European Trophy (previously named ''Nordic Trophy'' between
2006 and
2009) was an annually held
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
tournament, traditionally composed of teams from the higher-level ice hockey leagues in countries across Europe. With 32 participating teams from seven countries in 2013, the European Trophy was at the time the biggest active ice hockey tournament in Europe. Starting with the 2014–15 season, the European Trophy was replaced by the
Champions Hockey League
The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe.
Backgrou ...
, a more formal competition which also included all of the champions of Europe's major national leagues.
Sweden and Finland always participated, and they were the only two countries participating when the tournament was named "Nordic Trophy". The tournament began in 2006 under the name "Nordic Trophy" with eight teams, four from Sweden and four from Finland. In 2010, several teams from European countries outside
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
agreed to join the tournament, which changed its name to European Trophy as a result. By the 2013 tournament, eight countries had been represented:
Sweden,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
,
Switzerland, and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
. No team ever won the tournament more than one time.
Teams
In 2006 and
2007, the Nordic Trophy consisted of four Swedish teams,
Djurgården
Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...
,
Frölunda,
Färjestad and
Linköping
Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...
; as well as four Finnish teams,
HIFK
HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...
,
Oulun Kärpät
Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "Oulu Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times, ...
,
Tappara
Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...
and
TPS.
In 2007, the tournament expanded from six to eight teams. A
Junior edition was also started, but it was discontinued after 2010. In
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, the senior tournament was expanded with two teams, Swedish team
HV71
HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...
and Finnish team
Jokerit
Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its h ...
. It got expanded again in 2009, when
Malmö Redhawks
The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games.
The history of the ...
from Sweden and
Lukko
Rauman Lukko (Finnish for "lock") is a Finnish sports club based in Rauma, Finland, best known for its men’s professional ice hockey team. The club was founded as Rauma Woodin Lukko in 1936. The representative team currently plays in the Fi ...
from Finland joined the tournament.
However, the Swedish and Finnish teams were split that year and instead, there were two tournaments: a
Swedish 2009 Nordic Trophy for the Swedish teams; and a
Finnish 2009 Nordic Trophy for the Finnish teams.
In 2010, the tournament expanded to European countries beyond
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
. Lukko from Finland left, and was replaced by fellow Nordic team
Vålerenga
Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...
from Norway.
Adler Mannheim and
Eisbären Berlin
Eisbären Berlin (; English: ''Berlin Polar Bears'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Berlin, Germany. The team competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of play in professional German ice hockey, and is also o ...
from Germany, and Czech team
Sparta Praha, completed the Capital Division; while Austrian team
Red Bull Salzburg, along with
SC Bern
Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the mos ...
and
ZSC Lions
The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...
from Switzerland, completed the Central Division. These new teams prompted the changing of the tournament name to European Trophy.
In the 2011 tournament, there were 24 teams. Sweden and Finland were represented by six teams each.
Luleå HF
Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...
replaced the Swedish team
Malmö Redhawks
The IF Malmö Redhawks (colloquially referred to simply as Malmö or by past abbreviation MIF) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Malmö which plays in the SHL, with Malmö Arena as the venue for home games.
The history of the ...
. From Finland,
KalPa
Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena.
Team history
Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuop ...
was for the first time included in the tournament. Seven teams from the Czech Republic participated:
Slavia Praha
Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...
,
Sparta Praha,
Mountfield České Budějovice,
Bílí Tygři Liberec,
ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice,
Plzeň 1929, and
Kometa Brno. The German teams
Eisbären Berlin
Eisbären Berlin (; English: ''Berlin Polar Bears'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Berlin, Germany. The team competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of play in professional German ice hockey, and is also o ...
and
Adler Mannheim remained in the tournament. Besides
Red Bull Salzburg, there was now a second team from Austria, the
Vienna Capitals
Vienna Capitals are an Austrian professional ice hockey club that participate in the Erste Bank Hockey League. Founded in 2001, the Capitals play their home games in Vienna, Austria, at Albert Schultz Eishalle. In the 2004–05 season, the Capit ...
. Slovakia was for the first time represented in the European Trophy tournament, with
Slovan Bratislava. Norway and Switzerland, however, were no longer represented. The tournament's schedule was also changed; instead of having the playoffs in September right after the regulation round in August–September, the playoffs were now played in December.
