DAY 1: SWISS ROLL over Yulaev & Mannheim upsets Canadians
Well were nearly at the halfway point in the 86th Annual Spengler Cup in Davos Switzerland. With a couple of Incredible moments saw at the Vallant Arena in Davos. It`s been packed to the rafters with fans stretching all over the hockey world to watch the Oldest ice hockey invitational tournament in the world.
We started proceeds with the opening game of the 2012 Spengler Cup with Swiss side HC Fribourg-Gotteron facing the KHL (Kontinental Hockey League) side Salavat Yulaev UFA. This is HC Fribourg-Gotteron 75th anniversary this season and got off to a stunning start when they beat the KHL side 5-1.
The 1st period was a evenly contested between the 2 sides with not alot to separate them. It was however the KHL side that opened the scoring from a powerplay, as Koltsov passed it to Igor Mirnov who was waiting by the side of the net in wait. The initial pass hit his skate and he had enough time to correct himself with half a net to aim at & calmly shot it in for a Powerplay goal at 15:06 for a 1-0 lead which Salavat took into the break.
2nd period was mostly in the the Russians zone and the pushing for equaliser came as Spunger and Bykov cycled the puck along the boards before Bykov passed toward goals and Benjamin Pluss was on hand to direct it in putting it through his legs for a 1-1 scoreline.
Fribourg then took the lead over a minute later when shorthanded as a dreadful error by the Yulaev defenseman from a rebound was pinched off him in front of goals and Gregory Maudlin swooped in to backhand it past Tarkki in nets for a 2-1 lead. Friboug outshot their opponents 14-4 in the 2nd.
3rd period wise the Swiss side just scored 3 unanswered goals as they clinicially finished Yulaev off. With goals from Bykov for the 3rd, a magnificent effort and goal of the tournament by Julien Sprunger as he stick handled his way and pulled a great move to get his goal to make it 4-1 and the final goal was powerplay goal by Mike Knoepfli as his 1st effort was blocked by the defensemen and as it ricocheted back he fired home for 5-1 and gave them a great start to the tournment.
HIGHLIGHTS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ3dGxvVb88
FINAL SCORE: HC FRIBOURG-GOTTERON 5 - 1 SALAVAT YULAEV UFA
The evening game was the Shock of the tournament, as Team Canada with lots of NHL players at their disposal this year due to the current ongoing Lockout, Played the current DEL league leaders in Die Adler Mannheim.
To be fair the Eagles from Mannheim did possess a couple of current or ex-NHL players in their side too. Like Marcel Goc (Florida Panthers), Dennis Seidenberg (Boston Bruins) and Jason Pominville( Buffalo Sabres).
Canada are the favorites for this tournament considering that some of these young players have been in the NHL for a few seasons now along side rookies who are making their way in the careers but play at argubly a high level than the european side in this tournament. So on paper you`d imagine Canada wouldn`t have trouble.
But as predicted the Mannheim goaltender ,was facing more of the rubber than that of his Canadian counterpart. However though, it was the German side that took the lead at 15:54 with a powerplay goal
scored by Mitchell as his tipped in shot near the nets gave them a 1-0 lead with assists going to Wagner and Macdonald.
it was another tight game with the Germans holding onto their 1-0 lead against Team Canada, sadly for them it lasted till 50:30 in the 3rd period as Tyler Seguin tied the game on the powerplay with assists going to Patrice Bergeron and Ritchie. As bergeron pass found Seguin who wrist shot beat the sprawling save of Endras between the pipes.
So the game went to the 1st Overtime period of this tournament and it resulted in Mannheim picking up the win after Macdonald cut out a Canadian pass saw Pominville dashing up center ice gave a great long pass to him, putting him 1 on 1 with Bernier and he shot it past him for a 2-1 overtime winner to send the Eagles fans flying high with an upset victory.
HIGHLIGHTS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k02S8pImsPE
FINAL SCORE: DIE ADLER MANNHEIM 2 - 1 TEAM CANADA
( AFTER OVERTIME)
photos taken from: www.spenglercup.com
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