The Victoria Cup is an annual game or series of games played between professional ice hockey teams from Europe and the North American National Hockey League (NHL). The winner of the Cup receives 1,000,000 Swiss francs.^[1] The inaugural Cup was held in 2008 as a single game playoff between the 2008 European Champions Cup winner Metallurg Magnitogorsk and the New York Rangers NHL club. In subsequent years teams of the European Champions Hockey League will play one or more NHL challengers in an undetermined format.

[edit] History

The Victoria Cup was announced in 2007 as one of the highlight events to celebrate 2008, the 100th Year Anniversary of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The Victoria cup is so named to commemorate the first recorded organised indoor ice hockey game, played in 1875 at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

This is a milestone for international hockey and for the relationship between the IIHF and the National Hockey League," said IIHF President René Fasel. "Ever since the historic game between the Montreal Canadiens and CSKA Moscow on New Year's Eve 1975, hockey fans around the world have been longing for games between NHL clubs and European teams. There have been several games since then, but this is the first time we will have a summit meeting, a one-off final, for a trophy which we hope will be part of the annual international calendar for years to come.^[2]

– René Fasel, IIHF President

The two challengers for the Cup are chosen differently. One challenger, from Europe, is the winner of the IIHF European Champions Cup (in the 2008 Victoria Cup) or the Champions Hockey League (2009 edition onwards). The other from North America, is chosen by the National Hockey League head office from among the teams that open their NHL season with games in Europe. The IIHF has publicly stated their wish to have the NHL champion (winner of the Stanley Cup) represent the NHL but the NHL has not agreed to that proposal.

[edit] 2008 Victoria Cup

On October 1, 2008, the first Victoria Cup was awarded to the New York Rangers, winners of a single game playoff against the Metallurg Magnitogorsk, winners of the 2008 European Champions Cup^[3] played at the PostFinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland. The game was played under IIHF rules.^[2] Referees were split between the NHL and the IIHF.

The match was preceded by an exhibition game on September 30, 2008, between host SC Bern and the New York Rangers, won by the Rangers. This was the first time a Swiss club has played a NHL team.^[2] The Rangers followed the Victoria Cup game with two NHL regular-season games against the Tampa Bay Lightning team in Prague, Czech Republic on October 4 and October 5 at the Sazka Arena.^[4]

[edit] 2009 Victoria Cup

The second edition opposed the ZSC Lions as champions of the Champions League to the Chicago Blackhawks. The match was played on September 29, 2009 at the Hallenstadion.^[5] The ZSC Lions defeated The Blackhawks 2-1.^[6]

[edit] 2010 Victoria Cup

Since the 2009–10 season of the Champions Hockey League was cancelled the IIHF announced that the third edition of the Victoria Cup will feature an NHL team against a team from one of the top 4 European ice hockey leagues (KHL, SM-liiga, Czech Extraliga or Elitserien). The venue will also be, for the first time, outside Switzerland, either in Scandinavia or in Eastern Europe, the reasons for this being economic. Thus the ZSC Lions won't be able to defend the trophy. The European team and the venue of the event will only be announced once the NHL picks the team to represent them in the competition.^[7]

[edit] Trophy

The IIHF commissioned a new trophy designed by GDE Bertoni which designed the FIFA World Cup trophy. The Victoria Cup is a gold cup with twelve Perspex – a thermoplastic material – light blue hockey sticks, six on each side, sitting on a marble case and forming a “V” coming up and out of the Cup. The names of the winning clubs will be engraved on the back of the sticks.^[8]

[edit] Results

Edition	Date	Host	Winner	Score	Runner-up
2008	October 1	Berne, Switzerland	New York Rangers	4–3	Metallurg Magnitogorsk
2009	September 29	Zürich, Switzerland	ZSC Lions	2–1	Chicago Blackhawks

Ice hockey portal

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Super Series
• NHL Challenge
• List of international ice hockey competitions featuring NHL players

[edit] External links

• Victoria Cup website
• IIHF
• NHL