Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) is an annual ice hockey tournament only open to the national men's teams of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden. The tournament took place for the first time in the 1996-97 season. Most teams use the competition as preparation for the World Championships or Olympics, allowing less experienced players to collect valuable ice time in their national colours.
Contents
Playing format[edit | edit source]
EHT consists of four tournaments: Karjala Tournament in Finland, Channel One Cup in Russia, Beijer Hockey Games in Sweden and Carlson Hockey Games in Czech Republic. After the four tournaments have finished, points from each tournament are summed up and winner of the EHT is that team, which have the most points in total.
In each tournament, five games are played in the host city, and one in another participating country. Every country has one home and one away game in those games. For example, in the 2007 edition of Karjala Tournament, the game between Sweden and Russia was played in Jönköping, Sweden rather than in Finland, who hosted the Karjala Cup.
Finals[edit | edit source]
Medal games were not played until the 2003–04 season. Before that, place order was determined by the tournament standings. The seasons 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2006–07 used a format where the first-placed and second-placed teams played a home-and-home two-game series for the EHT gold and silver medals, while the third-placed and fourth-placed teams played two games for the bronze. In 2005–06, the championship was determined by a single game played at the home of the first-place team. Since 2007–08, no EHT finals have been played.
The winner of the gold medal is considered to be the unofficial European Champion.
Participating teams[edit | edit source]
Only four European teams compete in EHT:
Euro Hockey Tour standings[edit | edit source]
- 1 Czech tournament not played due to World Cup of Hockey.
- 2 Only points from Karjala Cup, Izvestija Cup and Swedish Hockey Games counted in the final standings due to that the Russian team did not participate in the Pragobanka Cup.
Statistics[edit | edit source]
Medal table[edit | edit source]
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Medals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Finland
|
9 | 7 | 6 | 22 |
 Russia
|
8 | 6 | 4 | 18 |
 Sweden
|
4 | 6 | 5 | 15 |
 Czech Republic
|
2 | 4 | 8 | 14 |
References[edit | edit source]
- Euro Hockey Tour. European Hockey.Net. Retrieved on 2006-05-01.
- Euro Hockey Tour history. Swedish Ice Hockey Association. Retrieved on 2006-05-01.
- Euro Hockey Tour Czech republic. Pro-Hockey CZ. Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
- David Schlegel. History of Euro Hockey Tour and its tournaments. PRO-HOCKEY Cz, s.r.o. & eSports.cz, s.r.o. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- Nytt Euro Hockey Touravtal (Swedish). hockeyligan.se. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
