Like Fribourg-Gottéron, Team Canada will play the semi-finals of the Spengler Cup. The maple leaf team had to work hard to win (6-3) on Saturday evening against the Germans from Straubing. With two victories in two matches on the ice of the Eisstadion and six points to their account, the North Americans finished at the top of the Cattini group, ahead of HC Davos (2nd) and the Tigers (3rd).
Hosts of the tournament, Graubünden will therefore have to go through the quarter-finals. Sunday evening (8:15 p.m.), they will face the Finns from Kärpät Oulu, who finished last in the Torriani group. In the afternoon (3:10 p.m.), the Straubing Tigers will face the Czechs from Dynamo Pardubice, 2nd in the Torriani group, to try to reach the last four.
Eager to confirm the good impression left two days ago when it entered the fray against the “Rekordmeister” (resounding 2-6 success), Team Canada entered the game strong. And he quickly took control, thanks to a marvelous break concluded by Lugan’s Daniel Carr (5th, 1-0). The start of an exciting crossover.
Because, almost immediately, the seventh force of the DEL (German first division) managed to get back on track at the end of a good sequence of power-play. An equalizer signed Marcel Brandt (8th, 1-1).
Balanced, this duel between Canadians and Germans has long been undecided. But the maple leaf team was able to count on superior individuals, like Logan Shaw (22nd, 2-1; 37th, 3-2), to make the difference. The captain of the Toronto Marlies, in the AHL, demonstrated his sense of goal in the Davos Cathedral to score a double.
In the meantime, Travis St. Denis (30th, 2-2) had taken full advantage of a double numerical advantage to temporarily put the two teams back to back. North American indiscipline, however, was not enough for the Tigers to emerge victorious from this game, despite the three successes recorded in the exercise (49th Hede, 4-3).
It is indeed Team Canada, which managed to make the break twice during the third period by Madison Bowey (41st, 4-2) and Noel Hoefenmayer (52nd, 5-3), before irremediably detach (53rd Hazen, 6-3), who qualified directly for the semi-finals. It will be Monday afternoon (3:10 p.m.), against the winner of the clash between Dynamo Pardubice… and the Straubing Tigers.
Team Canada – Straubing 6-3 (1-1 2-1 3-1)
Ice rink. Arbitres: MM. Schrader, Lemelin; Pekkala, Schlegel.
Buts: 5th Carr (Jooris, Bowey) 1-0, 8th Brandt (Samanski, Lipon / 5c4) 1-1, 21st Shaw (C. McKenzie) 2-1, 30th St. Denis (Leier, S. McKenzie / 5c3) 2- 2, 37th Shaw (Hudon, Hollowell / 5c4) 3-2, 41st Bowey (Hudon, Hazen) 4-2, 49th Hede (Brandt, Samuelsson / 5c4) 4-3, 52nd Hoefenmayer (Maillet, Grégoire / 5c4) 5-3, 53rd Hazen (Irwin) 6-3.
Team Canada: Colton; Aspirot, Curran; Grégoire, Hoefenmayer; Hollowell, White; Bowey, Irwin; C. McKenzie, Shaw, Seney; Hazen, Maillet, Hudon; Gagner, Jooris, Carr; Coe, Fritz, Carroll. Entertainer: Gérard Gallant.
Straubing: bugle; Nogier, Samuelsson; Brown, Brandt; Green, Klein; Clarke, Geitner; St. Denis, Scott, Leier; Lipon, Samanski, Connolly; Uba, Brunnhuber, S. McKenzie; Fleischer, Leonhardt, Hede. Coach: Tom Pokel.
Penalties: 8 x 2′ against Team Canada; 5 x 2′ against Straubing.
