Viking Cup

The Viking Cup was a world ice hockey tournament in Camrose, Alberta. The prestigious Viking Cup international hockey tournament operated out of Camrose, with the Augustana Vikings as its host, between 1980 and 2006.

The Viking Cup regularly featured national U-18 and other teams from Sweden, Finland, the United States, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Russia, with other European nations also making appearances.

Each of these countries brought with them different and unique styles of play, with the Cup serving as a venue for these different systems to be pitted against each other to their mutual benefit.

Junior and collegiate teams from the United States and Canada also participated in the Viking Cup. Each tournament served as an opportunity for scouts from the professional ranks, including the NHL, to lay eyes on some of the top young hockey talent from around the world. Over 400 tournament alumni had their names called during NHL drafts.

Eventual NHL stars Dominik Hasek, Joe Pavelski, Paul Stastny, Olli Jokinen, Andrei Markov, Sergei Zubov, Miikka Kiprusoff, Tomas Vokoun, James Patrick, Zigmund Palffy, Patrik Elias, Mikko Koivu, Sergei Gonchar, Henrik Lundqvist, Henrik Zetterberg, and Tuuka Rask rank among the Cup’s most decorated alumni.

The Viking Cup built upon Camrose’s existing decorated history of hosting hockey trailblazers. The 1974–75 Camrose Lutheran College Vikings shocked the hockey world when they emerged from a tiny rural school to win the first-ever Canadian collegiate ice hockey championship.

Problems developed in the late 1990s as the Canadian Jr. A teams, which were popular with fans, were allowed to play with some 20-year-old players. This upset the European teams (which were all Under-18) and led to unbalanced games with the North American teams dominating their younger European opponents.

