European Trophy expansion

European Trophy expansion
European Trophy is the most prestigious ice hockey club tournament in Europe,
and in 2011 the number of participating teams will increase from 18 to 24.
The teams are from six countries and are divided into four divisions.
The purpose with the European Trophy tournament is to continue to build strong and deep
relationships between the top teams in Europe. The tournament is also a strong voice in Europe
to develop the international club hockey and develop and continue to build a tournament with
high quality, which will be attractive for players, fans and commercial partners.
– We saw in last year’s tournament that we had high quality games that early in the season,
which created a lot of interest in the media and among the fans, says tournament director
Bo “Kulon” Lennartsson.
This year, the European Trophy family is proud to welcome the following teams:
From the Czech Republic:
HC Bílí Tygrí Liberec,
HC Plzen 1929,
HC Kometa Brno,
HC Eaton Pardubice,
HC Slavia Praha,
HC Ceske Budejovice,
From the Slovak Republic:
HC Slovan Bratislava
From Austria:
EV Vienna Capitals
From Finland:
KalPa
From Sweden:
Luleå Hockey
Those teams will bring to the total number of participating teams up to 24 teams.
– I’m happy that the interest for the tournament has been this big and it’s satisfying
that we can add six new teams from a hockey crazy country like the Czech Republic.
Slovan Bratislava from the Slovak Republic also adds to the value for both the
region and the tournament as a whole.
– We’re also pleased to welcome Vienna Capitals from Austria, a team that the
upcoming season will be coached by Swedish championship coach Tommy Samuelsson.
The Czech Republic provides six of the new clubs.
– Czech club hockey has always had an excellent reputation in Europe. I am glad that we
managed to extend the corresponding number of participants from our country for this year’s
prestigious tournament of the European Trophy, says Petr Bríza of HC Sparta Prague.
Four national champions participate in this year’s tournament: Färjestad BK (Sweden),
HIFK (Finland), Eisbären Berlin (Germany) and EC Red Bull Salzburg (Austria).
The European Trophy 2011 kicks off on August 11th and each team
plays eight games up until the 4th of September.
The Red Bulls Salute as final tournament of the European Trophy will offer once again
ice hockey at the highest level. The finalists will compete for the European Trophy in the
play-offs at two venues. One is traditionally Salzburg – the home town of hosting Red Bulls.
The second location will be the home rink of EV Vienna Capitals being the second Austrian
team to participate for the first time. The Austrian capital together with Stockholm, Helsinki,
Berlin, Prague and Bratislava completes the great selection of capital-located teams and
through the expansion with the new Albert-Schultz-Halle with a capacity of 7.000 spectators,
Vienna corresponds to the international level.
The best two teams of each division qualify for the final tournament of the European Trophy,
the Red Bulls Salute 2011, which will take place in the Salzburger Eisarena and
Viennese Albert-Schultz-Halle from December 16th till 18th 2011.
The final game of the European Trophy will be played in Vienna on Dec 18th, 2011.
As host of the tournament, EC Red Bull Salzburg is seeded together with
the best seven teams for the final tournament.
Web sites
Tournament web site
Red Bulls Salute web site
Schedule, European Trophy 2011
http://www.europeantrophy.com
http://www.redbullssalute.com
http://www.europeantrophy.com/schedule.php
Media contact persons
Germany
Czech Republic / Slovak Republic
Finland
Sweden
Austria
Daniel Goldstein
Tomas Klimicek
Timo Everi
Jerker Dammbro
Guido Stapelfeldt
d.goldstein@eisbaeren.de
klimicek@hcsparta.cz
timo.everi@hifk.fi
jerker.dammbro@difhockey.se
icehockeyrbs.presse@redbulls.com
Bo Lennartsson
Tournament Director European Trophy +46 736 823 316
bo.lennartsson@farjestadsbk.se
Jerker Dammbro
Press Officer European Trophy +46 733 902 333
jerker.dammbro@difhockey.se
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