Switzerland: National team discussion

[jonas2244]

Well, I mean, last year we had Kurashev and I think Nussbaumer is at the same place Kurashev was one year ago. He is a little bit less skilled but in other aspects of the game he's stronger.
But yeah, with world championship on home ice and players probably more ready to come even if they are a little bit banged up, chances are not that high. But I'm pretty sure that his first World Championship isn't that far away.

Pottelberghe is a talented guy, he probably not always made the right decisions. But he's still young and he really progressed.
Berra has a strong season, Genoni not so. But I think it'd take much for Fischer to overlook one of those to. Goalie #3 is pretty open I guess. Senn, Mayer, Descloux and Van Pottelberghe are probably in the mix.

 

[jonas2244]

By the way, Patrick Fischer and Lars Weibel are travelling NA this month and are also visiting Luca Sbisa. The door is open for him. He last played an WC at 2012.

 

[jonas2244]

Prospect Camp 2020 with the following players:

Gilles Senn (New Jersey Devils/Binghamton Devils)
Joren Van Pottelberghe (EHC Biel)

Tim Berni (Columbus Blue Jackets/Cleveland Monsters)
Dominik Egli (Rapperswil-Jona Lakers)
Tobias Geisser (EV Zug)
Andreas Glauser (SCL Tigers)
Fabian Heldner (Lausanne HC)
Roger Karrer (Servette)
Janis Moser (EHC Biel)
Elia Riva (HC Lugano)

André Heim (SC Bern)
Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils)
Gilian Kohler (EHC Biel)
Sven Leuenberger (EV Zug)
Marco Miranda (Servette)
Valentin Nussbaumer (EHC Biel)
Raphael Prassl (ZSC Lions)
Damien Riat (Washington Capitals/Hershey Bears)
Noah Rod (Servette)
Axel Simic (ZSC Lions)
Pius Suter (Chicago Blackhawks)
Yannick Zehner (EV Zug)

 

[jonas2244]

Coaches and captains decided to give the players who refused to come once a new chance (Malgin, Kukan, Schlumpf and Herzog).

Simon Bodenmann meanwhile decieded to retire from international ice hockey.

 

[Theokritos]

 

[Goller Daniel]

such a joke!!!

 

[jonas2244]

Santeri Alatalo recieved the Swiss passport this summer and is eglible to play for Switzerland immediatly. He was already invited to the Kick-Off this summer (which didn't happen) and would join the team if called.

He has 16 points in 18 games this year for the EV Zug. He's out of contract end of the season.

 

[filip85]

Die verschmähten Junioren, die unsere Klubs Millionen kosten

 

[AintLifeGrand]

This WJC Squad is SHIT!!! A big step back for Swiss Hockey.

Hopefully next year's crop is stronger and we show well at the World Championships.

 

[filip85]

Given the pandemic and restrictions that comes with it, what is situation with swiss NHL-ers regarding upcoming WC ? Will they come if their teams miss playoffs ?

 

[Speyer]

Given the pandemic and restrictions that comes with it, what is situation with swiss NHL-ers regarding upcoming WC ? Will they come if their teams miss playoffs ?

Will probably depend how the health situation will look like in Latvia shortly before the start. If covid is somewhat under control by that that time I could see every player who is available reporting. At least for Josi and Hischier who has played very little hockey in the last year the probability of them reporting should be pretty high. Maybe younger players like Kurashev who dont have the same standing in their team wont be allowed to come though.

It would require a sound safety concept from the iihf though and I don't know if they have planned to construct a bubble or something along those lines.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Switzerland have been invited to Beijer hockey games and accepted, replacing Russia. What do you guys think about that?

 

[Shawn Heins 44]

Switzerland have been invited to Beijer hockey games and accepted, replacing Russia. What do you guys think about that?

I think it is a great opportunity to have high quality opponents and helps us adjust to the high level before the WC. I always wanted there to be more parity during the season. The top Euro NT basically have a closed league/touranments where they only play each other. I would prefer much more the football way of just playing different nations every year. That is the only way bad teams get better. But I also understand that this would not bring much value to the big ones.

 

[jonas2244]

Lars Weibel says:

«Wir wollen und müssen den Prozess im Kader, den wir nach den Olympischen Spielen in Peking begonnen haben, weiterführen. Jene Spieler, die 2026 das Team anführen sollen, müssen bis dahin möglichst viele Spielgelegenheiten auf höchstem internationalem Niveau erhalten. Das hat leider auch zur Folge, dass einige verdiente Spieler nicht mehr für die Nationalmannschaft auflaufen werden.»

Short translation: "Some long-time national player won't dress up for the national team anymore".

We already know Diaz and Moser. Missing from this roster are for example Yannick Weber, Tristan Scherwey (which I cannot imagine is one of those), Fabrice Herzog, Ramon Untersander, Joel Vermin.
Communication-genius Weibel says such stuff without clarification.

 

[Speyer]

I have said this before in similar discussions: The rosters for international tournaments are always varying on factors such as player health and (NHL) availability. Then there is always at least one tournament a year sometimes two, depending on olympic years and maybe even the "World Cup of Hockey". So in the worst case scenario you are locking in declining players for only one tournament to many. Its not like in football when you are locking them in for at least two years and they can even do damage in the qualification games. So I just have no idea why the coaching staff is thinking four years ahead, especially when the olympic games are not even more prestigious than the WC anymore, since NHL players (and maybe Russia) are not participating. As a fan I probably would rather have WC gold than olympic gold at this point. And some older players can still participate towards this goal like Ambühl for example. So just go year by year and select the best roster available. Its not like this long term approach was all that successful in the last few years vs the more ad hoc roster selection of countries like Finland for example. The best longterm strategy will fail if your tactics and execution are lacking. Maybe they should rather work on those issues, so we won't exit in the quarters for once. On Weibel and his communication "skills" I have already given my opinion on this forum ad nauseam so I won't even touch that one anymore...

