Spengler Cup Champions 2015

Team Canada

Team Roster

Keith Aulie, Keaton Ellerby, Kris Foucault, Derek Roy, Alexandre Giroux, Kevin Clark, Trevor Carrick, Mark Cundari, Dan Paille, Matthew Lombardi, Cory Conacher, Manny Malhotra, Marc-André Bergeron, Cory Emmerton, Tom Pyatt, Matt D’Agostini, Aaron Johnson, Alexandre Picard, Daniel Vukovic, Matt Ellison, James Sheppard, Chris DiDomenico, Drew MacIntyre, Matt Climie, Jeff Glass

Head Coach - Guy Boucher

Assistant Coach - Serge Pelletier

Assistant Coach - Rob Cookson

Matt D’Agostini (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./Genève-Servette HC, SUI) broke open a tie game with 11:47 to go, leading Canada’s National Men’s Team to a 4-3 win over HC Lugano and a 13th Spengler Cup championship on Thursday.

It’s the first time Canada has won the tournament since 2012, and the first time it’s been perfect since 2007.

Just over three minutes after Lugano had tied the game, D’Agostini took a feed from Aaron Johnson (Port Hawkesbury, N.S./Stockton, AHL) and hammered a one-timer through goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.

Keaton Ellerby (Strathmore, Alta./Barys Astana, KHL), Derek Roy (Rockland, Ont./SC Bern, SUI) and Tom Pyatt (Thunder Bay, Ont./Genève-Servette HC, SUI) had the other goals for Canada, and Chris DiDomenico (Woodbridge, Ont./SCL Tigers, SUI) added two assists.

Jeff Glass (Calgary, Alta./Dinamo Minsk, KHL) rebounded well after getting pulled in Canada’s semifinal win over HC Davos on Wednesday, making 31 saves to record the win.

It was the Swiss side that struck first when Gregory Hofmann beat Glass to the post on a wraparound just shy of the nine-minute mark, but Ellerby’s blast from the point tied the game seven minutes later.

Both teams ramped up the offence in the second period, combining for 31 shots on goal.

Roy gave Canada its first lead at 3:27, knocking in the rebound of a Cory Conacher (Burlington, Ont./SC Bern, SUI) shot, and Pyatt finished off a terrific set-up from DiDomenico at 5:00 to push the advantage to 3-1.

HC Lugano got one back before the end of the second period when Alessandro Chiesa went five-hole on Glass on a power play, and Hofmann’s second goal five minutes into the third tied the game and led to D’Agostini’s game-winner only a few minutes later.

Three players – Pyatt, captain Matthew Lombardi (Montreal, Que./Genève-Servette HC, SUI), and Daniel Vukovic (North York, Ont./Genève-Servette HC, SUI) – lifted the Spengler Cup for the second year in a row with a different team, having won the tournament last year with Genève-Servette HC; for Lombardi and Vukovic it’s a third-straight title after winning with Genève-Servette in 2013, as well.

Canada has reached the final 22 times since making its first appearance at the invitational tournament in 1984.

The win caps off an impressive calendar year for Canada’s men’s teams in international competition; 2015 included gold at the IIHF World Junior Championship, IIHF World Championship, U18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, World Junior A Challenge, and Spengler Cup.

Original story by Jason La Rose at http://www.hockeycanada.ca