2023 Switzerland roster

[Hinterland]

He probably thinks taking Prada as a PP specialist instead is a 140 IQ move. Lets see how it plays out...

Lol. Is there something Prada is better at than Nicolet? I doubt it.

 

[Kuracmugger]

First of all, I want to thank you all for describing the development and state of junior hockey in Switzerland. From what I've read in this thread, you're in the clinical death stage and just waiting for your team to drop down a notch in the U18 or U20 category.

Austrian hockey produces more interesting names than the current Swiss hockey, but this is not the merit of the Austrian federation. A huge amount of work on the development of young Austrian players is done by the Czechs. They organize enough camps for the individual development of the players and the skills coaches also have their share in where Austrian hockey can be in the future. Of course, it's a matter of money, because a family from Austria always pays more money for a campsite than a Czech family. The Austrians thus bet on the individual development of the players and the team aspect goes into the background, so if they lose 15-1 to Canada but have some excellent actions in the match and get chances, they will be satisfied. This is a way for a small hockey country to show that it is also capable of finding and developing elite talent. If they only lost to Canada, say 8-0, but had a million icings and the Canadian goalie had 5 saves the whole game, what would that mean? Great that they lost by only 8 goals, but none of the players showed anything, they would have been simply uninteresting.
Do you remember the hockey reforms in Sweden around 2000? They did it even then because they knew that something was wrong and if there was no change, they would fall out of the top, they caught the problem in time and solved it within five years. Of course, it is not possible to compare the situation of Sweden and Switzerland, both countries are different, but if Switzerland continues to be in the stage of clinical death like it is now, with a bad situation in the junior league, bad training at all levels, then Austria can also be in very close contact with Switzerland, but with the difference that they will have better individualities. And that means that an even match will be decided by individual quality. This is too dark a scenario for Switzerland, but Austria's progress cannot be ignored.

If you have a bad system of bringing U20 players into the senior league because they don't have the quality required at the highest level, you need to have a strong second division where those players get their minutes. It means more money for the minor league clubs and also that there isn't as much pressure to perform as in the NL, doesn't it? Or is it just my naive imagination? This is how Sweden once progressed, they got the really elite talents to the SHL, but they had enough players left who did not produce enough points as elite players in their junior years, and so Allsvenskan became an alternative. They got enough minutes there, played PP, PK and the last minutes of games and if they drew attention to themselves with their performance, they got to the SHL later than the elite prospects.
Today, it is possible to travel to practically any country for a coaching internship, so unless the federation is completely weak and incompetent, Swiss coaches have to go to Finland or the USA. I don't mean to blindly copy everything from these countries, they have to keep their own identity. From my point of view, Switzerland is a good skating team, with pressure on the goal, but apart from a few players from the NHL, no one is interesting from an individual point of view. A beautiful example of this problem was seen in the match against the Czechs at the end when they lost first 0-2 and then scored a contact goal. The inability to do anything unexpected and surprising was glaring, a million passes to the blue line and back to the side again.

So if the Swedes, Finns or Canadians are delivering those moments in the NL, I can see why the future doesn't look great, pretty awful actually. As the coach from my favorite Swedish team in the SHL says, first and foremost we want the player to have the greatest individual quality so that he does not get lost among the world's elite and is competitive. We work on this every day, we want to see progress at every training session, we are not interested in tactics but we want to see how our player decides the match. Yes, it's Ronnberg and Frölunda, but you can apply this approach in any country, just don't be afraid to give the younger players a chance, in the future those youngsters will pay you back twice. And if it is true that the hockey fans of the NL teams are completely indifferent to the situation with the juniors and are primarily interested only in ZSC, Ambri or Lugano, something is very wrong in your hockey.

It occurred to me that the situation with six imports in NL teams resembles the situation in English football. They paid fantastic money to foreigners there for a long time, but they didn't have their own talents, or rather they didn't give them a chance and kept sending them to the Championship or League One, they preferred to buy a 27-year-old player from France, because he was a ready-made player, rather than a 19-year-old home Englishman. That's also why their national team suddenly lacked the necessary quality after the end of the senior players, and frankly, their national team was laughable, with one world title but often ending up in the QF. But they changed it, started hiring Spanish youth coaches, built infrastructure and understood that they could take their talents to the PL. Today they have great young players and an excellent future, that's where I would look for inspiration for your hockey.

