There hasn’t been a direct college presence in the world’s oldest ice hockey tournament since the early 1980s.
That’s about to change.
A select team of NCAA men’s hockey players will compete in the 2025 Spengler Cup, according to sources.
The group will include players, coaches and staff members from Division I programs, both conference-affiliated and independents.
The tournament, which will hold its 97th edition in Davos, Switzerland, from Dec. 26 to Dec. 31, dates to 1923. Minnesota played in it in 1981 and North Dakota followed a year later but there hasn’t been an American-based team in the field since the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 2013.
A college select team’s participation now is possible only because of a 2024 NCAA bylaw change that carved out an exemption to rules prohibiting college players from competing for other teams during the academic year.
Now, men’s hockey athletes also can compete on a team representing College Hockey Inc. in the Spengler Cup.
“Allowing student-athletes to represent College Hockey Inc. will allow more student-athletes to engage in a historic, high-level competition in conjunction with a unique cultural experience without missing class time, as the competition occurs during winter break,” officials wrote in the rationale for the rule amendment, which was adopted by the NCAA Division I Council on June 26, 2024.
“While absences from regular-season intercollegiate competition are possible, such absences are expected to be minimal. Although the Spengler Cup offers prize money for participating teams, existing amateurism legislation would remain applicable.”
The college hockey select team’s logo and uniforms are still being developed, as is the framework for who’ll be on the coaching staff and invited to play. Last year’s tournament allowed team delegations to include 27 players and 12 officials.
The team will get an appearance fee from tournament organizers to cover expenses, according to sources.
HC Davos hosts the tournament and is one of the other five teams in the 2025 field. Team Canada fields a group typically made up of players from North American minor leagues and European pro leagues; former college players often take part.
Defending champion HC Fribourg-Gottéron of Switzerland is returning to the 2025 tournament along with HC Sparta Praha of Czechia and IFK Helsinki from Finland.
The tournament, which takes place Dec. 26-31 each year, includes 11 games over six days, and the recent format has guaranteed each team at least three games.
The 2024 format had two three-team pools, with round-robin play in each over the first three days. The top finisher in each pool advanced to the Dec. 30 semifinals to face the winners of Dec. 29 games between the second-place team from one pool and the third-place team in the other. The New Year’s Eve championship game wraps up the event.
