2012 European Trophy
The 2012 European Trophy was the third European Trophy, a European ice hockey tournament held annually. It is also the seventh tournament since its predecessor, the Nordic Trophy, was launched in 2006. The regulation round started on 31 July 2012 with the [|South Division] game between Piráti Chomutov–Slovan Bratislava, and will end on 28 November 2012. The [|playoffs] will be played between 13–16 December 2012 in Vienna and in Bratislava. The preliminary schedule for the regulation round was released on 12 April 2012.
In this year's tournament the number of participating teams was increased from 24 to 32. Also, as Red Bull Salzburg no longer hosted the playoffs for the first time in European Trophy history, they weren't guaranteed a playoff spot. Of the 128 regular round games, 20 were played mid-season. Regarding the playoffs, there were only Quarterfinals, Semifinals as well as the Final game, meaning that the losing teams in each round were immediately eliminated from the tournament.
On 31 May 2012, Slavia Praha announced that they were pulling out of the tournament. On 18 June it was announced that Piráti Chomutov would take over Slavia Praha's spot in the South Division.
Tournament format
The 32 teams in the tournament are, partly based on geographical location, divided into four divisions: the West Division, the North Division, the South Division, and the [|East Division]. Each division consists of 8 teams who will play a round-robin in their division, with an extra game against a [|local rival] in their division, giving a total of 8 games per team. Each team is assigned four home games as well as four road games. The top two teams of each division qualify for the playoffs; however, should Slovan Bratislava and/or Vienna Capitals qualify for the playoffs as hosts, they will replace the worst second ranked team out of all four divisions.Should at least two teams in the same division end up tied in points, the following tie-breaker format will be used:
- Best goal difference
- Most goals scored in total
- Results in games against the tied teams
- Drawing of lots
Playing format
If a game is tied after regulation time, an overtime lasting for 5 minutes is played. During overtime, both teams substitute only 4 players on the ice at once. If no team scores during the overtime period, a shootout is played, starting with three penalty shots for both teams. If the shootout remains tied after the first three rounds, sudden death rounds are played until a winning team has been forced.In the regulation round games, the teams get three points for a regulation-time victory, two points for an overtime/shootout win, one point for losing in overtime/shootout, and zero points for a regulation loss.
Prize money
After the regulation round, the four division winners received €25 000 each, the four second-placed teams €20 000, and the third, fourth and fifth team of each division received €15 000, €10 000, and €5 000, respectively. Additionally, in the final of the Red Bulls Salute, the winning team received €50 000, while the losing finalist got €10 000. In total, €360 000 was given out during the entire tournament.Participating clubs
| Division | Team | City | Home arena* | Capacity | Joined NT/ET |
| North | Oulun Kärpät |  Oulu | Oulun Energia Areena | 6,614 | 2006 |
| North | Eisbären Berlin |  Berlin | O2 World | 14,200 | 2010 |
| North | Red Bull Salzburg |  Salzburg | Eisarena Salzburg | 3,600 | 2010 |
| North | Luleå HF |  Luleå | Coop Norrbotten Arena | 6,200 | 2011 |
| North | Kometa Brno |  Brno | Kajot Arena | 7,200 | 2011 |
| North | Mountfield České Budějovice | České Budějovice | Budvar Arena | 6,421 | 2011 |
| North | Plzeň 1929 | Plzeň | ČEZ Aréna | 8,420 | 2011 |
| North | Hamburg Freezers | Hamburg | O2 World | 12,947 | 2012 |
| South | Linköpings HC | Linköping | Cloetta Center | 8,500 | 2006 |
| South | HV71 | Jönköping | Kinnarps Arena | 7,038 | 2008 |
| South | Sparta Praha | Prague | Tipsport Arena | 13,150 | 2010 |
| South | Piráti Chomutov*** | Chomutov | Multifunkční aréna Chomutov | 5,250 | 2012 |
| South | KalPa | Kuopio | Kuopion Jäähalli | 5,225 | 2011 |
| South | Slovan Bratislava |  Bratislava | Slovnaft Arena | 10,000 | 2011 |