I am pretty knew to hfboards so i don’t know who to mark a passage of the text to respond to it but the part where you talked about fans being fans of zsc ambri etc. and not interested in the juniors is a very big part of it indeed. The „mainstream fans“ like middle aged people who don’t have a child or or relative that plays hockey really are just interested in their team rather than a good swiss team or they are just happy with switzerland being good at the moment and don’t care about keeping this level. I also believe that the NL is attracting a lot of new fans who are the same. The only people caring about u20 NT or more than the top 2 leagues are mostly people who are involved in hockey in switzerland(players,coaches or team managers(small teams)). So the „mainstream fans“ don’t hear or care about this. The situation is improving a bit with the u20 world championship beinh broadcasted on mysports(before 2018 it wasn’t possible to watch the u20 wjc over swiss broadcasting). What i want to say if the Swiss Men‘s national team is being good and the NL doesn’t go over 6 foreigners there won’t be a public exclamation.
This also shows on this site IMO since there are only like 4-5 active posters in the switzerland threads(however this isn’t the best comparison).

 

[jonas2244]

4-2 in the last preparation game vs. the Czech republic with goals from Canonica, Jabola, Robin and Zanetti. I hope they can keep that momentum.

 

[PanniniClaus]

4-2 in the last preparation game vs. the Czech republic with goals from Canonica, Jabola, Robin and Zanetti. I hope they can keep that momentum.

That's a great result..

 

[cmcneil02]

Early Lead! Biasca! 1-0

 

[Kuracmugger]

3 games and 2 wins against Sweden and the Czech Republic so teams we thought we wouldn’t be competing with… i can’t comment ob the play since i haven’t watched any of those games bout i hope they can take the good feeling and get results like that in the real tournament too.

 

[Goldenhands]

3 games and 2 wins against Sweden and the Czech Republic so teams we thought we wouldn’t be competing with… i can’t comment ob the play since i haven’t watched any of those games bout i hope they can take the good feeling and get results like that in the real tournament too.

They are playing very well and their D looks really strong out there.

 

[Kuracmugger]

The roster is now set. I am surprised Joel Henry isn’t on there since he played last year and seemed like a lock for me, maybe he’s injured. The D selection is good but some interesting choices on the forwards. The cuts are Reinhard,terraneo,henry and Boss.

 

[Hinterland]

View attachment 626463
The roster is now set. I am surprised Joel Henry isn’t on there since he played last year and seemed like a lock for me, maybe he’s injured. The D selection is good but some interesting choices on the forwards. The cuts are Reinhard,terraneo,henry and Boss.

Based on talent Joel Henry should be on this team but his lackluster performances at the last WJC20 just a few months ago may have cost him so I'm not surprised even if he's healthy. I expected Jabola Prada to get cut though.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Based on talent Joel Henry should be on this team but his lackluster performances at the last WJC20 just a few months ago may have cost him so I'm not surprised even if he's healthy. I expected Jabola Prada to get cut though.

Did he play bad? I didn't watch all the games in august but i don't remeber him playing bad and he also had a goal and an assist which isn't that bad for an underager.

 

[Hinterland]

Did he play bad? I didn't watch all the games in august but i don't remeber him playing bad and he also had a goal and an assist which isn't that bad for an underager.

Him, Fahrni and Graf were half assing almost the entire tournament. Lots of stupid, unnecessary fouls and giveaways. Just not good enough and a few nice plays don't make up for that. I believe Henry and Graf also got benched for their lackluster play. Others, like Zanetti, got benched for less so the cut isn't that much of a surprise.

Speaking of dumb and lackluster, I'm surprised they kept Dionicio over Terraneo. I get it, he was a double underager in the summer tournament but he looked exactly the same in the exhibition games and he was also suspended for 6 games in the OHL because of a hit to the head. A talented player for sure but just not not mature enough. He needs to get his act together and Terraneo would have been a better choice.

 

[ORRFForever]

Congrats on the win.

 

[Speyer]

Good first game overall apparently. I couldn't watch the whole game for christmas reasons but what I saw looked solid. Obviously the defense was key to this victory as they didn't allow the Finns to set up many high danger chances. Finns did not have a strong game at all though lacking ideas in their transition play. Pasche really needs to save at least one goal against, especially the shot he wasn't quite able to catch with his glove. This game also really showed how important one or two above average players are in a tournament like this. Without Bichsel and Biasca we probably wouldn't stand a chance whatsoever. Other than them I also really liked Alge who showed great hustle whenever he was on the ice.

