For just the fifth time in the history of the tournament, the International Hockey Lineal Championship will be contended at the 2016 Deutschland Cup in Augsburg, Germany, as a result of Canada’s exhibition victory over Hungary.
Canada, who has won six straight in their current IHLC reign, obviously enters this tournament with a drastically different roster than the one that captured the World Cup of Hockey in September, as this roster is only comprised of European-based players. However, a number of former NHLers (such as Max Talbot, Brandon Kozun and Derek Roy) are the prominent core of Canada’s lineup, which returns to the Cup after a year-long absence against the hosts Germany, Switzerland and Slovakia, making them a strong possibility to run the table in Augsburg.
This marks the IHLC’s first contention at the Cup since 2004, which followed similar circumstance after Canada entered the Cup as the incumbent champs following their 2004 World Cup victory. However, after their first victory they dropped the title to Slovakia, who in turn lost it to Team USA to end the tournament. Canada managed to leave the 2003 Cup with the IHLC, while hosts Germany left the 1995 iteration with the IHLC in hand, and Finland were the champions following the Cup in 1990. No team has ever completed the Cup undefeated to retain the IHLC in history.
The schedule for the 2016 Deutschland Cup is as follows:
Friday, 04 November
🇨🇦 Canada vs. Switzerland 🇨🇭
🇩🇪 Germany vs. Slovakia 🇸🇰
Saturday, 05 November
🇨🇦 Canada vs. Slovakia 🇸🇰
🇩🇪 Germany vs. Switzerland 🇨🇭
Sunday, 06 November
🇸🇰 Slovakia vs. Switzerland 🇨🇭
🇨🇦 Canada vs. Germany 🇩🇪
International Hockey Lineal Championship 