WJC: 2022 Switzerland roster talk

[Speyer]

i think its the most popular

Lol no. As far as the (dedicated) fans are concerned its the clear number two behind football/soccer. If you look at the more casual fandom skiing might be more popular as well. Tennis certainly was until Federer became irrelevant, now probably not anymore.

As far as people playing it goes, its behind soccer, tennis, skiing, golf, swimming, horse riding, volleyball, athletics and floorball. If you only look at junior players/athletes it might be more popular than some of the sports I mentioned before though because a lot of people stop playing hockey after juniors, if they are not good enough to go pro.

So Switzerland has always been a country where pro hockey generated a lot of interest but a big part of the fandom never played the sport on an actual team level.

 

[jonas2244]

It's like everywhere, playing ice-hockey is much more complex and also expensive than everything else. Hockey is spectator-wise #2, but not anything close to that in terms of people actually playing it.

 

[filip85]

Lol no. As far as the (dedicated) fans are concerned its the clear number two behind football/soccer. If you look at the more casual fandom skiing might be more popular as well. Tennis certainly was until Federer became irrelevant, now probably not anymore.

As far as people playing it goes, its behind soccer, tennis, skiing, golf, swimming, horse riding, volleyball, athletics and floorball. If you only look at junior players/athletes it might be more popular than some of the sports I mentioned before though because a lot of people stop playing hockey after juniors, if they are not good enough to go pro.

So Switzerland has always been a country where pro hockey generated a lot of interest but a big part of the fandom never played the sport on an actual team level.

This is very interesting...back in 2002. or 2003. I read interview with croatian soccer player Mladen Petrić, who back then was up-and-coming star with FC Basel. He said something like "yes, soccer is popular here, but clear number one is ice hockey". He said it for one croatian sports/betting magazine.

 

[Speyer]

This is very interesting...back in 2002. or 2003. I read interview with croatian soccer player Mladen Petrić, who back then was up-and-coming star with FC Basel. He said something like "yes, soccer is popular here, but clear number one is ice hockey". He said it for one croatian sports/betting magazine.

It might have been closer at that point if you compare league attendance and tv raitings but football should have been more popular back then as well. Club hockey might have been more popular over certain time periods like in the 90's when FC Basel was stuck in the second tier football league. The football national team on the other hand always gathered more interest than its hockey counterpart no mather the time period. Maybe Petric was refering to Zürich specifically where he played at that time. Zürich has two tear 2 football clubs wich sort of fragments its football fanbase unlike in hockey where there are only the Lions. Zürich is not a sports town in general either. I am sure if he was asked the same question while playing for Basel a few years later (04-07 I think) he would have given antother answer altogether.

 

[swissdude]

It might have been closer at that point if you compare league attendance and tv raitings but football should have been more popular back then as well. Club hockey might have been more popular over certain time periods like in the 90's when FC Basel was stuck in the second tier football league. The football national team on the other hand always gathered more interest than its hockey counterpart no mather the time period. Maybe Petric was refering to Zürich specifically where he played at that time. Zürich has two tear 2 football clubs wich sort of fragments its football fanbase unlike in hockey where there are only the Lions. Zürich is not a sports town in general either. I am sure if he was asked the same question while playing for Basel a few years later (04-07 I think) he would have given antother answer altogether.

Well I think soccer is no1 but it also varies depending on where you live. Bern for example yes the soccer club YB is number one escpecially in the city but SCB also has 16k attendance per game and in the more rural regions like Emmental etc. hockey might be number one, same applies to Langnau, Ambri, Zug etc., In the city of Berne in the 80s there was even a school championship where every school in the city had a team, it was quite common to play ice hockey and there were also at least 4 different clubs with junior teams. That's not the case anymore as far as I know

 

[Speyer]

Well I think soccer is no1 but it also varies depending on where you live. Bern for example yes the soccer club YB is number one escpecially in the city but SCB also has 16k attendance per game and in the more rural regions like Emmental etc. hockey might be number one, same applies to Langnau, Ambri, Zug etc., In the city of Berne in the 80s there was even a school championship where every school in the city had a team, it was quite common to play ice hockey and there were also at least 4 different clubs with junior teams. That's not the case anymore as far as I know

Of course there are regional differences and in some towns and villages hockey is the number one sport. But then you also have places like Basel or St.Gallen where most sport fans dont really care about the sport at all. In the end it probably evens itself out.