 

[Hinterland]

Good first game overall apparently. I couldn't watch the whole game for christmas reasons but what I saw looked solid. Obviously the defense was key to this victory as they didn't allow the Finns to set up many high danger chances. Finns did not have a strong game at all though lacking ideas in their transition play. Pasche really needs to save at least one goal against, especially the shot he wasn't quite able to catch with his glove. This game also really showed how important one or two above average players are in a tournament like this. Without Bichsel and Biasca we probably wouldn't stand a chance whatsoever. Other than them I also really liked Alge who showed great hustle whenever he was on the ice.

Very good game. Very good team game especially. They played as a team and only few guys disappointed. You can't really fault Pasche for the goals against since mistakes were made beforehand. The rebound on the 1st goal was horrible though. Pasche has zero rebound control but this is nothing new. The 2nd goal I think was far from unstoppable either but that overload was horrible and the shot came from premium slot position so it would be unfair to fault Pasche for this one. He keeps on losing his net though so still I never know whether to laugh or cry watching him. I've never seen a goalie as small as him with such a horrible positioning and overaggressively overcommitting to everything. It's driving me insane

Biggest disappointments, like in the summer tournaments, the ZSC prospects. And I'm saying that as somebody actually liking the ZSC. Truog was at least partly at fault for the 1st goal against, Baechler took two dumb penalties and lost important faceoffs. Reichle kept on losing his men. Not impressed with his coverage against the puck...at all. All three of them very invisible/ineffective with the puck as well. The only other skater I'd criticize is Jabola. Got the chance to play with Taibel and Alge but, in my view, didn't do enough to stick with them. He scored the one garbage goal but other than that I felt like he was holding back two sharp forwards. I think they ultimately have to separate Canonica and Biasca to spread the wealth and Jabola Prada needs to play more of a depth role. They also have to split up the GCK line if they don't improve asap.

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

best roster i can come up with:
Beglieri
Pasche
Croce

Terraneo-sidler
Streule-zanetti
Dionico-Meile
Füllemann

Truog-Henry-biasca
Alge-Canonica-Baechler
muggli-taibel-perrenoud
Weber-Reinhard-Ramel
Garessus

Lines are in no particular order but i have tried some combinations however i would prefer a taller forward since many of those players are fairly small especially Reinhard Weber Truog but i think a fast good skating team could be a weapon. Of course if bichsel can play he‘s undoubtedly on the first line with sidler i feel like those two fit well since one is tall and strong and sidler‘s small. The federation really needs to work out their way with bichsel…

That's a lot of Italian sounding surnames

 

[Hinterland]

That's a lot of Italian sounding surnames

Hockey is pretty big in Ticino.

 

[Speyer]

I think Canonica and Zanetti are the only players that are actually from Ticino. Biasca and Beglieri probably just have some Italian roots. Dionicio's parents are apparently from the Dominican Republic. But yes the Swiss junior national teams are usually a pretty diverse bunch. This doesn't seem to translate to the senior NT for some reason however, wich is totally dominated by Swiss Germans. All of our current NHL players are Swiss Germans as well. If I think about it, I don't think any player from the latin part of Switzerland ever played more than a few games in the NHL. Don't know how this discrepancy could be explained though.

 

[Hinterland]

I don't think our idiot coaches will feel the need to change anything because they won twice and I agree they played well as a team. Still, the GCK line is useless at best and Jabola is nowhere near ready for the role he's gotten. Played about 30mins total back to back in a top6 role and besides the garbage goal he scored all he did was holding back Alge and Taibel. My quick fix for the US-game:

Biasca, Canonica, Robin
Taibel, Alge, Truog
Perrenoud, Muller, Ramel
Reichle, Bächler, Jabola

Limit that 4th line to 5-10mins depending on score. And Beglieri in net please. Defense was great I think. Personally, I'd trust Despont more than Dionicio who was garbage in the summer tournament and from what I saw in the OHL and the exhibition games as well but he was very good vs Finland and Latvia so for now I'm okay with playing him properly.

 

[Kuracmugger]

That's a lot of Italian sounding surnames

Ticinesi-they come from a region in Switzerland where Italian is the main language. It’s called ticino.

