2011 European Trophy The 2011 European Trophy was the second European Trophy , a Europe an ice hockey tournament held annually . It was also the sixth tournament since its predecessor , the " Nordic Trophy " , was launched in 2006 . The regulation round began on 11 August 2011 and ended on 6 September 2011 . The playoffs , which took place in Austria , were played between 16 – 18 December 2011 in the Eisarena Salzburg in Salzburg , and the Albert Schultz Eishalle in Vienna , at the same time as the 2011 Channel One Cup . The playoff hosts , Red Bull Salzburg , won the playoffs and captured their first championship title in the European Trophy tournament , having lost in the quarterfinals last year . A significant difference in this year ' s tournament was that the number of participating teams was increased from 18 to 24 . To compensate this , the teams were divided into four divisions this year , instead of just two in the previous year ' s tournament . Another difference was that the playoffs , known as the " Red Bulls Salute " , were not played at the same time as the regulation round — the regulation round was played between August – September 2011 , while the playoffs were played in December , three months later . Further , there is no junior edition of this year ' s European Trophy tournament . Tournament format . The 24 teams in the tournament were , based on geographical location , divided into four divisions : the West Division , the North Division , the South Division , and the East Division . Each division consisted of 6 teams who played a round - robin in their division , and another three games against teams from the other three divisions ( see the Division vs . Division games section ) , giving a total of 8 games per team . The top two teams of each division qualified for the playoffs , but as Red Bull Salzburg qualified for the playoffs as hosts ( i . e . failed to reach one of the top two spots of the East Division ) , they replaced the worst second ranked team out of all four divisions , which was Eisbären Berlin . Had at least two teams in the same division ended up tied in points , the following tie - breaker format was used : As Red Bull Salzburg , who were automatically qualified for the playoffs , failed to reach one of the top two spots of the East Division , the same tie - breaker format was used to determine which second ranked team they would replace , which was Eisbären Berlin . Playoffs . The playoffs are played as the " Red Bulls Salute " and take place in Salzburg and Vienna between 16 – 18 December 2011 . The teams that lose the quarterfinals play in the classification games . The classification games decide which teams play in the respective games for 7th place and 5th place . Ranking and Statistics . Final standings . The final standings of the tournament : 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 . 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 . 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 .