It’s holiday time, which means it’s time for the greatest tournament of them all– the Spengler Cup!! Look, I understand how people enjoy the World Junior tournament, but for me– the Spengler Cup really is the bee’s knees of holiday tournament. Some love the idea of rising talent– me?? I’m about the randomness of some of these rosters and how it’s an invitational format makes it’s quite the exclusive tournament.

To start, the Vaillant Arena in Davos could be the most scenic arena in the world. The arena itself is an old world masterpiece with half the arena being seated, the other being standing room in supporter sections, as they chant to give it an atmosphere of international soccer. I don’t have much on my bucket list, but going to the Spengler Cup is one on that list.

The teams are another great thing. The hosts HC Davos have five other teams invited to the tournament…well, four other teams as Team Canada is another stalwart of this tournament. In this edition, the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers of Germany (hopefully wearing Chris Sabo rec-specs as visors), KalPa Kuopio from Finland, Metallurg Magnitogorsk from Russia, and Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic will be taking part of the round-robin tournament. In the past, the AHL’s Rochester Americans, Dinamo Riga, Team Switzerland, and a USA Select team have participated.

The rosters are also an eye-opener when it comes to guys who are still playing. Canada’s roster is the one that’s really amazing this year with Kevin Bieksa, Torrey Mitchell, Daniel Winnik, and Dominic Moore represent the old guard, with Zach Fucale, Dante Fabbro, and Colt Conrad being the new blood. Players like Tom Gilbert, Milan Jurcina, and Anders Lindback are a few of the old NHLers making appearance here, while Sami Kapanen coaches the KalPa squad. It’s a great “Oh, hey!!” moment when you see the names of yesteryear on the ice again. Hell, this was a tournament Sergei Fedorov came back to play after being on the sidelines for a couple years. It holds that kind of stroke in the international hockey community.

While there isn’t much of a broadcasting presence in the US, there’s places you could probably go to find a feed of the game. I only with the NHL Network would show a game or ten to give this underrated tournament the respect it deserves.