Ahearne Cup or Ahearne Trophy is the name of two

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

tournaments, the first played from 1952 to 1977 and the second created in 2001. Both are named after

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

ice hockey promoter, J. F. "Bunny" Ahearne.

The original Ahearne Cup

The original Ahearne Cup was held in Sweden annually from 1952 to 1977 (no tournament played in 1957), with the finals at Johanneshovs Isstadion in Stockholm, and co-arranged by newspaper

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

. It was held in December and open to both club teams and national teams, although national teams seldom competed. While most teams were from Sweden, many teams from the

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, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

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and

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also competed. The record for most tournaments attended is shared between Swedish teams

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of El ...

and

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

, both with 20 entries, followed by

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The ...

and AIK with 12 each. Djurgården also has the record for most wins, four, while

Harringay Racers Harringay Racers refers to multiple British ice hockey teams based in Harringay, London, United Kingdom. Harringay Racers The first team to use the Harringay Racers moniker was founded in 1936 and initially played alongside Harringay Grey ...

and Spartak Moscow won the tournament three times each. For many Swedes, this tournament was the first meeting with North American playing style, represented by Canadian amateur teams and British teams filled with Canadians. However, as professional hockey evolved in North America, the transatlantic amateur teams became both less competitive and less interested in joining European tournaments of this kind. The resulting downturn in public interest, together with tougher playing schedules in the European leagues, led to the cancellation of the tournament.

Winners

Champion Table By Nation

The Ahearne Trophy

The Ahearne Trophy was created to promote interest in the British

Ice Hockey Superleague The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998 to 1999 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Devised in 1995, it replaced ...

. It was played in 2002 between teams from the ISL and teams from the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...

and in 2003 between British and

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teams. It was again played for in 2006 between British and German teams, this time with the British teams coming from the

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

.
Although the more recent event was called Ahearne Trophy instead of Ahearne Cup, and was not considered an official revival, Superleague organizers acknowledged that the similar name was meant to recapture some of the classic tournament's prestige.

External links

Winners of the original Ahearne Cup
*

{{Ahearne Cup International ice hockey competitions hosted by Sweden Ice hockey competitions in the United Kingdom International sports competitions in Stockholm