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Fourth	Participating Teams (in order of final result)	Future NHLers
1981	TPS Turku Juniors (Finland) 8	Prince Albert Raiders (SJHL) 6	Red Deer College Kings (ACAC) 6	Centennial College Colts (OCAA) 3	TPS Turku Juniors (Finland), Prince Albert Raiders (SJHL), Red Deer College Kings (ACAC), Centennial College Colts (OCAA), AIK Juniors (Sweden), Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC)	James Patrick, Hannu Virta, Dave Tippett, Mats Thelin, and Greg Paslawski
1982	CSSR Junior Selects 11	Prince Albert Raiders (SJHL) 3	Västra Frölunda Juniors (Sweden) 7	Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC) 3	CSSR Junior Selects, Prince Albert Raiders (SJHL), Västra Frölunda Juniors (Sweden), Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC), SAIT Trojans (ACAC), Revelstoke Rockets	Petr Klíma, Dominik Hašek, Mikael Andersson, David Pilon
1984	NAIT Ooks (ACAC) 3	CSSR Junior Selects 0	Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC) 7	St. Paul Vulcans (USHL) 5	NAIT Ooks (ACAC), CSSR Junior Selects, Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC), St. Paul Vulcans (USHL), IFK Juniors (Finland), St. Albert Saints (AJHL)	David Volek
1986	NAIT Ooks (ACAC) 5	Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC) 1	CSSR Juniors 15	Kärpät Juniors (Finland) 5	NAIT Ooks (ACAC), Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC), CSSR Juniors, Kärpät Juniors (Finland), AIK Juniors (Sweden), Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)	Kevin Lovsin, Dean Clark, František Kučera
1988	University of Alberta Golden Bears (CIAU) 6	CSSR Junior Selects 2	USSR Junior Selects 7	AIK Juniors (Sweden) 4	University of Alberta Golden Bears (CIAU), CSSR Junior Selects, USSR Junior Selects, AIK Juniors (Sweden), Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC), Red Deer College Kings (ACAC), TPS Juniors (Finland), University of Arizona Ice Cats	Sergei Zubov, Roman Turek, Brent Severyn, Igor Korolev, Alexander Godynyuk, Bobby Holík, Andrei Kovalenko
1990	McGill University Redmen (CIAU) 6	CSSR Junior Selects 3	USSR Junior Selects 5	University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (CIAU) 3	McGill University Redmen (CIAU), CSSR Junior Selects, USSR Junior Selects, University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (CIAU), Red Deer College Kings (ACAC), Camrose Lutheran College Vikings (ACAC)	Boris Mironov, Sergejs Žoltoks, Martin Straka, Jozef Stümpel, Róbert Petrovický, Milan Hnilička, Darius Kasparitis, Žigmund Pálffy
1992	University of New Brunswick Red Devils (CIAU) 4,	CIS Junior Selects 2	NAIT Ooks (ACAC) 3	CFSR Junior Selects 2	University of New Brunswick Red Devils (CIAU), CIS Junior Selects, NAIT Ooks (ACAC), CFSR Junior Selects, Färjestad Elite Juniors (Sweden), Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC)	Sergei Brylin, Pavol Demitra, Jozef Čierny, Andrei Nazarov, Sergei Gonchar, David Výborný
1994	Russia National Junior "18" Selects 7	Dauphin Kings (MJHL) 1	Mount Royal College Cougars (ACAC) 6	Västra Frölunda Juniors (Sweden) 3	Russia National Junior "18" Selects, Dauphin Kings (MJHL, Mount Royal College Cougars(ACAC), Västra Frölunda Juniors (Sweden), Czech Republic National Junior "18" Selects, Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC), Finland National Junior "18" Selects, Augsburg College Auggies (NCAA)	Milan Hejduk, P. J. Axelsson, Jan Hrdina, Patrik Eliáš, Václav Varaďa, Tomáš Vokoun
1996	Finland Junior "18" Selects 6	USA Junior "20" B Selects 2	Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC) 6	AJHL All-Star Selects 5	Finland Junior "18" Selects, USA Junior "20" B Selects, Augustana University College Vikings, AJHL All-Star Selects, Czech Republic Junior "18" Selects, North Battleford North Stars (SJHL), Russia Junior "18" Selects, Sweden Junior "18" Selects	Mika Noronen, Kristian Huselius, Olli Jokinen, Oleg Kvasha, Fernando Pisani, Maxim Afinogenov, Niko Kapanen, Andrei Markov
1998	SJHL All-Star Selects 5	AJHL All-Star Selects 1	Finland Junior 18 Selects 4	Slovakia Junior 19 Selects 1	SJHL All-Star Selects, AJHL All-Star Selects, Finland Junior 18 Selects, Slovakia Junior 19 Selects, Sweden Junior 18 Selects, Czech Republic Junior 18 Selects, USA Junior 18 Selects, Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC)	Henrik Zetterberg, Ossi Väänänen, Jordan Leopold, Milan Kraft, Mike Comrie, David Tanabe, Christian Bäckman, Christian Berglund, Mark Hartigan, Antero Niittymäki, Mattias Weinhandl
2000	USA Junior 19 Selects 5	AJHL All-Star Selects 2	Sweden Junior 18 Selects 5	MJHL Pride 4	USA Junior 19 Selects, AJHL All-Star Selects, Sweden Junior 18 Selects, MJHL Pride, SJHL All-Star Selects, Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC), BCHL All-Star Selects, Czech Republic Junior 18 Selects, Finland Junior 18 Selects, Slovakia Junior 19 Selects	David Hale, Kari Lehtonen, Tomáš Plekanec, Tuomo Ruutu
2002	Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC) 5	BCHL All-Star Selects 4	AJHL All-Star Selects 7	MJHL All-Star Selects 3	Augustana University College Vikings(ACAC), BCHL All-Star Selects, AJHL All-Star Selects, MJHL All-Star Selects, USA National Junior Selects, SJHL All-Star Selects, Czech Republic Junior 18 Selects, Finland Junior 18 Selects, Sweden Junior 18 Selects, Slovakia Junior 19 Selects	Jeff Tambellini
2004	Finland Junior 18 Selects 8	USA National Junior Selects 2	Slovakia Junior 18 Selects 4	Czech Republic Junior 17 Selects 1	Finland Junior 18 Selects, USA National Junior Selects, Slovakia Junior 18 Selects, Czech Republic Junior 17 Selects, Augustana University College Vikings, Switzerland Junior 18 Selects, Germany Junior 18 Selects, Norway Junior 18 Selects	Tuukka Rask
2006 - University Pool	University of Guelph Gryphons (CIS)	Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC)	University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (CIS)	N/A	University of Guelph Gryphons (CIS), Augustana University College Vikings (ACAC), University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (CIS)
2006 - Junior Pool	AJHL North All-Stars 4	AJHL South All-Stars 3	USA Under-18 Selects 6	Switzerland Junior Selects 2	AJHL North All-Stars, AJHL South All-Stars, USA Under-18 Selects, Switzerland Junior Selects, Finland Junior Selects, Germany Junior Selects, Slovakia Junior Selects	Trevor Lewis, Kyle Okposo

TOURNAMENT MVPs:
1981 - Hannu Virta (TPS)
1982 - Petr Klíma (CSSR)
1983-(Brian Hermanutz) (NAIT)
1984 - Cleo Rowein (NAIT)
1986 - Mark Schultz (NAIT)
1988 - Brent Severyn (U of A)
1990 - Jamie Reeve (McGill)
1992 - Sergei Brylin (CIS)
1994 - Sergei Luchinkin (Russia)
1996 - Olli Jokinen (Finland)
1998 - Mark Hartigan (SJHL)
2000 - Rick Gorman (USA)
2002 - Jeff Tambellini (BCHL)
2004 - Tuukka Rask (Finland)*
2006 (University Pool) - Patrick Ouelette (AUC)

TOP GOALTENDER:
1981 - Jouni Rokama (TPS)
1982 - Dominik Hašek (CSSR)
1984 - Ivo Capek (CSSR)
1986 - Radek Toth (CSSR)
1988 - Roman Turek (CSSR)
1990 - Jiří Podešva (CSSR)
1992 - Chris Somers (UNB)
1994 - Anton Zelenov (Russia)
1996 - Jani Riihinen (Finland)
1998 - Rob Schrader (SJHL)
2000 - Henrik Lundqvist (Sweden)
2002 - Chad Rycroft (AUC)
2004 - Tuukka Rask (Finland)*
2006 (University Pool) - Ken Ritson (Guelph)
2006 (Junior Pool) - Kyle Richter (AJHL South)

• - the first player to win both MVP and Top Goaltender Awards