Teams
In 2006 and 2007, the Nordic Trophy consisted of four Swedish teams, Djurgården, Frölunda, Färjestad and Linköping; as well as four Finnish teams, HIFK, Oulun Kärpät, Tappara and TPS.
In 2007, the tournament expanded from six to eight teams and a Junior edition was started. (The Junior tournament was discontinued after 2010.) In 2008, the tournament was expanded with two teams, Swedish team HV71 and Finnish team Jokerit. It got expanded again in 2009, when Malmö Redhawks from Sweden and Lukko 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 became European. Lukko from Finland left, and was replaced by fellow Nordic team Vålerenga from Norway. Adler Mannheim and Eisbären Berlin from Germany, and Czech team Sparta Praha, completed the Capital Division; while Austrian team Red Bull Salzburg, along with SC Bern and ZSC Lions 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 replaced the Swedish team Malmö Redhawks. From Finland, KalPa was for the first time included in the tournament. Seven teams from the Czech Republic participated: Slavia Praha, Sparta Praha, Mountfield České Budějovice, Bílí Tygři Liberec, ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice, Plzeň 1929, and Kometa Brno. The German teams Eisbären Berlin and Adler Mannheim remained in the tournament. Besides Red Bull Salzburg, there was now a second team from Austria, the Vienna Capitals. 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 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 will be played in December. Slavia Praha, 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 had taken over Slavia Praha's spot in the South Division.
On February 14, 2013, the 2013 tournament was officially announced. It will feature the exact same 32 teams from last year, marking the first time in Nordic/European Trophy history that the teams remain the same from last year. The 32 teams are also divided into the exact same divisions, and the regulation round schedule (before the playoffs) are similar to last year, the only difference being that the home–away team assignings for each game are switched. Due to the 2014 Winter Olympics, the regulation round ends in September 2013 instead of a spread-out schedule ending in November.
Read more about this topic: European Trophy
Famous quotes containing the word teams:
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)