| South | UPC Vienna Capitals | Vienna | Albert Schultz Eishalle | 7,000 | 2011 |
| South | JYP | Jyväskylä | Synergia-areena | 4,628 | 2012 |
| East | TPS | Turku | HK Arena | 11,820 | 2006 |
| East | Tappara | Tampere | Hakametsä Areena | 7,800 | 2006 |
| East | Djurgårdens IF | Stockholm | Hovet | 8,094 | 2006 |
| East | SC Bern |  Bern | PostFinance-Arena | 17,131 | 2010** |
| East | Bílí Tygři Liberec | Liberec | Tipsport Arena | 7,500 | 2011 |
| East | ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice | Pardubice | ČEZ Aréna | 10,194 | 2011 |
| East | Brynäs IF | Gävle | Läkerol Arena | 8,585 | 2012 |
| East | HC Fribourg-Gottéron | Fribourg | BCF Arena | 6,900 | 2012 |
| West | Färjestad BK | Karlstad | Löfbergs Lila Arena | 8,647 | 2006 |
| West | Frölunda Indians | Gothenburg | Scandinavium | 12,044 | 2006 |
| West | HIFK | Helsinki | Helsinki Ice Hall | 8,200 | 2006 |
| West | Jokerit | Helsinki | Hartwall Areena | 13,349 | 2008 |
| West | ZSC Lions | Zurich | Hallenstadion | 10,700 | 2010** |
| West | Adler Mannheim | Mannheim | SAP Arena | 10,600 | 2010 |
| West | ERC Ingolstadt | Ingolstadt | Saturn Arena | 4,815 | 2012 |
| West | EV Zug | Zug | Bossard Arena | 7,015 | 2012 |
- Note : the stated home arenas don't have to be used in the European Trophy tournament.
- Note : SC Bern and ZSC Lions did not participate in 2011.
- Note : Slavia Praha pulled out of the tournament just two months before the first games are to be played. Piráti Chomutov are replacing Slavia Praha.
Rivalries
- [|West Division]
- *Jokerit vs. HIFK
- *Frölunda Indians vs. Färjestad BK
- *Adler Mannheim vs. ERC Ingolstadt
- *ZSC Lions vs. EV Zug
- [|North Division]
- *Luleå HF vs. Oulun Kärpät
- *Hamburg Freezers vs. Eisbären Berlin
- *Kometa Brno vs. Plzeň 1929
- *České Budějovice vs. Red Bull Salzburg
- South Division
- *KalPa vs. JYP
- *Linköpings HC vs. HV71
- *Piráti Chomutov vs. Sparta Praha
- *Vienna Capitals vs. Slovan Bratislava
- East Division
- *Tappara vs. TPS
- *Brynäs IF vs. Djurgårdens IF
- *Bílí Tygři Liberec vs. Pojišťovna Pardubice
- *SC Bern vs. Fribourg-Gottéron
Regulation round
| Team is qualified for the playoffs | |
| Team is eliminated from the tournament |
West Division
North Division
South Division
East Division
Playoff team seeds
Playoff hosts Slovan Bratislava and Vienna Capitals qualify automatically. Four division-winners qualify. After this, best-scoring division-runners-up qualify to bring the number to exactly eight.Winners of divisions:
- West: Färjestad BK
- North: Luleå HF
- South: HV71
- East: Tappara
| Team | Division | |||||||||
| Eisbären Berlin | North | 8 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 15 | +12 | 19 |
| Brynäs IF | East | 8 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 17 |
| EV Zug | West | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 21 | +9 | 16 |
| Vienna Capitals | South | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 24 | 26 | -2 | 14 |
Playoffs
The playoffs, known as the Red Bulls Salute, will take place in the Albert Schultz Eishalle, Vienna and in the Slovnaft Arena, Bratislava between 13–16 December 2012, with the Final game taking place in Slovnaft Arena. It will be played as a single-elimination tournament, meaning that the losing teams in each round are eliminated from the tournament. For the first time in Red Bulls Salute history, no classification/placement games will be played, so there will only be Quarterfinals, Semifinals as well as the Final game. The winner of the Red Bulls Salute will be awarded a total prize sum of €50 000, and the losing finalist receives €10 000.| Albert Schultz Eishalle Capacity: 7 000 | Slovnaft Arena Capacity: 10 115 |
| – Vienna | – Bratislava |
Bracket
The non-home teams will be seeded according to their score in the regulation round.Quarterfinals
All times are local.The quarterfinal matchups will be determined by the regulation-round record of the six playoff teams aside from the two automatically qualified hosts Slovan Bratislava and Vienna Capitals. The top-ranked team of these six teams will face the sixth-ranked team; the second-ranked team will face the fifth-ranked team; the third-ranked team will face Vienna Capitals; and the fourth-ranked team will face Slovan Bratislava.
