DAVOS, Switzerland — Add another chapter to the improbable story of the U.S. Collegiate Selects.
The Selects have won their group at the Spengler Cup and will receive a bye into the semifinals.
They will play the winner of HC Sparta Praha (Prague, Czechia) and Team Canada at 8:10 a.m. Central on Tuesday.
HC Davos, the tournament host and the first-place team in the top Swiss league, will play IFK Helsinki (Finland) in the other quarterfinal. The winner advances to play defending tournament champion HC Fribourg-Gottéron in the opposite half. Fribourg-Gottéron is the second-place team in the top Swiss league.
The championship is scheduled for 5:10 a.m. Central on Thursday.
“The team played two hard-fought games and earned a day off tomorrow,” Selects coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We plan to take advantage of it and enjoy this beautiful town.”
The Selects, an NCAA all-star team featuring UND junior defensemen Jake Livanavage and Abram Wiebe, finished in a three-way tie in their group with HC Davos and Team Canada, but won the tiebreakers.
Team Canada beat the Selects 3-2 in the opening game Friday. The Selects beat HC Davos 5-3 on Saturday — the first win by a college team at the Spengler Cup since North Dakota in 1982.
Local fans and journalists were concerned before the tournament that the college players would struggle against the professionals, but that has not been the case.
“We’re here to prove how good college hockey is,” said Selects defenseman Gavin McCarthy of Boston University.
This report was done remotely.
By
Brad Elliott Schlossman
Schlossman has covered college hockey for the Grand Forks Herald since 2005. He has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the top beat writer for the Herald’s circulation division four times and the North Dakota sportswriter of the year twice. He resides in Grand Forks. Reach him at [email protected].