The 2012 edition of the tournament is expanded further by eight teams, for a total of 32 teams. Another Swedish team,
Brynäs IF
Brynäs IF is a Swedish ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden. The club has played in the top-tier league since 1960, longer than any other team.
History
B ...
joins the tournament this year; Switzerland returns with four teams; another two German teams participate; and another team from Finland joins the tournament. The regulation round is played in July–November, while the playoffs were played in December.
Slavia Praha
Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...
, however, announced on 31 May 2012 that they would be pulling out of the European Trophy.
On 18 June it was announced that
Piráti Chomutov
Piráti Chomutov is a Czech ice hockey team from Chomutov, Czech Republic. Established as ČSK Chomutov in 1945, the team has played in Chomutov through numerous team name changes and elevations/relegations in the Czechoslovak and Czech hockey l ...
had taken over Slavia Praha's spot in the South Division.
On 14 February 2013, the 2013 tournament was officially announced. It featured exactly the same 32 teams from last year, marking the first time in Nordic/European Trophy history that the teams remained the same from last year. The 32 teams were also divided into exactly the same divisions, and the regulation round schedule (before the playoffs) was similar to last year, the only difference being that the home–away team assignings for each game were switched. Due to the
2014 Winter Olympics, the regulation round ended in September 2013 instead of a spread-out schedule ending in November.
Map
List
*Note (*): the stated home arenas don't have to be used in the European Trophy tournament.
*Note (**):
SC Bern
Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the mos ...
and
ZSC Lions
The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...
did not participate in 2011.
Tournament structure
The European Trophy tournament was divided into regular round games between late July and November, where teams played each other in a predefined schedule, and a playoff weekend in December which was an
elimination tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
where two teams played against each other to win in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team was crowned the ''Red Bulls Salute Champion''.
If a game was tied after regulation time (60 minutes), an
overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
*by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
lasting for 5 minutes was played. During overtime, both teams substituted only 4 players on the ice at once (except for 3 when either of the teams had a penalized player). If no team scored during the overtime period, a
shootout
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...
was played, starting with three penalty shots for both teams. If the shootout remained tied after the first three rounds, sudden death rounds were played until a winning team had been determined.
Regular round games
In the regular round, the 32 teams were divided into four divisions and each team played once against each other team in the same division. Additionally, each team was assigned a "local rival" in the same division, against which they played a second game. Thus, each team played a total of 8 regular round games. Points were awarded for each game, with three points awarded for a win in regulation time, two points for winning in overtime or a shootout, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation time. The two highest-ranked teams in each division qualified for the playoffs.
Playoffs
The European Trophy
playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...
, known as the ''Red Bulls Salute'', were the last part of the tournament. It was a
single-elimination tournament
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
, where two teams played against each other in order to advance to the next round. In the 2013 tournament, the Red Bull Salute took place in Berlin. There were no classification/placement games, meaning there were only Quarterfinals, Semifinals as well as the Final game. The Red Bulls Salute previously took place in
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 2010 and 2011, and in Vienna and
Bratislava in 2012. Before the 2013 tournament, the playoff hosts were always guaranteed a playoff spot (i.e. automatically qualified for the playoffs) and took the playoff spots of the worst 2nd-ranked teams of all divisions in the tournament.
Prize money
After the regulation round, the four division winners received
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
25 000 each, the four second-placed teams €20 000, and the third, fourth and fifth team of each division received €15 000, €10 000, and €5 000, respectively. Additionally, in the final of the Red Bulls Salute, the winning team received €50 000, while the losing finalist got €10 000. In total, €360 000 were given out during the entire 2013 European Trophy tournament.
Winners
Note that due to the divisioning system in the European Trophy tournaments, the regular-round winning team was determined by the best record of all teams.
See also
*
Champions Hockey League
The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe.
Backgrou ...
, a new tournament launched by the
IIHF
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...
, starting in 2014
*
European Trophy Junior
*
Champions Hockey League (2008–09), a similar tournament played only in the 2008–09 season
References
External links
European Trophy official websiteNordic Trophy statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:European Trophy
Defunct multi-national ice hockey leagues in Europe
Recurring sporting events established in 2006
Annual sporting events