Team Canada and Vítkovice qualified for semifinals
28 Dec 2012 | Dennis Mende
While Vítkovice earned their ticket for the semis themselves with a win against Fribourg, a victory by hosts Davos against Mannheim let Team Canada stay on top of the other group.
Goals by Roman Szturc and Rudolf Huna until 21:45 pathed the way for the Vítkovice win against Fribourg-Gottéron. Julien Sprunger only was able to cut the lead to the half for the hosts at 44:39. Fribourg goalie Cory Schneider left his net in the last minute of play but also with the additional attacker the Swiss team couldn't force the equalizer anymore. With this win Vítkovice and Fribourg changed positions in the Torriani Group with the Czechs being qualified for the semifinals.
In the other game hosts HC Davos came back after their clear defeat against Team Canada and grabbed a win that was never in danger despite an initial two-goal deficit. Dennis Seidenberg and Florian Kettemer had scored for the Germans before Enzo Corvi and twice Dino Wieser made it a 3-2 lead for Davos even before the second intermission. Loui Eriksson, Grégory Hofmann and Santeri Alatalo even added another three strikes for a convincing 6-2 win for the Swiss side.
Today's results mean that Vítkovice and Team Canada as group winners are already qualified for the semifinals while the other four teams play tomorrow for the remaining two semi final spots.
Quarterfinals (Saturday, 29 December 2012): Fribourg-Gottéron - Adler Mannheim
HC Davos - Salavat Yulayev Ufa
Semifinals (Sunday, 30 December 2012):Team Canada - Fribourg-Gottéron/Adler Mannheim
HC Vítkovice - HC Davos/Salavat Yulayev Ufa
Final (Monday, 31 December 2012):Winner S1 vs. Winner S2