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| pic from: spenglercup.ch |
It`s that time of year again where teams invited teams descend upon Davos, Switzerland where the 87th Annua lSpengler Cup club tournament kicks off. This year`s 6 team tournament will see: Swiss side Geneva-Servette HC, the AHL side Rochester Americans taking part for the first time since 1996. HC Vitkovice Steel from the Czech Republic, CSKA Moscow from the KHL make a return to the tournament too with the reigning champions champions Team Canada, as always being represented along with the Hosts of the Spengler Cup invitational tournament in Swiss side HC Davos.
Geneve-Servett HC 5 - 0 Rochester Americans
The tournament`s opening game saw Swiss side Geneve-Servette overcome AHL (American Hockey League) side Rochester Americans by 5 goals to nil in a one sided game, with the Swiss side outclassing the stateside outfit as they were clinical in front of the nets and made the Rochester side pay from it.
Geneve were on the penalty kill, when Denis Hollenstein was in the box for Tripping and saw the Swiss side take the lead in the 11th minute of play, when Kaspars Daugavins started a break away for his zone and had former NHLer Matthew Lombardi in support with him. Daugavins and Lombardi then played a nice one-two which saw Daugavins slam home a finish to give Geneve a Shorthanded goal and a 1-0 lead.
In the Second period, the game got a bit physical and saw Luke Adam from the Rochester Americans pick up a Game Misconduct for a Check to the head on his opponent, which left a Geneve player laying on the ice from the hard hit and saw the the penalty change, after it was originally called was a Roughing penalty.
Rochester Americans were struggling with the big open ice surface which is common in europe and when they put on the penalty kill, Matthew Lombardi then struck to give his side a power play goal for a 2-0 lead at 38:49.
Geneve-Servette then hammered home their advantage in the contest, with Matthew Lombardi scoring a well taken individual goal to make it 3-0 with his second of the game, But the defending for the Americans on the goal was poor to say the least.
Juraj Simek made it 4-0 at 46:46 after defenseman Goran Bezina, put the forward through on goal and Simek made a nice move before back handing it into the roof of the net to extend the lead for the Swiss side, before Cody Almond added a fifth goal. After Alexandre Picard backhanded the puck to the forward from the boards and he put past Matthew Hackett in the Rochester nets at 56:22.
Plus to round off a miserable night for the AHL side, Patrick Roy`s son Frederick Piuze-Roy then lost it big time, as he went after Cody Almond dropping the gloves and started to swing punches at the Geneve player, which saw Roy have a tantrum heading to the locker room as he kicked stuff and thrown things around, as both he and Almond picked up Game misconduct`s at 59:41 and seen the first game go to Geneve-Servette.
TEAM CANADA 5 - 4 HC VITKOVICE STEEL
The Defending Spengler Cup Champions Team Canada, had to come from behind in their first outing of the 2013 tournament, as the Czech Republic side HC Vitkovice Steel run them close in a tight 5-4 victory to the men from the Great White North. This Team Canada side is made up of player playing in the Swiss League
It only took the Canadians 2:33 to get on the scoreboard, as Alexandre Bolduc scored for Team Canada after he diverted it at the back post to make it 1-0 from a pass by Travis Erhardt.
The Czech Extraliga side then responded less than 2 minutes later, when Lukas Kucsera put home Michal Hlinka pass which was put towards the front of the net, for a 1-1 game at 4:20.
Canada went back ahead at 9:46 in the period, when a pass against the boards behind Vitkovice`s net and was picked up by Glen Metropolit to which he banked it in off Filip Sindelar pads, for a 2-1 lead.
Once again though the Czech side came back to tie the game up, with the Czechs scoring on a 4 on 3 powerplay at 17:05. Richard Stehlik one time rocket went through Chris Mason in the Canadian goals to make it 2-2 and 'even Steven' again.
In the Second period of play, the Czechs scored first through Rudolf Huna ,as the forward broke away from the Canadian defense and was one on one with just the goalie to beat and he managed put it high over the right shoulder of Chris Mason to give them the 3-2 lead at 31:26.
Team Canada responded a couple of minutes later, when HC Vitkovice Steel was penalised for 'Too Many Men' at 33:03.
Canada scored shortly on the powerplay through Micki Dupont, who scored with a wrist shot from the blue line to tie the game at 3-3.
However Canada wouldn`t be celebrating too much, as 11 seconds later Vitkovice Steel scored for a fourth in the game, when an attempted pass by Derrick Walser at the side of his net wasn`t collected by a team mate and Peter Huzevka jumped onto the loose puck and fired past Mason to retake the lead for a 4-3 game.
In the third, Team Canada scored two goals in final period to take the win. As first off a nice break by the Canadians saw Eric Beaudoin pass to Darren Haydar and his pass to the slot found Byron Ritchie, who was unmarked and he put it home for a 4-4 score.
Then at 53:49, a clearance out of the Czechs zone was stopped by a Canadian forward and played around the boards to Anthony Stewart, who then passed the puck out to the front of the net and Defenceman Derrick Walser was on hand to convert it to a goal and give Team Canada their opening win of the tournament, to top the other 3 team group in the Cattini section, ahead of HC Vitkovice Steel and hosts HC Davos who play on day two.
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