 

[Hinterland]

Just noticed Knak got the best player award after the Germany game. Yeah he scored a goal but he just happened to be the 3rd forward on the ice getting the empty net shoot in. All the work was done by his linemates and mostly Noah Delémont who beat all three German forwards with his move. Besides that he was invisible all game except when he took his two minor penalties. Joke. Can't tell if the clowns were trolling him or if they really thought he was this good.

 

[Hinterland]

Tournament over. The Canada game was far better than the group games. Even the powerplay looked sharp. I don't know about Knak being among the teams best three players though. I'm not sure which tournament the clowns watched
Biasca and Allenspach I can live with but I think Taibel deserved to be among that trio and Knak certainly not.

Players who played a strong tournament were Delémont (at least partly, when invisible it was probably due to injury), Taibel, Biasca, Allenspach and Ritzmann. Particularly poor were Dionicio, Henry, Graf (maybe due to injury), Knak and Fahrni. The rest I didn't notice much, in many cases also due to a lack of icetime.

It's obviously pure speculation because a lot can happen in 4 months but here's my early guess for the december WJC20. I basically took the current roster, deleted all of the 02 guys (obviously) as well as some of the 03 guys who didn't do enough and replaced them with mostly underagers and double underagers as well as a few 03 guys who I think might have been an upgrade over the 03 guys we just saw. However, given the fact that we might not have a proven and solid goalie, I do think that there should definitely be slots for underagers and double underagers on the roster. Probably more than I have on the following roster but it remains to be seen who and how many of the younger kids are gonna emerge:




Kilian Bernasconi 03
Niels Riesen 03
Tim Metzger 05

Lian Bichsel 04
Dario Sidler 03 "C"
Maximilian Streule 03
Brian Zanetti 03
Vincent Despont 03
Rodwin Dionicio 04
Nick Meile 04
Tiziano Pauchard 03
Benjamin Quinn 04

Attilio Biasca 03 "A"
Lilian Garessus 03 "A"
Lorenzo Canonica 03
Joel Marchon 03
Jonas Taibel 04
Tim Muggli 04
Kevin Nicolet 03
Louis Robin 03
Philip Schärz 03
Noah Greuter 04
Miles Müller 04
Kimo Gruber 05
Valdemar William Hull 05

 

[filip85]

Junioren U20-WM: Im Westen nichts Neues

Viertelfinal-Aus gegen Kanada und nur ein Sieg in fünf Spielen. Die Bilanz der Schweizer U20 an der Weltmeisterschaft in Edmonton ist ernüchternd. Und leider si

www.mysports.ch

 

[Speyer]

Tournament over. The Canada game was far better than the group games. Even the powerplay looked sharp. I don't know about Knak being among the teams best three players though. I'm not sure which tournament the clowns watched
Biasca and Allenspach I can live with but I think Taibel deserved to be among that trio and Knak certainly not.

Players who played a strong tournament were Delémont (at least partly, when invisible it was probably due to injury), Taibel, Biasca, Allenspach and Ritzmann. Particularly poor were Dionicio, Henry, Graf (maybe due to injury), Knak and Fahrni. The rest I didn't notice much, in many cases also due to a lack of icetime.

It's obviously pure speculation because a lot can happen in 4 months but here's my early guess for the december WJC20. I basically took the current roster, deleted all of the 02 guys (obviously) as well as some of the 03 guys who didn't do enough and replaced them with mostly underagers and double underagers as well as a few 03 guys who I think might have been an upgrade over the 03 guys we just saw. However, given the fact that we might not have a proven and solid goalie, I do think that there should definitely be slots for underagers and double underagers on the roster. Probably more than I have on the following roster but it remains to be seen who and how many of the younger kids are gonna emerge:




Kilian Bernasconi 03
Niels Riesen 03
Tim Metzger 05

Lian Bichsel 04
Dario Sidler 03 "C"
Maximilian Streule 03
Brian Zanetti 03
Vincent Despont 03
Rodwin Dionicio 04
Nick Meile 04
Tiziano Pauchard 03
Benjamin Quinn 04

