DULUTH — The NCAA has some raucous atmospheres, with Minnesota Duluth already playing before two of the more notorious student sections in all of college hockey at North Dakota and Western Michigan.
The Fighting Hawks students at Ralph Engelstad Arena and the Broncos’ “Lawson Lunatics” at Lawson Ice Arena fill multiple sections. Now, imagine if they were given the entire arena.
According to Bulldogs sophomore goaltender
that’s what the 25 student-athletes of the
United States Collegiate Selects
team are preparing to play before between Christmas and New Year’s Day when they take part in the
97th Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland.
Gajan, who is playing on the NCAA all-star team along with fellow
Bulldogs sophomore Zam Plante,
said his North American teammates are in for a treat. European fans don’t attend sporting events to just sit back and enjoy the game, like you sometimes see in North America, he said.
“The fans in Europe, it’s just so different,” said Gajan, the lone European on a U.S. college roster that includes Americans and Canadians. “In Slovakia, and especially everywhere in Europe — and in Davos — the fans just cheer. I would say the student section, the whole rink is the student section. It’s just very different there compared to here.”
The Spengler Cup is billed as the oldest international hockey tournament in the world, featuring professional and amateur teams from across the globe. Hosted by the Swiss professional hockey team HC Davos, it was started in 1923 by Dr. Carl Spengler, a Davos physician and “enthusiastic supporter” of HC Davos.
The tournament is played at the recently renamed zondacrypto Arena. Traditionally known as Eisstadion Davos, it holds 7,080 people, with the most recent renovations of the 46-year-old rink completed in 2021.
Zam, a Hermantown native, will be the second-generation Plante to take part in the tournament. His father, 1999 Stanley Cup Champion Derek Plante, played in the 2002 Spengler Cup while playing professionally in Switzerland. Zam said
have heard plenty of stories about Davos from their dad.
“He never stops talking about it. It should be a lot of fun,” Zam Plante said. “He said it’s one of the coolest hockey environments. It’s a small town, everybody’s there for hockey. He said it’s kind of similar to a state tournament feel, is what he described it as.”
Zam Plante’s 25 points with the Bulldogs through 20 games
put him among the top 10 scorers in the NCAA,
while his 18 assists have the 2022 fifth-round NHL draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins tied for second in the nation.
Minnesota Duluth forward Zam Plante (27) shoots the puck against St. Cloud State on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
Gajan’s 1.92 goals against average and .919 save percentage both rank in the top 15 nationally among goaltenders who have played at least 500 minutes in the first half of the season. Only two other goaltenders have played more minutes this season in the NCAA in than the 2023 second-round NHL draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks. One of those, Minnesota State’s Alex Tracy, will be Gajan’s teammate in Switzerland.
This is the first time a U.S. College all-star team is taking part in the Spengler Cup. The roster features three goaltenders, seven defensemen and 15 forwards from 17 NCAA teams. Penn State’s Guy Gadowsky — who has five of his Nittany Lions on the team — is serving as head coach with New Hampshire’s Mike Souza and Niagara’s Jason Lammers serving as assistants.
NCAA teams have played in previous Spengler Cups, with Minnesota taking part in 1981 and North Dakota in 1982.
Each team will play between 3-5 games in a span of six days. The U.S. opens against Canada at 1:15 p.m. CST on Dec. 26. The U.S. will play host HC Davos either on Dec. 27 if it loses the opener to Canada, or Dec. 28 if it beats the Canadians.
The two group winners get a bye to the semifinals on Dec. 30 while the others play in the quarterfinals on Dec. 29. The championship is New Year’s Eve. The tournament will be streamed in the United States on YouTube.
Both Gajan and Plante said the Spengler Cup will be a good opportunity for NCAA hockey to showcase its skills to the rest of the world.
“It’s great for all the players,” Gajan said. “We’ll be playing against professional players and professional teams. It’s will be a great experience for us and a big challenge to see how we do against those pro teams.”
Minnesota Duluth goaltender Adam Gajan (30) makes a save against Arizona State on Friday, Dec. 12 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
Gajan said his father and neighbor are coming from Slovakia to Switzerland to watch him play in the Spengler Cup. He said his hometown of Poprad — which is a little over 1,000 miles from Davos, through Austria — hosts the second-oldest hockey tournament in Europe, but it doesn’t compare to the Spengler Cup.
Zam Plante won’t have any family with him over the holidays in Switzerland.
His little brother has a hockey tournament in the Twin Cities
that they all made prior arrangements to attend.
“I don’t blame them,” Zam said.
Minnesota Duluth forward Zam Plante (27) skates with the puck against St. Cloud State on Friday, Nov. 7 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
Meet the participants of the 2025 Spengler Cup
HC Davos — The hosts play in the Switzerland’s highest level of professional hockey, the National League, and have won their own tournament 16 times. They most recently won in 2023. Like many of the other professional teams taking part, their roster includes former NHL players, like former Detroit Red Wing and San Jose Shark Filip Zadina of Czechia.
HC Fribourg-Gotteron — The “Dragons” of Switzerland also compete in the National League with HC Davos, and they are the defending Spengler Cup champions. Their roster includes former Denver Pioneer forward Henrik Borgstrom of Finland. He played 111 NHL games with the Florida Panthers, Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals before returning to Europe.
HC Sparta Praha — One of the world’s oldest hockey clubs having started in 1909, the club is based in Prague and competes in Czech Extraliga, the top league in Czechia. Their roster features a pair of veteran NHL journeymen in Canadian Mark Pysyk and Devin Shore, a former captain at Maine who played with the Minnesota Wild a year ago.
IFK Helsinki — Another one of the oldest hockey clubs in the world — founded in 1897 — IFK plays in Finland’s top league, SM-liiga. They, too, feature a connection to the Minnesota Wild in 19-year-old defenseman Aron Kiviharju, a 2024 fourth-round NHL draft pick.
Canada — Hockey Canada has yet to reveal its roster for the 2025 Spengler Cup. The 16-time tournament champions — tied for the most with HC Davos — pull players from the American Hockey League, ECHL and National League in Switzerland, as well as other European pro leagues.