No team in the Champions Hockey League has won more national championships than HC Davos, who have captured the Swiss title a remarkable 31 times. By hosting the annual Spengler Cup, they also have a wealth of international club hockey experience, which they try to use to their advantage in the CHL.

by Jon Rowson

One of the most storied and successful franchises in European hockey, HC Davos have won the Swiss title 31 times in their near-100-year history. With a permanent population of 11 211, Davos is one of the smallest towns to be represented in the CHL, but the hockey team is arguably one of the most prestigious. They added to their prestige by becoming the first non-Swedish or -Finnish team to reach the Champions Hockey League Semi-Finals in 2015–16. 

Start as you mean to go on

Located at the heart of the Swiss Alps, hockey came quickly to Davos. The team was founded by Dr. P. Müller in 1921 and owing to its alpine climate, hockey was played outside in Davos until 1979, where the team moved into the breath-taking Vaillant Arena, noted for its incredible wooden architecture.

Dr. Müller’s faith in his team was repaid with almost immediate success, as Davos joined the Swiss Nationalliga A (NLA) in 1922, winning the title for the first time four years later. From then on, Davos were simply the dominate force in Swiss hockey. Between 1927 and 1941, HC Davos would win a remarkable 12 titles. Early club legends included Riccardo “Bibi” Torriani and brothers Hans and Ferdinand “Pic” Cattini, who were not only dominant on the ice, but took up most of the coaching duties as well. All three were key players for the Swiss national team, with Torriani captaining Switzerland at the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Torriani played 21 seasons in the famous blue and yellow of HC Davos, his career stretching all the way to 1950. The 1940s were just like the previous decade, as the HCD were the undisputed premier team in Switzerland. A span of eight titles in nine years between 1942 and 1950 demonstrated just how untouchable Davos were.

The first bump in the road

The end of Torriani’s carrer in 1950 signalled the end of Davos’s success as a team. The 1950s were a decade of change and reconstruction, as new legends had to come to the fore. For a team with such an outstanding pedigree, a run of eight years without a championship was noteworthy, before Canadian player-coach Stu Robertson helped lead the club to the 1958 Swiss Championship. Robertson, who first joined Davos in 1953 spent nine seasons as player-coach, winning an additional title in 1960 before his retirement as a player in 1962.

Robertson was by no means the first foreign head coach of HC Davos. In fact, it is remarkable looking through the annals of history just how many foreigners, especially North Americans, took their place behind the bench of the club. For example, as early as 1925, American Samy Pierce was in charge of the HCD, leading the club to their first championship in 1926.

The lean years

The departure of Robertson ushered in the longest title drought in Davos’s history. A 23-year lean spell, which included an enforced 10-year exile in the Nationalliga B, following Davos’s relegation in 1969. Club legend Torriani returned for a two-season spell as head coach, but failed to gain promotion with Davos. Swiss-Canadian player-coach Paul-André Caudieux would be the man to lead Davos to promotion back to the NLA in 1979, with the assistance of former NHLer George Pesut. Upon their return to the NLA, HC Davos also moved into the Eisstadion Davos (now Vaillant Arena). 

Many hockey fans around the world will associate Vaillant Arena with the Spengler Cup, the popular Christmas-time tournament. The first Spengler Cup was held in Davos in 1923 and was won by the Oxford University ice hockey team. From then, the tournament has gone from strength to strength, featuring a multitude of teams from different countries and providing some of the most exciting hockey of the season. In the tournament’s storied history, HC Davos have won the Spengler Cup 15 times, most recently in 2011, where they defeated Dinamo Riga in the final.

Hockey has its ups and downs

The move into a new arena did not bring immediate success. Even the 1980 appointment of the mastermind of the USA’s “Miracle on Ice”, Herb Brooks, failed to bring glory back to the Alps, as he was fired in December 1980. It would be a Swede who would turn Davos back into a winner.

HCD turned to Dan Rober, who had previously coached AIK Stockholm in the Elitserien, and were rewarded with two titles in his three years in charge of the club between 1982 and 1985. The on-ice lynchpins of these two championship teams were the forward-defence duo of Lance Nethery and Ron Wilson. Nethery, a former New York Ranger, and Wilson, a former Toronto Maple Leaf (and future long-time NHL and US national team coach), were perennial figures on the scoresheet, scoring 418 and 356 points respectively in their HCD careers.

The highs of the Rober years were swiftly followed by uncharted lows for Davos. A succession of coaches came and went, all failing to make their mark, and eventually the club was relegated to the NLB following a disastrous 1988–89 season. Things went from bad to downright catastrophic a year later, as a run of 19 losses in 36 games saw the once proud Davos club relegated to the third tier of Swiss hockey, the 1.liga.

