the tournament included Canadian teams, Ambri-Piotta (Switzerland), Prague’s Sparta (Czech Republic), Kouvola’s KooKoo (Finland) and Kazan’s Ak Bars (Russia).
Last year, in the final, the Canadian team defeated the Czech unit Tršineca “Ocelārži” represented by defender Guntis Galviņš with 4: 0.
The Spengler Cup is the oldest European club tournament, which has taken place 93 times. The Canadian national team has won 16 times in the prestigious tournament, less than once in Davos, but is followed by the seven-time Czech team Prague LTC, which ceased to exist in 1949.
In 2013, the winner of this tournament was Latvian Kaspars Daugaviņš, who at that time represented the Geneva “Servette” unit from Switzerland.
Latvian club Riga “Dinamo” participated in this tournament in 2011 and 2017.
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