Dolomites Cup 2012 presented in Neumarkt - VIDEO

The Dolomites Cup is taking place for the seventh time this year, and the tournament has never been as strong as this year. In addition, the ice hockey tournament will take place for the first time with five participants: For the first time, a team from Norway, Lorenskog IK, will fight for tournament victory. The runner-up in the highest Norwegian ice hockey league is not only in Neumarkt for the tournament, but is also setting up its training tents here, as is the DEL participant, the Iserlohn Roosters. The two teams have been in the Unterland since yesterday, August 21st, to prepare for the coming season. The highlight of the training camp for the two professional ice hockey teams is participation in the International Dolomites Cup, which will be held in Neumarkt and Bruneck from Thursday, August 23rd to Sunday, August 26th.

Norwegian runner-up Lorenskog with Kenny Corupe

Lorenskog Ishockeyklubb comes to the lowlands as the newly crowned Norwegian runner-up. For the club from the town of Lorenskog, which has a population of 33.000, it is the greatest success in the club's history to date. The Norwegians' ranks also include three well-known faces in the German-speaking world: the Austrian goalkeeper Jürgen Penker, the former HC Bozen striker Kenny Corupe and the former Kölner Haie striker James Sixsmith. But the star of the team is Knut Henrik Spets. Together with his brother Lars-Erik, the “Spets brothers” had a total of 119 scorer points last season. The Red-Blues are also supported by national striker Mats Froshaug and Martin Laumann Ylven, who previously hunted for goals for the top Swedish club Linköping HC. A lot is also expected from the Canadian newcomer Wacey Rabbit. The striker, drafted by the Boston Bruins in 2005, comes to Norway directly from the AHL; he previously played very successfully for a season with the EBEL club KHL Zagreb. The Norwegians are rated as particularly strong in defense, also thanks to the two Swedes Peter Messa and Jonas Olsson and the Canadian ECHL experienced Wes Cunningham.

South Tyrolean Diego Kostner is the tournament favorite at Lugano

The top favorites to win the tournament are not necessarily the Scandinavians, but the Swiss participant, HC Lugano. Lugano is one of the most important and successful clubs in Swiss ice hockey. Since the introduction of the playoffs in the 1985/86 season, the Ticino team has won seven Swiss championships, the last title being celebrated in 2006. In addition, the Bianconeri were in the championship finals five times and were also able to achieve various international successes as runner-up European Cup winners in 1988 and 1989 and by reaching third place at the IIHF Continental Cup in 3 and 2003.

HC Lugano will be traveling to the Dolomites Cup with a number of stars, including the current and former national players Daniele Manzato, Steve Hirschi, Julien Vauclair, Hnat Domenichelli, Raffaele Sannitz as well as the foreign top stars Ilkka Heikkinen, Petteri Nummelin (both from Finland), Jaroslav Bednar (117 NHL games), Brett McLean (385 NHL games), Glen Metropolit (407 NHL games) and the two dual-citizen brothers, Brady and Jordy Murray. The title contender's team also includes a South Tyrolean: Diego Kostner made the jump to the professional team last season as a 35-year-old and played 4 games (XNUMX scorer points) in the NLA.

Iserlohn Roosters represent DEL With the Iserlohn Roosters, a strong German club is also coming to South Tyrol, which is hoping to improve after its recent elimination in the DEL pre-playoffs. The club from Sauerland started the last DEL season with high expectations, with stars such as former NHL players Sebastien Caron, Mike York and Derek Peltier being signed at the start of the season. Together with Jeff Giuliano, these North Americans appeared on the ice in almost 2.000 games in the best league in the world. Caron even returned to the NHL for the Tampa Bay Lightning club after the early end of the season with Iserlohn in Germany. There is also the strong “German storm duo” Michael Wolf and Robert Hock. But despite this concentrated NHL load and German national players, the Roosters narrowly missed making it into the quarterfinals.

In the coming season, the playoffs should also be achieved thanks to good preparation - the Dolomites Cup also serves this purpose. The South Tyrolean air is not new for some players from Iserlohn: defender Brandon Rogers last played in Bolzano and striker Alex Nikiforuk in Valpellice.