Semifinals
All times are local.For quarterfinal numbering, see the [|bracket] above.
Final
Time is local.Ranking and statistics
Tournament awards
Final standings
The following is the final standings of the playoffs. However, note that because there weren't any classification/placement games in this year's playoffs, the standings for the six teams that missed the Final game were ranked on the following criteria: A. whether the team made it to the Semifinal or not, and B. the team's regulation round record.| Luleå HF | |
| Färjestad BK | |
| 3 | Tappara |
| 4 | Vienna Capitals |
| 5 | Slovan Bratislava |
| 6 | Eisbären Berlin |
| 7 | HV71 |
| 8 | Brynäs IF |
Scoring leaders
List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. If the list exceeds 10 skaters because of a tie in points, all of the tied skaters are shown.| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | POS |
 Matt Foy | Eisbären Berlin | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | F |
| Antti Erkinjuntti | Tappara | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | F |
| David Hruška | Piráti Chomutov | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | F |
| Niklas Olausson | Luleå HF | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | F |
| Cam Abbott | Luleå HF | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 25 | F |
| Tomáš Urban | Bílí Tygři Liberec | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | F |
| Milan Kraft | Piráti Chomutov | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | F |
| Jason Lepine | JYP | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | D |
| Jerome Flaake | Hamburg Freezers | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | F |
| Toni Kähkönen | Oulun Kärpät | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | F |
positions: F = Forward; D = Defenceman
Sources: and
Updated as of 19 August 2012.
Leading goaltenders
Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.| Player | Team | TOI | SA | GA | GAA | Sv% | SO |
| Chet Pickard | Djurgårdens IF | 60:00 | 32 | 0 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 1 |
| Joni Ortio | HIFK | 60:00 | 30 | 0 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 1 |
| Július Hudáček | Frölunda Indians | 60:00 | 29 | 0 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 1 |
| Viktor Kokman | HV71 | 60:00 | 27 | 0 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 1 |
| Tomi Karhunen | Oulun Kärpät | 60:46 | 44 | 1 | 0.99 | 97.73 | 0 |
Sources: and
Updated as of 19 August 2012.
European Star Award leaders
The European Star Award is a three stars award given to the three best players in each game. The first star gets three points, the second gets two points, and the third gets one point. List shows the top ten players based on the number of European Star Award points.| Player | Team | GP | Pts | POS |
| Matt Foy | Eisbären Berlin | 2 | 5 | F |
| Cam Abbott | Luleå HF | 2 | 3 | F |
 Jack Connolly | Färjestad BK | 2 | 3 | F |
| Chris Connolly | Tappara | 2 | 3 | F |
| Chet Pickard | Djurgårdens IF | 1 | 3 | G |
| Rhett Rakhshani | HV71 | 1 | 3 | F |
| Ryan Glenn | Red Bull Salzburg | 2 | 3 | D |
| Jason Lepine | JYP | 2 | 3 | D |
| Byron Ritchie | SC Bern | 2 | 3 | F |
| Ari Vallin | Sparta Praha | 1 | 3 | D |
positions: G = Goaltender; F = Forward; D = Defenceman
Source:
Updated as of 19 August 2012.