Attilio Biasca 03 "A"
Lilian Garessus 03 "A"
Lorenzo Canonica 03
Joel Marchon 03
Jonas Taibel 04
Tim Muggli 04
Kevin Nicolet 03
Louis Robin 03
Philip Schärz 03
Noah Greuter 04
Miles Müller 04
Kimo Gruber 05
Valdemar William Hull 05

Interesting roster. As far as Goaltending goes Pasche will most likely be the starter wheter we like it or not. I am not happy about this since he has major consistency issues but there is not much to be done about it. I have no Idea if the goalies you mentioned would be a signficant upgrade over Pasche though. Especially Bernasconi looks intriguing on the stat sheet as a late bloomer however. It would be nice to have a goalie with decent size for a change too. I havent seen Alessio Beglieri play in a while but shouldn't he be at least in the conversation to be on the roster too?

As far as the d-corps goe I agree with you for the most part. Maybe Simone Terraneo could play himself in the conversation if he does well with the rockets this season. He was one of the better players at the U18 WJC this spring. Hopefully the Bichsel situation will be resolved until winter. It would suck to miss out on him again.

For the forward group I like the additon of Louis Robin. He is an undersized player but skilled and did well for the U18 team in the past. With a lot of forwards aging out I wouldt mind if he gets a shot. Then I still think Henry is one of the more skilled 03 forwards with decent hands and he is also a good passer. I would agree though he has been bad at the WJC in a lot of other areas wich resulted in lackluster physical play, wasting high danger chances and a bad faceoff percentage. Depending on how he deveolps with the Lions and who is available I would still at the very least consider him for the next roster. Schärz on the other hand I don't like very much. Pro experience doesnt always compensate the lack of talent. I don't see him as good enough to contribute at this level. Its not like he brings size to the table either like Ritzman this year for example. I would take a lot of other 03 forwards over him like Livio Truog who has much more offensive ability. As far as Greuter is concerned I would only select him if his skating improves significantly this offseason. He has been a liablity on the backcheck for the U18 team repeatedly when he had to compensate his skating issues by taking stupid penalties.

Then hopefully at least one of the 05 players will do well enough in the CHL to force themselves into the conversation too. At this point I think Braillard should be closer to the U20 team than Hull though based on the last Ivan Hlinka tournament.

 

[Hinterland]

Interesting roster. As far as Goaltending goes Pasche will most likely be the starter wheter we like it or not. I am not happy about this since he has major consistency issues but there is not much to be done about it. I have no Idea if the goalies you mentioned would be a signficant upgrade over Pasche though. Especially Bernasconi looks intriguing on the stat sheet as a late bloomer however. It would be nice to have a goalie with decent size for a change too. I havent seen Alessio Beglieri play in a while but shouldn't he be at least in the conversation to be on the roster too?

As far as the d-corps goe I agree with you for the most part. Maybe Simone Terraneo could play himself in the conversation if he does well with the rockets this season. He was one of the better players at the U18 WJC this spring. Hopefully the Bichsel situation will be resolved until winter. It would suck to miss out on him again.

For the forward group I like the additon of Louis Robin. He is an undersized player but skilled and did well for the U18 team in the past. With a lot of forwards aging out I wouldt mind if he gets a shot. Then I still think Henry is one of the more skilled 03 forwards with decent hands and he is also a good passer. I would agree though he has been bad at the WJC in a lot of other areas wich resulted in lackluster physical play, wasting high danger chances and a bad faceoff percentage. Depending on how he deveolps with the Lions and who is available I would still at the very least consider him for the next roster. Schärz on the other hand I don't like very much. Pro experience doesnt always compensate the lack of talent. I don't see him as good enough to contribute at this level. Its not like he brings size to the table either like Ritzman this year for example. I would take a lot of other 03 forwards over him like Livio Truog who has much more offensive ability. As far as Greuter is concerned I would only select him if his skating improves significantly this offseason. He has been a liablity on the backcheck for the U18 team repeatedly when he had to compensate his skating issues by taking stupid penalties.

Then hopefully at least one of the 05 players will do well enough in the CHL to force themselves into the conversation too. At this point I think Braillard should be closer to the U20 team than Hull though based on the last Ivan Hlinka tournament.

