Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
American Hockey League talent will once again travel to Switzerland this year to represent Canada in the Spengler Cup, the oldest club tournament in the world.
The Swiss HC Davos is held every December in the picturesque ski town of Davos in the Alps, and starting Thursday, it will be the 96th time the event is held. Each year, Hockey Canada fields a team into the tournament, which always features a large number of current and past AHL players. In addition to HC Davos and Team Canada, this year's six-team invitational tournament will also feature European club teams HC Dinamo Pardub (Czech Republic), HC Friborg Gotron (Switzerland), Kärpät Oulu (Finland) and Straubing Tigers (Germany).
Canada's game schedule begins on Boxing Day against host HC Davos at 2:15 p.m. ET. Fans in Canada can watch the game on TSN, while viewers in the United States can tune in via the game's YouTube channel.
Calgary Wrangler General Manager Brad Pascual Returns as Co-General Manager of Canada for the second year in a row, Joe Thornton and Nat Domenichelli. Experienced NHL head coach Gerald Galante Will line up behind the Canadian bench.
Being selected to come to Davos wearing a Canadian jersey is a coveted honor, and 13 players, including three AHL captains, will represent Canada this year. Texas Stars schedule Curtis McKenzieHaving scored 20 or more goals in a season six times during his AHL career, this will be his first time playing professionally for Canada. So it will Logan Shaw Member of the Toronto Greens. It's been a busy week for Shaw, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Marlies last Friday. Completing the trio is Brett Saney From the Rockford IceHogs.
In the net it will be Colten Ellis Springfield Thunderbirds and Dylan Ferguson From Iowa Wild. Ellis has been great so far for the Thunderbirds, going 8-5-2 with a 2.80 points-per-game average and a 0.916 save percentage. Long time AHL goaltender Antoine BibeauThose currently playing in Finland will complete the task of the goalkeeper group. He spent parts of nine seasons in the AHL and played 225 games.
Canadian blue line has strong AHL flavor Layton Ahak (Abbotsford), Jonathan Aspiro (Calgary), Madison Bowie (Cleveland), Noel Heffenmaier (Laval), Mike Hollowell (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), and Colton White (Utica) is on the list.
Team Canada's roster also includes several AHL alumni who now play for several teams in the Swiss National League, including forward Daniel Carr, Tanner Fritz, Josh Joris and Philippe Mayer. Carr was selected to the AHL's first All-Star team with the Chicago Wolves in the 2018-19 season and won the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL's Most Valuable Player. forward Philip Michael DeVosPlayers from the 2012 Calder Cup champion Norfolk Admirals are also on the Canadian roster.
Familiar AHL names also appeared on other teams' rosters in Davos. Friborg-Gautron team roster includes TJ BrennanPlayed in 679 AHL games and won the Eddie Shore Award for the AHL's best defensive player twice. Jakub ZborilA key member of the Cleveland Monsters' run to the Eastern Conference Finals last spring was Pardubis.
The Spengler Cup isn't the only destination for AHL players competing internationally this week. Seven top players will travel to Ottawa to compete in the prestigious IIHF World Junior Championships. Chicago Wolves forward Bradley Nadeau (Canada) and Felix Unger Sorum (Sweden) will compete for gold, as will Rochester USA forward constellation helenius (Finland) and Anton Wahlberg (Sweden).
The Czech team will send a defender Jakub Dvořák (Ontario) and beyond Edward Sayre (Coachella Valley). forward Dalibor DvorskySpringfield's leading scorer with 11 goals and 21 points this season will be on the Slovakia roster.
The 2025 World Junior Championship can be watched on TSN and RDS in Canada and NHL Network in the United States
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor for SiriusXM NHL Network Radio . In 2016, he received the AHL's James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
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