The Spengler Cup starts tomorrow. It is bit disappointing that the teams are either from the KHL, NLA, or Team Canada. Granted, there are five countries represented (Canada, Croatia, Finland, Russia, and Switzerland).
In Group Torriani, Geneve-Servette look to defend their title Salavat Yulaev Ufa is back after a one-year hiatus from the tournament. New KHL club Jokerit Helsinki round out the teams in the group, and are participating in this tournament for the first time since 2003.
In Group Cattini, the host HC Davos look to please the home crowd with a tournament win. Team Canada is always a threat to win it all. Rounding out the group is KHL Medvescak Zagreb, who are participating in the Spengler Cup for the first time.
Note: Rosters from Spengler Cup website.
Geneve-Servette HC (NLA)
Goalies: Christophe Bays, Robert Mayer, Janick Schwendener
Defensemen: Eliot Antonietti, Goran Bezina, Francis Bouillon, Frederic Iglesias, Romain Loeffel, Christian Marti, Jonathan Mercier, Dario Trutmann, Ramon Untersander, Daniel Vukovic
Forwards: Cody Almond, Matt D'Agostini, Roland Gerber, Arnaud Jacquement, Timothy Kast, Matthew Lombardi, Inti Pestoni, Alexandre Picard, Taylor Pyatt, Tom Pyatt, Christopher Rivera, Kevin Romy, Daniel Rubin, Tim Traber, Jeremy Wick
Top Threat: Defending champs will look to show that they aren't a one-year wonder.
Weakness: Is in the tougher group, so goaltending is going to be important if they want ot keep their opponents at Bays.
Jokerit Helsinki (KHL)
Goalies: Riku Helenius, Henrik Karlsson, Jani Kautto
Defensemen: Ryan Gunderson, Topi Jaakola, Oskari Korpikari, Ville Lajunen, Marco Maurer, Atte Ohtamaa, Niko Peltola, Santeri Saari, Jere Sneck, Daine Todd, Ossi Vaananen
Forwards: Juhamatti Aaltonen, Semir Ben-Amor, Niklas Hagman, Riku Hahl, Johan Harju, Tommi Huhtala, Niko Kapanen, Petr Koukal, Tomi Maki, Steve Moses, Linus Omark, Eetu Poysti, Jani Rita, Jere Sallinen, Saku Salminen, Severi Sillanpaa, Teemu Turunen, Petteri Wirtanen
Top Threat: One of the top teams in their league. Also have a pretty good offense, with Moses leading the way in goals.
Weakness: Unfortunately for Moses, the water here is frozen.
KHL Medvescak Zagreb (KHL)
Goalies: Mark Dekanich, Cal Heeter, Mark Owuya
Defensemen: Mark Flood, Andrew Hutchinson, Geoff Kinrade, Sasa Martinovic, Carle Mathieu, Shaone Morrisonn, Mark Popovic
Forwards: Eric Baudoin, Patrick Bjorkstrand, Michael Glumac, Edwin Hedberg, Krystofer Kolanos, Dario Kostovic, Ville Leino, Kurtis McLean, Andrew Murray, Pascal Pelletier, Nathan Perkovich, Brandon Segal, Martin St. Pierre, Bill Thomas, James Wright
Top Threat: Is a team that can wear an opponent down and grind out a win.
Weakness: WHY YOU HAVE TO PLAY AGAINST CANADA AND TEST MY LOYALITIES?!?!
Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL)
Goalies: Leland Irving, Vitali Koval, Vladimir Sohatsky
Defensemen: Denis Bodrov, Ilkka Heikkinen, Kirill Koltsov, Arturs Kulda, Alexander Kutuzov, Ivan Lekomtsev, Ivan Vishnevsky, Andrei Zubarev
Forwards: Yegor Dubrovsky, Alexei Glukhov, Stanislav Golovanov, Teemu Hartikainen, Alexei Kaigorodov, Denis Khlystov, Dmitri Makarov, Alexander Mereskin, Alexander Pankov, Antti Pihlstrom, Dmitri Semin, Evgeny Skachkov, Anton Slepyshev, Alexander Stepanov, Denis Tolpeko
Top Threat: I like the roster on paper. Does have the potential to win it all without too much trouble.
Weakness: Dmitri Semin only relation to Alex Semin is the last name (and enigmaticness).
HC Davos (NLA - Host)
Goalies: Leonardo Genoni, Gilles Senn
Defense: Luca Camperchioli, Felicien Du Bois, Beat Forster, Johan Fransson, Samuel Guerra, Fabian Heldner, Sven Jung, Simon Kindschi, Ville Koistinen, Perttu Lindgren, Claude-Curdin Paschoud, Noah Schneeberger, Jan von Arx
Forwards: Marc Aeschlimann, Andres Ambuhl, Dick Axelsson, Enzo Corvi, Nicklas Danielsson, Gregory Hofmann, Mauro Jorg, Tino Kessler, Marcus Paulsson, Niklas Persson, Sven Ryser, Patrick Schommer, Gregory Sciaroni, Lukas Sieber, Dario Simion, Reto von Arx, Samuel Walser, Dino Weiser, Marc Weiser
Top Threat: The host always bring in reinforcements this time of year, and are sure to have a good Corvi rating (second year in a row with a fancy stats joke!)
Weakness: With quite a few players with similar last names, the coach may get an aneurysm.
Team Canada
Goalies: Drew MacIntyre, Nolan Schaefer
Defensemen: Micki Dupont, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Joel Kwiatkowski, Steve McCarthy, Brendan Mikkelson, Ryan Parent, Jim Vandermeer, Derrick Walser
Forwards: Chris Didomenico, Colby Genoway, Stefano Giliati, Alexandre Giroux, Curtis Hamilton, Mike Hedden, Bud Holloway, Ryan Martindale, Brett McLean, Marc-Andre Pouliot, Byron Ritchie, Jerome Samson, Jeff Tambellini, Ben Walter
Top Threat: The roster looks stronger than last year, now to see if it really is.
Weakness: A Tambellini on a team is like a groundhog: If it sees its shadow, the team rebuilds for six more year.
Predictions
Group Torriani
1 - Jokerit Helsinki
2 - Salavat Yulaev Ufa
3 - Geneve-Servette HC
Group Cattini
1 - HC Davos
2 - Team Canada
3 - KHL Medvescak Zagreb
Final
HC Davos - Team Canada
Winner: HC Davos
In Group Torriani, I can see Jokerit Helsinki continuing their regular season dominance over to this tournament. Salavat Yulaev Ufa probably beats Geneve-Servette to finish second in the group. As for Group Cattini, HC Davos will do just enough to pass Team Canada and end up in first. KHL Medvescak Zagreb will be the odd team out in the group. For the first round, Salavat Yulaev Ufa beats fellow KHL team KHL Medvescak Zagreb and Team Canada squeezes past last years' champs Geneve-Servette HC. In the semi-finals, HC Davos moves past Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Team Canada battle past Jokerit Helsinki. In the final, the host HC Davos will hoist the Spengler Cup in front of the home crowd.
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