Austrian champions Black Wings Linz comes with Dany Irmen

The tournament organizers are particularly proud of the participation of the Black Wings Linz. The Upper Austrians come to Neumarkt as the current Austrian champions. The invitation to the number 1 in Austrian club ice hockey is no coincidence: Linz had already taken part in the Dolomiten Cup in 2009 and impressed with its offensive style of play. For this year's edition, the Black Wings Linz are likely to be one of the favorites to win the tournament, after all, the Linz team confidently dominated the basic round of the last EBEL season with a 12-point lead over second-placed KHL Zagreb. The Upper Austrians also showed themselves “masterfully” in the playoffs: In the quarterfinals, the Linzers managed a 4:3 series win against Vienna, in the semifinals the Black and Whites raged against Olympia Laibach with a total score of 4:1 and in the final, the Linzers showed With a 4:1 winning streak the KAC reached its limits.

The Linzers were able to set off real fireworks, especially on the offensive, and the Upper Austrians want to build on that this year too. The stars around Rob Hisey, Gregor Baumgartner, Dany Irmen (former HC Bozen striker), Pat Leahy, Brian Lebler, Brett Engelhardt, Mike Ouellette and Daniel Oberkofler should ensure the necessary goals. In defense, the champions continue to rely on Franklin MacDonald, Curtis Murphy, Robert Lukas and the two new star defenders Andy Hedlund and Marc-Andrè Dorion. Another guarantee of success is goalkeeper Alex Westlund, who was able to fend off 92,3 percent of all opposing shots at the Linz goal last season.

HC Pustertal there for the second time

As a representative of Italian ice hockey, Serie A runner-up HC Pustertal will take part in the Dolomites Cup. This is the second tournament participation for the yellow-blacks after 2011. Last year, the Fiat Professional Wolves secured third place after a thrilling 5-4 victory after a penalty shootout against Team Italy. Although the Dolomite Cup is better attended than ever before, the Fiat Professional Wolves also want to look as good as possible as representatives of Italian ice hockey, especially because the yellow and blacks' first two official appearances of the season as part of the Dolomite Cup are taking place in their home ice stadium in Bruneck will take the stage. In goal, the HCP is relying on an absolute superstar in Jean-Sebastien Aubin. The French Canadian can look back on 218 games in the NHL (Pittsburgh, Toronto, Los Angeles), 176 games in the AHL and 132 games in the DEL (Düsseldorf). After there was no longer a place for the right-handed catcher in the NHL, Jean-Sebastian Aubin hit Düsseldorf like a bomb: In 2010, Aubin was the best goalkeeper in the league, was on the all-star team and was the fans' favorite. It will be interesting to see whether Aubin will “witch” the Pusterer Wolves into the final tournament in Neumarkt. The French Canadian receives support in defense from national defenders Armin Helfer, Christian Mair and Armin Hofer. In attack, the loud HCP fans are hoping for lots of goals from Joe Cullen, Pat Iannone, Pat Kavanagh, Joe Jensen as well as Max Oberrauch and Patrick Bona.

The following teams are taking part in the 2012 Dolomites Cup: HC Lugano (Switzerland) Iserlohn Roosters (Germany) Black Wings Linz (Austria) Lorenskog Ishockeyklubb (Norway) HC Pustertal/Fiat Professional Wolves (Italy)

Tournament mode: Group 1: HC Pustertal/Fiat Professional Wölfe, Lorenskog Ishockeyklubb, Iserlohn?Roosters

Group 2: HC Lugano, Black Wings Linz??

Thursday August 23.08rd (Brunico) 20:30 p.m.? HC PUSTERTAL - LORENSKOG??IK

Friday August 24.08th (Brunico) 20:30 p.m ISERLOHN ROOSTERS - HC PUSTERTAL??

Saturday August 25.08th (Neumarkt) LORENSKOG IK - ISERLOHN ROOSTERS 17:00 p.m.? LUGANO - LINZ 20:30 p.m.??

Sunday August 26.08th (Neumarkt) MATCH FOR 3RD PLACE 17:00 p.m.? FINAL 20:30 p.m

Tickets for the tournament games in Bruneck (Leitner Solararena) and Neumarkt (Würtharena) are available at the box office 1 hour before the start of the game. There is a cheap tournament ticket for the four semi-finals and finals in Neumarkt for 20 euros. Otherwise an entry ticket costs 10 euros, juniors (13-17 years) pay 6 euros. Admission is free for children up to the age of 12.

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Dolomites Cup 2012 presented in Neumarkt - VIDEO

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