CHN Staff Report
The U.S. Collegiate Selects team fell just short of winning the Spengler Cup championship Wednesday, when it dropped a 6-3 decision to host HC Davos.
The U.S. came back from three one-goal deficits, behind goals from Cornell’s Ryan Walsh, Penn State’s Aiden Fink, and Massachusetts’ Jack Musa, and had the game tied with under five minutes to go.
But Filip Zadina, a former top-ten NHL Draft pick who played 262Â NHL games, scored the game winner. The hometown HC Davos, which has numerous former NHL players and is in first place in its league, was avenging an earlier loss to the Collegiate team.
The U.S. Collegiate Selects went 2-2 in the tournament, losing the first game to Canada before defeating HC Davos to win its group and move to the semifinals. That result was met by elation from the Selects contingent, which wasn’t sure what to expect in the tournament.
“That’s a hell of a win for college hockey,” Selects coach Guy Gadowsky said afterwards. “It’s a great win for college hockey in an absolutely beautiful building with an incredible atmosphere. A lot of work from a lot of people over the years went into this.”
Tuesday, the U.S. team defeated a pro team from Prague in the semis to advance, with Fink, just back from an injury that kept him out of the Penn State’s lineup for the past six weeks, getting a hat trick.
Minnesota Duluth’s Adam Gajan did the bulk of the goaltending in the tournament, and was one of many standouts.
The team was first conceived in large part by Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf, who helped it get entry into the tournament, the first time a U.S. college team was represented in the Spengler Cup in over 30 years. Penn State’s Guy Gadowsky was picked as head coach, and the team was put together from current U.S. college players who are not participating in the World Junior Championship.
The team subsequently became a bit of a local favorite to the Davos crowd, especially after it defeated its hometown-ers.
On the Spengler Cup X/Twitter feed, local officials wrote, “The @USCollegeSelect may have fallen just short in the final, but what a tournament they delivered. Courage, speed, heart — and a performance that earned admiration far beyond the result. You made your mark in Davos. This was special.”