Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
American Hockey League talent will once again head to Switzerland this year to represent Canada in the Spengler Cup, the world’s oldest club competition.
Held every December in Davos, a beautiful ski town in the Alps, Swiss team HC Davos hosts the tournament for the 96th time starting Thursday. Each year Hockey Canada re-sends a team to the tournament that always features a heavy presence of current and past AHL names. Along with HC Davos and Team Canada, this year’s six-team invitational tournament will also feature European club teams HC Dynamo Pardubice (Czechia), HC Fribourg-Gottéron (Switzerland), Kärpät Oulu (Finland) and Straubing Tigers (Germany). .
Canada’s tournament schedule begins on Boxing Day against host HC Davos at 2:15 pm ET. Canadian fans can watch the action on TSN while viewers in the United States can tune in to the tournament’s YouTube channel.
General manager of the Calgary Wranglers Brad Pascall is back again for the second year in a row as Canada’s general manager, joined by Joe Thornton again Hnat Domenichelli. Veteran NHL coach Gerard Gallant he will be behind the Canadian bench.
Being selected to come to Davos to wear a Canadian jersey is a highly coveted honor, and 13 players – including three AHL captains – will represent Canada this year. Texas Stars game Curtis McKenziewho has reached 20 or more goals in a season six times in his AHL career, will represent Canada as a professional for the first time. It will be so Logan Shaw of the Toronto Marlies. Last week was a busy one for Shaw, who signed a two-year contract with the Marlies last Friday. Taking out the trio Brett Seney from the Rockford IceHogs.
On the net it will be Colten Ellis of the Springfield Thunderbirds as well Dylan Ferguson from the Iowa Wild. Ellis has been excellent for the Thunderbirds so far, going 8-5-2 with a 2.80 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Longtime AHL goaltender Antoine Bibeauwho is now playing in Finland, will complete the group of strikers. He spent parts of nine seasons in the AHL and played 225 games.
Canada’s blue line has a strong AHL flavor Layton Ahac (Abbotsford), Jonathan Aspirot (Calgary), Madison Bowey (Cleveland), Noel Hoefenmayer (Laval), Mac Hollowell (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), and Colton White (Utica) on the list.
Canada’s roster also includes several recent AHL alumni who now play for several teams in the Swiss National League, including the Premier League. Daniel Carr, Tanner Fritz, Josh Jooris again Philippe Maillet. Carr was a member of the AHL First All-Star Team with the Chicago Wolves in 2018-19 and also won the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s most valuable player. Forward Philip-Michael Devosa 2012 Calder Cup champion with the Norfolk Admirals, is also on the Canadian roster.
AHL regulars also have lists of other teams that will be in Davos. The Fribourg-Gotteron list has it TJ Brennanwho played 679 AHL games and twice won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s top defenseman. Jakub Zborilan important part of the Cleveland Monsters to the Eastern Conference Finals last spring, traveling with Pardubice.
The Spengler Cup isn’t the only place AHL players are heading to for international competition this week. The top seven players will travel to Ottawa to participate in the prestigious IIHF World Junior Championship. Chicago Wolves ahead Bradley Nadeau (Canada) and Felix Unger Sorum (Sweden) will play for gold, as will the Rochester Americans up front Konsta Helenius (Finland) and Anton Wahlberg (in Sweden).
Czechia will field a defender Jakub Dvorak (Ontario) and beyond Eduard Sale (Coachella Valley). Forward Dalibor DvorskySpringfield’s leading scorer with 11 goals and 21 points this season, will be on Slovakia’s roster.
The 2025 World Junior Championship can be seen on TSN and RDS in Canada, and NHL Network in the US.
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
