YOUR GUIDE TO THE SPENGLER CUP

There are truly miles and miles of stories for Oiler fans at this year’s Spengler cup. The organization has in the past sent players to shore up  the Canadian squad and may have used a few of those markers in placing a large number of players on this year’s team. However, it doesn’t stop there: the list of players with Oiler connections in this tournament is impressive.

TEAM CANADA

• G Devan Dubnyk
• D Cam Barker
• L Ryan Smyth
• C Sam Gagner
• C Marc Pouliot

That’s 5, three of whom are current Oilers. All need the work, but one would guess the club badly wants some starts for DD. Jon Bernier is the other goalie, so I imagine something resembling a shared workload.

MANNHEIM STEAMROLLERS

• Shawn Belle

It wasn’t that long ago that Belle outplayed Theo Peckham at training camp but was sent down anyway. Now, he’s playing for German Mannehim, who are called the ‘Adler Mannheim’ but should be named after the Christmas band.

HC DAVOS, SALAVAT YULAEV, VITKOVICE HC, HC FRIBOURG-GOTTERON

• None

Disappointing that Michel Riesen is no longer on the Davos team, and they have a former Oiler name in Petr Sykora but its the other Petr Sykora. This is the team of Thornton and Nash and they’re always tough. No Oiler connection I can find on Salavat Yuleav, nor among the Fribourg bunch although WJ fans may remember the exceptional Benjamin Conz on their roster.

Canada plays Mannheim today at noon Edmonton time on tsn2. Word of warning: this tournament is often on tape delay so beware of the internet. Also, the rink they play in is a beautiful place, and sometimes the sun shines on the ice during the games. A truly unique tournament.