The 1.liga was by no means the appropriate level for a club of Davos’s stature, who gained immediate promotion back to the NLB, before finally making it back to the NLA in 1993. Since then, Davos has never come close to being relegated, making the playoffs every year for the past 22 seasons.

Del Curto’s dynasty

HC Davos flattered to deceive in their first years back at the Swiss top table, enduring a spell of three straight quarter-final losses. Consequently, in the summer of 1996 Davos’s management looked domestically for their new coach, putting pen to paper with Arno del Curto, signed from Luzern, who were plying their trade in the 1.liga. It was a bold move at the time by the club, but it was a master-stroke. Del Curto is currently the longest-serving head coach in European hockey and the 2016–17 season will be his 21st season behind the HC Davos bench.

Del Curto’s impact was immediate. From losing in the quarter-finals, Davos began to look like championship contenders, losing in the semi-finals in 1996–97, before a crushing 4–2 loss at the hands of EV Zug in the 1997–98 Swiss NLA finals. Despite a two-year hangover following the final defeat, the Davos management kept faith in del Curto and his cohesive group of veterans, including the brothers Reto and Jan von Arx, Sandro Rizzi and Andres Ambuehl. Their patience was rewarded in 2002, when del Curto’s side, led by the free-scoring Lonny Bohonos, captured the HCD’s first championship since 1985 with a 4–0 sweep of the ZSC Lions Zurich. 

Central to HC Davos’s success during the del Curto years has been the club’s ability to retain its best players and build a true dynasty. No one personifies this more than Reto von Arx, the first Swiss player to score a goal in the NHL. Von Arx’s Davos career looks to be over after 813 games, in which he scored a breath-taking 671 points. It was only fitting that in his final game with the club, von Arx scored the 2014–15 NLA Championship winning goal in Game 5 against the ZSC Lions. Other major players of the del Curto era include Reto’s brother Jan, a defenceman who laced up 774 times for the club, Czech forward Josef Marha and Swiss defenceman Marc Gianola.

Success in 2001–02 was followed up by a memorable title victory in the 2004–05 season. Davos were blessed with the signings of locked-out NHLers Joe Thornton, Rick Nash and Niklas Hagman, and all three brought their “A-Game” to the NLA; Thornton scoring 74 points in just 54 games. The foundations were in place to cope with the departure of Thornton, Nash and Hagman, as Davos would go on to win the NLA title every other year up to 2011. Del Curto’s ability to turn a bad season back around into championship success was simply remarkable, most notably in the 2009 title victory when Davos finished the regular season in fourth place, before winning each series in seven games. 

Expectations were low going into 2014–15 after the HCD finished sixth in the NLA table the season prior. With largely the same roster, the pressure was beginning to fall onto del Curto’s shoulders, and a lack of major summer acquisitions bar the signing of Swedish forward Dick Axelsson left many pondering what the future held for HCD. These doubts continued throughout the season as Davos flattered to deceive, finishing the regular season in fifth place. However, del Curto is simply a coach that knows how to make his team win, and buoyed by the incredible performances of goaltender Leonardo Genoni, Davos were belligerent in post-season play. 

A 4–2 series victory over EV Zug in the quarter-final was followed by a major upset as Davos swept second-seeded SC Bern 4–0. The regular season champions from Zurich awaited in the final, but it would be the team from the mountains who would silence the roar of their big city opponents, as Davos steamrolled the Lions 4–1 in the final, with Reto von Arx scoring the memorable winner.

That most recent title win qualified Davos for the 2015–16 CHL, where they topped their group that included Farjestad Karlstad and Dynamo Pardubice, clubs that have had a lot of success in two of Europe's traditionally powerful leagues. With Ambuehl leading the offence and Genoni rock-solid in goal, they then marched through domestic powerhouses IFK Helsinki, Bili Tygri Liberec and Skelleftea AIK to reach the Semi-Finals – territory where no team outside of Sweden or Finland had been before. Despite the enthusiastic support of their fans, they ran into a brick wall in the form of eventual champions Frolunda Gothenburg, but served notice that their reputation does not preceed them – they can compete with Europe's best. 

Blessed with some of the best young Swiss talent in Simon Kindschi and Dario Simion, a new generation is coming to maturity for Davos, just as the previous “next generation – encompassing Mauro Joerg, Marc Wieser and Noah Schneeberger – enters their prime. With a tradition perhaps unrivalled elsewhere in Europe, HC Davos have all the tools to continue to be successful, both domestically and in Europe's premier ice hockey competition, the Champions Hockey League.

Team facts

Past CHL season

2015–16: 1st in Group E, Semi-Finals 

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NOTE: This article has been updated since its original publication.