SYDNEY, N.S. — Andrew MacDonald never had the opportunity to lift the Stanley Cup during his 10-year NHL career, but the 33-year-old defenceman from Judique can now put the Spengler Cup on his resume.
MacDonald was part of the Canadian team, comprised mostly of professionals now playing in Europe, that defeated HC Ocelari Trinec of the Czech Republic 4-0 in the championship game of the 2019 Spengler Cup that wrapped up on New Year’s Eve in Davos, Switzerland.
Although he didn’t feature statistically in the title game, the former Philadelphia Flyer and New York Islander scored one goal and was assessed a minor penalty over his four tournament games.
MacDonald, who played for the Cape Breton West Islanders major midget team in 2002-03, recorded 28 goals and 133 assists in 586 NHL games between 2009 and 2019. The six-foot-one blue-liner now plays for SC Bern, the defending champions in the top-tier Swiss league.
Before MacDonald hoisted the trophy, defenceman Aaron Johnson of Port Hawkesbury won the Spengler Cup with Team Canada during the 2015-16 season.
A second Nova Scotia player, Alex Grant of Antigonish, was also on this year’s Spengler Cup-winning Canadian team and contributed a goal and an assist at the competition. The 30-year-old Grant, a six-foot-three defenceman currently playing for Jokerit in Finland, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007. He recorded two goals in seven NHL games with the Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes.
The championship team also featured former Halifax Mooseheads goalie Zach Fucale, who now plays with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, and former NHLers David Desharnais, Josh Jooris, Daniel Winnik, Scottie Upshall and Kris Versteeg.
Canada has now won the Spengler Cup, first held in 1923 and thought to be the oldest invitational hockey tournament in the world, a record 16 times, one more than competition host HC Davos.
Oxford University, yes, the one in England, won the first Spengler Cup, while Canada has won four of the past five tournaments.
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