Canada leaves Spengler Cup without a win after loss to Sweden's Orebro

DAVOS, Switzerland — Canada finished with a winless record at the Spengler Cup after dropping a 3-1 decision to Swedish club Orebro HK on Thursday in quarterfinal action at the international hockey tournament.

Goals from Filip Berglund and Linus Oberg put Orebro up 2-0 after two periods but Chris DiDomenico scored with just over six minutes remaining in the third to halve the lead.

With DiDomenico in the penalty box for cross-checking, Mathias Brome scored into an empty net with 26 seconds left to seal the win.

Canada, which entered as the defending champion and winner of four of the previous five Spengler Cups, finished 0-3 at the tournament for the first time.

The Canadians opened with a 3-2 loss to HC Sparta Prague before ending group play with a 2-1 loss to HC Davos.

“It’s disheartening. Going into the tournament and looking at our roster, I didn’t think scoring was going to be problem and ultimately it was," Canada head coach Travis Green said. "We scored two goals, one goal and one goal, and it’s hard to win.

"The guys battled back hard tonight. I felt like the last two periods we had control of the game, but we just couldn’t score and that seemed to be the issue every night. Looking at all three games, we could have won all three. It’s a fine line between winning and losing and it never feels good when you lose."

Michael Hutchinson stopped 27 shots for Canada, while Jonas Arntzen made 34 saves for Orebro.

"It was my first time representing Canada, and at 32 (years old) you don’t really think it’s an opportunity that will come around," Hutchinson said. "It was unfortunate we couldn’t put a couple more pucks in the net, but guys played hard and it was fun to play behind them."

Competition continues through Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2022.