Vítkovice prepares for Spengler Cup

The week between Christmas and New Year's is a busy time in the hockey world, and on Monday, the oldest and most prestigious club hockey tournament in Europe, the Spengler Cup, begins in Davos, Switzerland. Though which countries are represented in the tournament changes from year to year, the Czech Republic is a constant presence at the event and this year has sent HC Vítkovice Steel to participate.

Vítkovice practicing at Vaillant Arena in Davos. hc-vitkovice.cz

As they do during the regular season, Vítkovice will look for offense from Jíři Burger and Jan Káňa, leadership on the back end from Marek Malík, and solid goaltending from Roman Málek. Besides these players, many fans in Switzerland and television viewers around the world will get their first opportunities to see 17-year-old rookie Nathan Walker play. The Australian, who has 4 goals and 3 assists in 25 Extraliga games this season and has played the last two games on the top line with Burger, was recently ranked 6th among eligible Czech players for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. This was mostly due to the absence of veteran Viktor Ujčík, who is injured and will miss the Spengler Cup. The club's defence, which has also been bitten by the injury bug, has been reinforced by two pickups from the Swiss National League: Franco Collenberg and Gian-Andrea Randegger.

This is the third time that Vítkovice has participated in the Spengler Cup. They went previously in back-to-back years, 1980 and 1981, around the time they were the best team in Czechoslovakia. Both years, the tournament was won by Soviet club Spartak Moscow. In 1980, TJ Vítkovice, as they were then known, finished second with a 2-1-1 record. In 1981, they finished in a three-way tie for second at 2-2. Ladislav Svozil led the team with 4 goals in 1980, including a hat trick in a 6-0 shutout victory over Swedish club BK Färjestad. František Černík, the current club president, scored 2 goals that year and 3 more in 1981.

"For Vítkovice, it is primarily a great honour to participate in this tournament," said Černík on the team's website. Concerning his team's chances at this year's event, he said, "Other than a little nervousness, I have concerns about the roster we're sending to Davos. So many injuries right now. It's unfortunate they came around the time of the Spengler Cup. But in any case, I don't want to make excuses. We've strengthened the team with reinforcements, so I believe that ultimately we should be competitive in Davos."

Besides the Vítkovice team, other Czechs competing in the tournament are Pavel Brendl, Petr Sýkora and Petr Tatiček of the host Davos club, and Vojtěch Polák of the Kloten Flyers.

Just as was the format in 2011, the six competing teams are divided into two groups. The division winners advance straight to Friday's semifinals, while the second- and third-place teams play crossover quarterfinals on Thursday. This means that every team survives at least that far. The final will be played on Saturday, New Year's Eve, at 12:00 Central European Time.

Vítkovice's first game in the tournament will be against Team Canada, a perennial participant in this tournament, whose squad is composed mostly of Canadians who play in European leagues. This year's Canadian team is being coached by Marc Crawford and features Marty Turco in goal. Turco recently backstopped EC Red Bull Salzburg to the championship of the European Trophy. Monday's game will begin at 20:15 CET and can be seen on Nova Sport in the Czech Republic. Viewers in Canada can see the game on TSN 2, live at 2:15pm ET, 11:15am PT. Their second game will be against HC Davos, on Tuesday if they lose to Canada and on Wednesday if they beat them. All tournament games can be seen throughout Europe on Eurosport.

From spenglercup.ch, here is the tournament schedule (all times Central European):

Torriani Group 26.12. Kloten Flyers Dinamo Riga 15:00 27.12. GA Wolfsburg Loser Game 1 15:00 28.12. Winner Game 1 GA Wolfsburg 15:00 Cattini Group 26.12. Team Canada HC Vítkovice 20:15 27.12. HC Davos Loser Game 2 20:15 28.12. Winner Game 2 HC Davos 20:15 Quarterfinals 29.12. 2. Torriani Group 3. Cattini Group 15:00 29.12. 2. Cattini Group  3. Torriani Group 20:15 Semifinals 30.12. 1. Group Cattini Winner QF 1 15:00 30.12. 1. Group Torriani Winner QF 2 20:15 Final 31.12. Winner Semifinal 1 Winner Semifinal 2 12:00

Vítkovice goes home in 0-2 hole, disappointed but confident

After a sloppy performance in game 1, Vítkovice Steel was looking to get back to playing their type of hockey in game 2. For 58 minutes, they played exactly the type of game that they wanted.

Třinec's Václav Varaďa breaks the 0-0 tie with 1:01 to play.
Photo: Marian Ježowicz, hcocelari.cz.

For 58 minutes, they kept all of Třinec's big guns in check, and did so by playing typically strong-yet-disciplined Vítkovice hockey. Martin Růžička, an offensive stalwart who has averaged 2 points per game over this year's playoff run, was handcuffed and barely noticed. Even when they did take a penalty, they were strong on the kill, rendering the normally lethal Třinec power-play largely ineffective.

If Vítkovice had managed to score a goal in those 58 minutes, they might have got the result they wanted. But Třinec's defence was equally stingy, as they seemed content to play this style and bide their time until they got their chance. With overtime looming, they got it.

When Pavel Trka was sent off for hooking with 1:45 to play, the Třinec power-play went to work. And work is a good description of how they scored, as it was more the result of brawn than skill.

Just over a minute before the end of regulation time, Vítkovice goaltender Roman Málek tried to cover a loose puck in a mad scramble in front of the goal. A mass of bodies and the puck ended up in the net, as Václav Varaďa managed to force it over the line. "I knocked the puck, stopped it, I kept it in front of me, but that's about all I know," said Málek, trying to describe what happened. "The player who scored the goal fell on me and about half of my body was already over the goal line."

An empty-net goal by Martin Adamský made the final score 2-0. After being kept in check most of the game, Růžička managed to fill his 2-point quota by assisting on both goals. That extends his playoff record to 30 points in 15 games.  

In the Třinec goal, Peter Hamerlík stopped all 25 shots he faced. He added to his league-leading 6 shutouts during the regular season by recording his second of the playoffs. Málek stopped the first 24 he faced.

"We played a great game, it hurts a lot," the defeated goaltender continued after the game. "For sixty minutes we worked like horses and didn't get anything. We have to get it done at home. The third game especially will be tremendously important."

For all the disappointment, the veteran players on the team still aren't panicking. "I think we played a lot better than the first game. Although we spent some time on the penalty kill, which cost us a lot of energy, the performance was definitely not bad," commented veteran defenceman Marek Malík. "We just have try to win the two games at home, like Třinec did."