2010 Victoria Cup to leave Switzerland
Switzerland will not be included in next year's Victoria Cup ice hockey game, the head of the sport's international body has said.
René Fasel, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), told the French-language Le Matin newspaper that the organisation wanted to move the annual game to a larger European market.
“In consultation with the [National Hockey League], we want a team from one of Europe’s four big markets: Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden or Finland,” he said. Fasel is Swiss.
The second Victoria Cup was played on Tuesday evening in Zurich, with the city’s ZSC Lions defeating the Chicago Blackhawks.
Last year, the New York Rangers beat Russia’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk in a game held in Bern, the Swiss capital.
The IIHF also wants to restart its troubled Champions Hockey League next year. The league was launched in the 2008-09 season but was scrapped after Russian investors pulled out.
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