Pasche is actually consistently poor. Did play some good games but it was always luck. I've never seen him with good positioning or technique. Not once. Keeps on losing his net and his rebounds are flying all over the place. Patenaude did let in a bad one vs Canada and he also gave up two weak ones when coming in cold vs the US but at least he has a calming presence. Has good positioning and technique as well as decent size. There's literally everything wrong with Pasche. Great athlete with great mobility allowing him to make the odd spectacular save but that doesn't make him a good hockey goalie let alone does it make up for all of his flaws. The last time we've had such poor goaltending in a WJC20 was when Paterlini continued to play Hollenstein who was every bit as bad as Pasche. Hollenstein had extensive pro experience though and I'm not sure Pasche is ever gonna get there. You're probably right though. Unless one of the other guys does really well at pro level or in Sweden's or NA's top junior leagues then Pasche will probably be the starter. Not exactly looking forward to that

Personally I like Louis Robin but it remains to be seen where he's gonna play next season. Apparently Rimouski doesn't want him back despite strong showings. The same goes for Braillard and most of the other underagers. I don't think those WJC's are the right place to learn how to play at a higher level. If I was naming the roster, I'd want guys on the roster who are currently playing similar competition at club level or at least had the opportunity to do so previously. I don't know what the plan for Braillard looks like but he'd need to play NL for Biel or SL via B-licence for me to want him on that WJC team in december. Apart from the goalies it should be possible to once again pick a team of players with pro- or top junior league experience.

 

[Speyer]

Pasche is actually consistently poor. Did play some good games but it was always luck. I've never seen him with good positioning or technique. Not once. Keeps on losing his net and his rebounds are flying all over the place. Patenaude did let in a bad one vs Canada and he also gave up two weak ones when coming in cold vs the US but at least he has a calming presence. Has good positioning and technique as well as decent size. There's literally everything wrong with Pasche. Great athlete with great mobility allowing him to make the odd spectacular save but that doesn't make him a good hockey goalie let alone does it make up for all of his flaws. The last time we've had such poor goaltending in a WJC20 was when Paterlini continued to play Hollenstein who was every bit as bad as Pasche. Hollenstein had extensive pro experience though and I'm not sure Pasche is ever gonna get there. You're probably right though. Unless one of the other guys does really well at pro level or in Sweden's or NA's top junior leagues then Pasche will probably be the starter. Not exactly looking forward to that

Personally I like Louis Robin but it remains to be seen where he's gonna play next season. Apparently Rimouski doesn't want him back despite strong showings. The same goes for Braillard and most of the other underagers. I don't think those WJC's are the right place to learn how to play at a higher level. If I was naming the roster, I'd want guys on the roster who are currently playing similar competition at club level or at least had the opportunity to do so previously. I don't know what the plan for Braillard like but he'd need to play NL for Biel or SL via B-licence for me to want him on that WJC team in december. Apart from the goalies it should be possible to once again pick a team of players with pro- or top junior league experience.

We will have to wait and see about the 05s. Good chance that none of them will crack the roster. I wouldnt take Gruber and Hull either unless they play a sizable role in their CHL team and that is a huge question mark. Based on Grubers recent stagnation and injury issues and the last Ivan Hlika tournament Braillard should be closest to the U20 team as of today. But they are all around Biasca, Canonica level from two years ago (Hull even below that) so its not like any of them would be a huge asset if they make it to the WJC.

 

[Hinterland]

While I'm happy for Patenaude I'm still disappointed to hear about the loan. I was really hoping they'd give Bernasconi a chance. Not gonna happen now ahead of the WJC and Patenaude will no longer be eligible.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Switzerland should look that they can use overagers in the world juniors instead of the u20 league maybe then they would stay a chance

 

[Speyer]

Bichsel and the national team coaches are still not talking apparently. Very likely that he won't play this WJC. Weibel with the usual "have to be consistent with our philosophy, nobody is bigger than the team" phrases after being asked about it in the media...

 

[JabbaJabba]

Bichsel and the national team coaches are still not talking apparently. Very likely that he won't play this WJC. Weibel with the usual "have to be consistent with our philosophy, nobody is bigger than the team" phrases after being asked about it in the media...

What happened between Bichsel and the coaches?

 

[Speyer]

What happened between Bichsel and the coaches?

