The Spengler Cup remains the wackiest tournament in hockey

Gang, the holiday season means spending time with your family, eating snacks and enjoying lots of sports.

And one of the most enduring holiday traditions in hockey is the annual Spengler Cup tournament in Switzerland. Held every year in Davos – in one of the most breath-taking buildings in all of sports with its iconic wooden roof – the Spengler Cup is an invite-only tournament that sees HC Davos welcome five teams for a sprint of a tournament.

The 2025 edition of the event will be the 97th time the Spengler Cup has been held, and features a mix of familiar teams and a brand-new entry. Here’s a rundown of the six teams headed to Davos on Boxing Day and what we’ll be looking for during the event.

HC Sparta Praha

Hailing from Prague, Czechia, HC Sparta Praha compete in the Czech Extraliga, Czechia’s top domestic league. They were the top regular season team in 2024-25 but lost to the eventual champions Kometa Brno, in the semi-final round.

Former Flame forward Roman Horak and former Wranglers defender Mark Pysyk play for HC Sparta Praha.

HIFK

Hailing from Helsinki, Finland, HIFK competes in the Liiga, Finland’s top domestic league. They finished fourth in the regular season in 2024-25.

HIFK features zero former Flames or Wranglers players, but their head coach is Olli Jokinen and one of his assistants is Toni Lydman.

HC Fribourg-Gotteron

Hailing from Fribourg, Switzerland, HC Fribourg-Gotteron competes in the National League, Switzerland’s top domestic league. They finished sixth in the regular season in 2024-25. They won last season’s Spengler Cup.

HC Fribourg-Gotteron features former Flames netminder Reto Berra.

Canada

Every year, Hockey Canada puts together a rag-tag group of Canadians – a mixture of players from European club teams and, more recently, the American Hockey League – to compete for the Spengler Cup. And Canada’s entry is tied with the hosts, HC Davos, for the most championships won at this event.

Canada’s entry this season features former Flames forward Derek Grant.

HC Davos

The hosts of this event, HC Davos hails from Davos, Switzerland and competes in the National League. They were fifth in their league in the 2024-25 regular season. As mentioned, they’re tied with Canada for the most Spengler Cup championships over the years with 16.

HC Davos features former Flames forward Joakim Nordstrom, and Rasmus Andersson’s big brother, Calle, also plays for them.

U.S. Collegiate Selects

A new wrinkle in this year’s Spengler Cup is the presence of the U.S. Collegiate Selects team. So, y’know how USA Hockey puts together a strong World Junior team every year? Well, they’ve also put together a group of college players – all too old to compete in the World Juniors – that will vie for the Spengler Cup instead. They’re led by Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky, and features 14 NHL prospects – notably, Calgary product Aidan Fink and T.J. Hughes, tied for second in the NCAA in scoring as of right now.

Usually the Spengler Cup is an exercise in “Oh hey, I guess that former NHLer is still playing in Europe!” but the inclusion of the Collegiate Selects means that NHL clubs will be paying attention, as a standout performance could nudge some of the unsigned college prospects towards an NHL deal.

The Spengler Cup runs Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland and the games can be seen on TSN’s programming – check your listings for times and specific channels.