Josh Holden caught Tomáš Jurčo mid-match on the bench.
HC Davos head coach Josh Holden raged at Tomáš Jurčo in the middle of the match. Matěj Stránský (right) was embarrassed. EPA / AOP
A special situation was seen in the Spengler Cup final, when the head coach of HC Davos Josh Holden harshly caught his own player Tomáš Jurčo on the bench.
Holden grabbed Jurčo hard by the shoulder and yelled at the Slovakian player during a match against HC Dynamo Pardubice.
– Stay active, stay active! Don’t yell at me, Holden yelled at Jurčo.
Jurčo didn’t like Holden’s trick, but swung his elbow in Holden’s direction. The assailant’s elbow nearly hit Holden in the face. At the same time, Holden continued to roar at Jurčo and grabbed his player with both hands. Davos’ assistant coach was already clapping Holden so that he would leave Jurčo alone.
Matěj Stránský, sitting next to Jurčo, was close to getting between the two.
– Even I was surprised. You don’t see that very often. I’m not even sure what happened, but it was discussed in the dressing room, Stránský said For Bleski.
Davos won the final match played on December 31 with a score of 5–3. Davos’ Finnish striker Henrik Haapala scored two assists. Kristian Näkyvä, on the other hand, operates in defense.
Contract with KHL
Josh Holden was able to lift the Spengler Cup championship trophy into the air after the match. EPA / AOP
Jurčo’s Davos career ended in the final match. He had already accepted a contract offer from the KHL club Avangard Omsk.
According to Davos, the Swiss club and Jurčo canceled the mutual agreement after the match at the player’s initiative.
– Tomáš was here for two or three months. I don’t even know what the coach didn’t like. Maybe Tomáš didn’t tackle to the end. It looked worse than it really was, Stránský reflected.
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Holden, 45, is familiar with the SM league, as he played in the Hämeenlinna Football Club during the 2004-2005 lockout season. At that time, the Canadian scored 21+15=36 power points in HPK’s shirt.
After the HPK season, he played for 13 years in the Swiss premier league and ended his playing career at the end of the 2017-2018 season in EV Zug’s shirt.
Jurčo played 17 regular season matches in Davos this season with 6+3 power points. He last played in the KHL in the 2022–2023 season with Kunlun Red Star. He has also played in the NHL in his career, where he sweated in 221 regular season games and scored 22+31=53 power points.