2008 Victoria Cup

Victoria Cup
123 Total
Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) 210 3
New York Rangers (NHL) 013 4
DateOctober 1, 2008
ArenaPostFinance Arena
CityBern, Switzerland
Attendance13,794[1] (80.5% full)
2009 →
The PostFinance Arena, where the first Victoria Cup was played.

The 2008 Victoria Cup was the first edition of the Victoria Cup challenge, played on October 1, 2008, between the 2008 European Champions Cup winners, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL),[2] at the PostFinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland. The game was played under IIHF rules.[3] The Rangers won the challenge as they battled from a 3–0 deficit to win the game 4–3.[4]

The match was preceded on September 30, 2008, by an exhibition between host SC Bern and the New York Rangers, meant to commemorate the centennial of the Swiss Ice Hockey Association. However the additional game, the first ever between a Swiss team and an NHL team,[3] ended up competing with the main event at the box office. With tickets steeply priced, neither game sold out and a number of Swiss fans favored the SC Bern game, which drew a significantly larger audience (16,022) than the actual Victoria Cup game.[5]

The New York Rangers defeated SC Bern in this game 8–1. The Rangers followed the Victoria Cup game with two NHL regular season games against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 4 and 5 at the O2 Arena.[6] Both games were won 2–1 by the Rangers.[7]

  1. ^ Rosen, Dan (October 1, 2008). "Rangers rally to win Victoria Cup". NHL.COM. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  2. ^ McKenzie, Bob (January 24, 2008). "McKenzie: NHL's European plans finalized". TSN.ca. Archived from the original on January 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  3. ^ a b "Rangers challenge Metallurg". IIHF. January 26, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  4. ^ IIHF Top 100 Hockey Stories of All Time, Szymon Szemberg and Andrew Podnieks, p. 173, Fenn Publishing, Bolton, Ontario, Canada, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55168-358-4.
  5. ^ Podnieks, Andrew (September 30, 2008). "Rangers Make Quick Work of Swiss Team and Brace for a Russian One". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  6. ^ "Four NHL teams to open the 2008-09 regular season in Europe Oct. 4-5". NHL.com. January 26, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-28. [dead link]
  7. ^ Zipay, Steve (2008-10-06). "Rangers get four points in Prague". Newsday. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-07.