A costly turnover by goaltender Justin Pogge denied Canada the Spengler Cup title Sunday in Davos, Switzerland.
With the game on the line, Pogge misplayed the puck from behind his net in the third period, which allowed Andres Ambuhl to score the game-winning goal, giving host HC Davos a 3-2 win over Canada.
Swiss HC Davos player Josef Mahra, left, battles for the puck with Team Canada's Dominic Pittis during the Spengler Cup final Sunday in Switzerland.
(Salvatore Di Nolfi/Associated Press)
"It was an unfortunate goal to win it, but sometimes that happens," said Canadian forward Tyler Wright. "Pogs went out to play the puck the way he's probably done a thousand times. For some unknown reason, it gets misplayed.
"You hate to lose like that, but it's a game of breaks and mistakes. They got a lucky one."
It's the second straight year Canada suffered a loss in the final of the five-team tournament.
Mario Scalzo and Jason Doig gave Canada an early 2-0 lead in front of a sellout crowd at Eisstadion Davos, but the Canadians played cautiously the rest of the way, which gave Davos the opening it needed to rally with three unanswered goals.
"They looked dead in the water early on, and if we'd been able to get the third goal it would have been a smoke-out," said coach Pat Quinn. "But we didn't get it."
Robin Leblanc, Eero Somervuori and Ambuhl scored to lead Davos to its fourth Spengler Cup title since 2000.
Canada held a slim 2-1 lead heading into the third, before Somervuori netted the equalizer with a power-play goal more than three minutes into the period. Ambuhl then scored the winner six minutes later.
The Canadians have won the Spengler Cup 10 times since they started participating in the annual tournament in 1984.
With files from the Canadian Press