He asked to arrive a bit later for the WJC camp (summer edition) because of a long season ending in July with the draft. This is comparable to a lot of drafted players for other nations, some of wich just flat out declined to play in this tournament. Our federation suits went nuclear after this proposal and accused him of wanting special treatment and not being comited to our hockey programm. Because of that his roster spot for the summer WJC was withdrawn and he was banned from all national teams "until further notice". The whole affair got quite some press attention, most people siding with Bichsel. The conflict remains unresolved to this day.

 

[JabbaJabba]

He asked to arrive a bit later for the WJC camp (summer edition) because of a long season ending in July with the draft. This is comparable to a lot of drafted players for other nations, some of wich just flat out declined to play in this tournament. Our federation suits went nuclear after this proposal and accused him of wanting special treatment and not being comited to our hockey programm. Because of that his roster spot for the summer WJC was withdrawn and he was banned from all national teams "until further notice". The whole affair got quite some press attention, most people siding with Bichsel. The conflict remains unresolved to this day.

Oh wow. Hard not to side with Bichsel on this one. Quite ridiculous considering that Bichsel is the most promising Swiss player of this age group. The national team could really use him. I know that Switzerland isn't likely going to go far in the upcoming tournament even with Bichsel on the team. This kind of thing won't be good in the long run. Hasn't Swiss hockey federation had similar type of relationship problems with some other players as well?

 

[Speyer]

Oh wow. Hard not to side with Bichsel on this one. Quite ridiculous considering that Bichsel is the most promising Swiss player of this age group. The national team could really use him. I know that Switzerland isn't likely going to go far in the upcoming tournament even with Bichsel on the team. This kind of thing won't be good in the long run. Hasn't Swiss hockey federation had similar type of relationship problems with some other players as well?

Yes. Malgin, Fiala and a few others have been banned to play for the senior NT at some point or another. Most of them (with the exeption of Fiala) because they refused to partake in some stupid federation "prospect camp", wich would have interferred with their individual summer training scheudule. Fiala declined to play for his last WJC because he had been struggeling in the AHL and just started to find his groove before the tournament. So he didnt want to loose momentum while leaving the team for a few weeks. While a bit disappoining for the fans this seamed like a reasonable choice for his career at the time. Fiala was not considered for the NT for a year after this and Malgin and the others even multiple years. The federation and our coaching staff are claiming that they want the players to commit to the NT and dont need those who dont meet their expectaitions. My problem with this is that they are all former career swiss league players. They have no idea what its like to play 80+ games in Sweden or NA year in year out. Not just that you eventually need some time to regenerate but also the fact that the offseason is literally the only time to visit family and friends for those players. In my opinion its a desprerate try to impose some authority because the player and coaching resumés of our coaches certainly don't command any type of respect. And now since they doubled down on this approach multible times they apparently can't back off without losing face.

 

[jonas2244]

Oh wow. Hard not to side with Bichsel on this one. Quite ridiculous considering that Bichsel is the most promising Swiss player of this age group. The national team could really use him. I know that Switzerland isn't likely going to go far in the upcoming tournament even with Bichsel on the team. This kind of thing won't be good in the long run. Hasn't Swiss hockey federation had similar type of relationship problems with some other players as well?

Yeah, with Malgin, Kukan, Bodenmann if I remember correctly.

 

[Antiillafire]

 

[Eye of Ra]

Which players from this team do you guys think are ready for the senior NT already?

 

[Kuracmugger]

Which players from this team do you guys think are ready for the senior NT already?

Only lian Bichsel or maybe dario sidler but probably to undersized

 

[Speyer]

Only lian Bichsel or maybe dario sidler but probably to undersized

Bichsel is probably relatively close. Not sure if he makes the WC this year, but I would be surprised if he is not on the roster in 24 at the latest. Biasca is probably not that far out either. If he can establish himself in the NL or AHL next year he could knock on the door sooner than later. Other than those two probably only Taibel has the potential to make the NT on a regular basis and he still needs a lot of time...

 

[jonas2244]

Bichsel is probably relatively close. Not sure if he makes the WC this year, but I would be surprised if he is not on the roster in 24 at the latest. Biasca is probably not that far out either. If he can establish himself in the NL or AHL next year he could knock on the door sooner than later. Other than those two probably only Taibel has the potential to make the NT on a regular basis and he still needs a lot of time...

I'd see Zanetti as potential NT-player sometime in the future. Sidler is probably too small, but yeah, Egli played a WC last spring.