- Ahearne Cup
Ahearne Cup is the name of two
ice hockey tournaments, the first played from1952 to1977 and the second created in 2001. Both are named after British ice hockey promoter, J. F. "Bunny" Ahearne.The original Ahearne Cup
The original Ahearne Cup was played from 1952 to 1977, with the exception of 1957, in
Sweden , with the finals at Johanneshovs Isstadion inStockholm , and co-arranged by newspaperDagens Nyheter . It was played in December and open to both club teams and national teams, although national teams seldom competed. While most teams were from Sweden, many teams fromGreat Britain , theSoviet Union ,Czechoslovakia ,Canada andFinland also competed. The record for most tournaments attended is shared between Swedish teamsSödertälje SK and Djurgårdens IF, both with 20 entries, followed byLeksands IF and AIK with 12 each. Djurgården also has the record for most wins, four, whileHarringay Racers and Spartak Moscow won the tournament three times each.For many Swedes, this tournament was the first meeting with North American playing style, represented by Canadian amateur teams and British teams filled with Canadians. However, as professional hockey evolved in North America, the transatlantic amateur teams became both less competitive and less interested in joining European tournaments of this kind. The resulting fall in public interest, together with tougher playing schedules in the European leagues, led to the cancellation of the tournament.
The new Ahearne Cup
The new Ahearne Cup was created to promote interest in the British
Ice Hockey Superleague . It was played in2002 between teams from the ISL and teams from the German league and in2003 between British and Norwegian teams. It was again played for in2006 between British and German teams, this time with the British teams coming from theElite Ice Hockey League .External links
* [http://www.azhockey.com/champs/champsOthers.html Winners of the original Ahearne Cup]
* [http://www.aik.se/ishockey/aikindex.html?/ishockey/fragaaik97.html Information from AIK's club site, with Ahearne Cup's marathon table]
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