query: sport 2007 iihf european champions cup
supports: The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises 29 member clubs based in Belarus, China, Croatia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Russia, and Slovakia and it is planned to expand to more countries. It is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in Europe and Asia, and second in the world behind the NHL. Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League A and has won seven Swiss championships. The team is the ninth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015-16 season with 5,783 spectators. Hockey Club Sparta Praha (eng: HC Sparta Prague) is a Prague based Czech ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; French: ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 74 members. It manages international ice hockey tournaments and maintains the IIHF World Ranking. National League A (NLA) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland. It is the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system and of the two-tier National League. Prior to the 200708 season, the league was officially called Nationalliga A (German),.
  The NLA has the most attended hockey club in Europe, SC Bern, and is also the most attended league within the same continent, averaging 7,026 spectators for the 201516 season. The Liiga, known as SM-liiga from 1975 to 2013, and colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for "Suomen mestaruus", "Finnish championship". On 9 August 2013, the league dropped the SM, and simply became Liiga. The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Predators joined the NHL as an expansion team in the 199899 season, and play their home games at Bridgestone Arena. Mestský Hokejový Klub Žilina is a professional Slovak ice hockey club based in Žilina. The club has won the Slovak league championship in 2006. The team is nicknamed "Vlci", it means Wolves in English. 
  History.
  The club was founded on 25 January 1925 as ŠK Žilina. They played first official game against Slávia Banská Bystrica on 16 December 1928. Žilina was beaten 03. They competed in the Championship of Central Slovakia before and during the World War II. In the 193132 season they won this championship. After WW II and restored Czechoslovakia they played in the Czechoslovak Extraliga two seasons. Žilina finished last in the 195152 season and the 195253 season. They won the 196465 1. SNHL season and promoted to the qualification for the Czechoslovak Extraliga. In the qualification round they lost all games and did not promote. After dissolution of Czechoslovakia they were included to the Slovak 1.Liga, second level of Slovak hockey. Žilina won the 200001 Slovak 1.Liga season and promoted to the Slovak Extraliga first time. In the 200506 season they reached the most remarkable success. Žilina won the Slovak Extraliga first time after beating HK Poprad 43 in the final series. Michal Hreus was the top scorer of Žilina in the playoffs, recording 15 points (7G+8A). Through the victory in Extraliga they gained an option to play with the best European ice hockey teams in the IIHF European Champions Cup. Žilina was defeated 07 by HPK in first game but then won 42 against HC Sparta Praha and finished second in the Ragulin division. The 2007 IIHF European Champions Cup was the third edition of IIHF European Champions Cup . It was held in Saint Petersburg at the Ice Palace arena , from January 11 to January 14 . The champions of 2006 of the six strongest hockey nations of Europe participate : Ak Bars Kazan ( RUS ) , Färjestads BK ( SWE ) , MsHK Žilina ( SVK ) , HPK ( FIN ) , HC Sparta Praha ( CZE ) , HC Lugano ( SUI ) . HK Poprad is a professional ice hockey team in the Slovak Extraliga, the top ice hockey league in Slovakia. It plays its games in Poprad, Slovakia. The squad's greatest success was 2nd place in the Slovak Extraliga in 2006 and 2011. The club is nicknamed "Kamzíci", which means "Chamois" in English. The European Hockey League was a European ice hockey club competition which ran between the years 1996 and 2000. HPK (shortage for Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho) is an ice hockey team in the Liiga. They play in Hämeenlinna, Finland at the Hämeenlinnan jäähalli. HPK was established in 1929. The full name of the club is "HPK-Edustusjääkiekko Ry" and the team is sometimes promoted as the "Hockey Playing Knights", with the logo representing a knight masked in a helmet. HPK won their first SM-liiga championship in 2006. The roster below is out of date. The current starting goalie is Nashville Predators draft pick Juuse Saros, who recently led Finland to the World Junior Championship Gold Medal. Although undersized he is extremely athletic and is the starter for HPK at age 18. Hockey Club Ak Bars, also known as Ak Bars Kazan, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Kazan, Tatarstan. They are a member of the Kontinental Hockey League. The IIHF European Champions Cup (ECC) was an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which took place during a long weekend in early January. The winner was considered the official club champion of Europe by the IIHF. The Champions Cup was first played in 2005, as a replacement for the defunct European Cup (19651997), and the suspended European Hockey League (19962000). In the 200809 season, the ECC was replaced by the Champions Hockey League, which was the new official European club championship event. The new tournament was cancelled after only one season. However, another tournament with the same name was introduced in 2014. Slovak Extraliga (Slovenská Extraliga) is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. As of 2009, it is ranked by the IIHF as the fifth strongest league in Europe and in 2012 it was ranked by "The Hockey News" as the sixth strongest league in the world behind the NHL, KHL, Swedish Hockey League, SM-liga and Czech Extraliga. The name of the league is leased to sponsor and changes frequently. From 1993/94 to 1997/98 season it was called "Extraliga", then the name changed to "West Extraliga" until the end of 2000/01 season. In 2001/02 its name was "Boss Extraliga". Since 2002/03 season to 2004/05 the name changed to "ST Extraliga" and in 2005/06 to "T-Com Extraliga". From 16 January 2007 the name changed to Slovnaft Extraliga when a general sponsor agreement with Slovnaft was signed, and from 201112 season is called Tipsport extraliga and Slovnaft-Play-off, and from 201516 season is called Tipsport liga and Slovnaft-Play-off.  Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team.
candidates: hockey ice hockey
answer: ice hockey