 

[jonas2244]

It looks like Yannick Weber and Denis Hollenstein are no more a candidate for a roster spot.

Weber und Hollenstein fallen Altersguillotine zum Opfer

Nati-Coach Patrick Fischer treibt im Hinblick auf die Heim-WM 2026 die Verjüngung voran. Selbst für den nimmermüden HCD-Oldie Andres Ambühl (39) tickt die Uhr.

www.blick.ch

 

[Speyer]

It looks like Yannick Weber and Denis Hollenstein are no more a candidate for a roster spot.

Weber und Hollenstein fallen Altersguillotine zum Opfer

Nati-Coach Patrick Fischer treibt im Hinblick auf die Heim-WM 2026 die Verjüngung voran. Selbst für den nimmermüden HCD-Oldie Andres Ambühl (39) tickt die Uhr.

www.blick.ch

Well thats not as radical a cut as I expected. Weber should still be considered for the bottom pairing on a case by case basis and Hollenstein has not been good for the NT for like five years anyway. Its not like Scherwey got shafted or anything like that. But I find it a bit inconsequential that Ambühl is still in the picture for that 2026 timeline. To be clear: I am not against nominating him for future tournaments, but why would you put forth such a strategy if there are going to be exceptions anyway...

 

[stv11]

I have said this before in similar discussions: The rosters for international tournaments are always varying on factors such as player health and (NHL) availability. Then there is always at least one tournament a year sometimes two, depending on olympic years and maybe even the "World Cup of Hockey". So in the worst case scenario you are locking in declining players for only one tournament to many. Its not like in football when you are locking them in for at least two years and they can even do damage in the qualification games. So I just have no idea why the coaching staff is thinking four years ahead, especially when the olympic games are not even more prestigious than the WC anymore, since NHL players (and maybe Russia) are not participating. As a fan I probably would rather have WC gold than olympic gold at this point. And some older players can still participate towards this goal like Ambühl for example. So just go year by year and select the best roster available. Its not like this long term approach was all that successful in the last few years vs the more ad hoc roster selection of countries like Finland for example. The best longterm strategy will fail if your tactics and execution are lacking. Maybe they should rather work on those issues, so we won't exit in the quarters for once. On Weibel and his communication "skills" I have already given my opinion on this forum ad nauseam so I won't even touch that one anymore...

I agree with your point, I don't understand why you wouldn't take a player that can help you medal in 2023 just because he's likely to not be good anymore in 2026, especially with the stupid format making the olympics a crapshoot.

I think age shouldn't be a factor when picking the WC team, you just get the players that give you the best chance of success. Diaz and Weber could still help, and probably Moser to some extent.

 

[jonas2244]

Vermin also doesn't get any consideration anymore but it looks that this is a bidirectional step as Vermin was not happy with the role he got when NHL-players joined the game.

 

[jonas2244]

In other news: No talks between the federation and Lian Bichsel since the U20-WC.

I hope there we'll get more media pressure on this on Weibel & Co. This is just insanely stupid.

Eiszeit zwischen Verband und Supertalent Bichsel

Bald vier Monate sind seit dem Knatsch zwischen dem Hockey-Verband und Lian Bichsel vergangen. Und auch beim aktuellen U20-Aufgebot fehlt der Solothurner.

www.blick.ch

 

[Speyer]

In other news: No talks between the federation and Lian Bichsel since the U20-WC.

I hope there we'll get more media pressure on this on Weibel & Co. This is just insanely stupid.

Eiszeit zwischen Verband und Supertalent Bichsel

Bald vier Monate sind seit dem Knatsch zwischen dem Hockey-Verband und Lian Bichsel vergangen. Und auch beim aktuellen U20-Aufgebot fehlt der Solothurner.

www.blick.ch

Worst case scenario would be another von Arx situation, where Bichsel might not suit up under Fischer/Bayer at all anymore. Lets hope it doesn't come to that. I don't expect any media pressure on this. Almost all our media outlets are fully behind Fischer, Weibel and company. The only somewhat critical paper in this regard is the NZZ.

 

[jonas2244]

Worst case scenario would be another von Arx situation, where Bichsel might not suit up under Fischer/Bayer at all anymore. Lets hope it doesn't come to that. I don't expect any media pressure on this. Almost all our media outlets are fully behind Fischer, Weibel and company. The only somewhat critical paper in this regard is the NZZ.

Yeah, this would be worst-case. Fischer somehow managed to find a way back with Kukan, Malgin and Co, so I don't think he's open to resolving the situation. But on the other hand, we didn't have any Weibel involvement back then, which scares me a little bit.

 

[Speyer]

Yeah, this would be worst-case. Fischer somehow managed to find a way back with Kukan, Malgin and Co, so I don't think he's open to resolving the situation. But on the other hand, we didn't have any Weibel involvement back then, which scares me a little bit.

What certainly complicates the situation are Weibels comments in the press in addition to the NT ban. This really made Bichsel look bad in NA. If the tournament had been a month earlier this could have seriously hurt his draft stock. I feel like the longer that they are not talking, the harder it will get to "make peace" at this point, Weibel and Bayer probably should have reached out to Bichsel by now to try to put the issue behind them.

 

[jonas2244]

Yeah. And that totally one-sided and unecessary post on Social Media.

 

[Speyer]

So the NT looses every game this season and Fischer gets rewarded with a contract renewal? Ok lets just throw away the opportunity to actually win the WC before a home crowd and play well in the first OG with NHL participation in years. The SIHF remains a joke. And the fact that its board of directors is chaired by a former Handball player with zero knowledge about hockey is just the icing on the cake.