 

[Kuracmugger]

I don't think our idiot coaches will feel the need to change anything because they won twice and I agree they played well as a team. Still, the GCK line is useless at best and Jabola is nowhere near ready for the role he's gotten. Played about 30mins total back to back in a top6 role and besides the garbage goal he scored all he did was holding back Alge and Taibel. My quick fix for the US-game:

Biasca, Canonica, Robin
Taibel, Alge, Truog
Perrenoud, Muller, Ramel
Reichle, Bächler, Jabola

Limit that 4th line to 5-10mins depending on score. And Beglieri in net please. Defense was great I think. Personally, I'd trust Despont more than Dionicio who was garbage in the summer tournament and from what I saw in the OHL and the exhibition games as well but he was very good vs Finland and Latvia so for now I'm okay with playing him properly.

I agree with the gck line not being good i liked Truog the most out of those Baechler takes to many penalties and Reichle isn’t good enough for this level(maybe in the shootout). I really like the Biasca,Canonica and Robin Line they can make plays. However i am ok with Pasche in Net he played good in the first 2 games IMO i know your not really the biggest fan of him to say the least, but he made some good saves against finland and in the shootout.

 

[Hinterland]

I agree with the gck line not being good i liked Truog the most out of those Baechler takes to many penalties and Reichle isn’t good enough for this level(maybe in the shootout). I really like the Biasca,Canonica and Robin Line they can make plays. However i am ok with Pasche in Net he played good in the first 2 games IMO i know your not really the biggest fan of him to say the least, but he made some good saves against finland and in the shootout.

Yeah, that's why I'd try Truog on the 2nd line where Jabola is in all over his head.

Pasche didn't have much to do in both games. No spectacular saves either and the four goals he allowed were all very preventable for a good goalie.

I agree he was spectacular in the shootout though and I found it funny how good his positioning suddenly was. I've never seen anything like it before from Pasche. He normally keeps on overreacting to everything and losing his net as a result but in the shootout he was suddenly calm and composed, made himself as big as he possibly could have. Strange.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Yeah, that's why I'd try Truog on the 2nd line where Jabola is in all over his head.

Pasche didn't have much to do in both games. No spectacular saves either and the four goals he allowed were all very preventable for a good goalie.

I agree he was spectacular in the shootout though and I found it funny how good his positioning suddenly was. I've never seen anything like it before from Pasche. He normally keeps on overreacting to everything and losing his net as a result but in the shootout he was suddenly calm and composed, made himself as big as he possibly could have. Strange.

Yeah I’m not a goalie expert so i can’t really comment on his style of play and positioning etc. Pointing out obvious things is ofc easy and everybody sees when a goalie makes a lot of obvious mistakes (like the ones from pasche last year) however he doesn’t stand out to me as a bad goalie more like an unconsistent and sometimes mistake prone goalie.

And trying truog on the second would be a good idea however i don’t think he‘s the perfect fit for Taibel and Alge a player with a good shot would fit these two IMO since they can create chances and are both good skaters. Maybe with jabola this line was a bit to undersized against the fairly physical latvians…

 

[Elias40]

I think Canonica and Zanetti are the only players that are actually from Ticino. Biasca and Beglieri probably just have some Italian roots. Dionicio's parents are apparently from the Dominican Republic. But yes the Swiss junior national teams are usually a pretty diverse bunch. This doesn't seem to translate to the senior NT for some reason however, wich is totally dominated by Swiss Germans. All of our current NHL players are Swiss Germans as well. If I think about it, I don't think any player from the latin part of Switzerland ever played more than a few games in the NHL. Don't know how this discrepancy could be explained though.

So are there more Italian names in downhill skiing? When you write that hockey is largely played by Swiss-Germans, I would expect that the Italian-Swiss would dominate in a sport other than hockey. What about floorball, for example?

 

[jonas2244]

So are there more Italian names in downhill skiing? When you write that hockey is largely played by Swiss-Germans, I would expect that the Italian-Swiss would dominate in a sport other than hockey. What about floorball, for example?

Basketball is mainly played in the Latin part of Switzerland.

But Ice-Hockey is a sport which is popular in all parts of Switzerland. It's just that the italian speaking population is a minority so it's quite clear that less italian-speaking people play ice-hockey than german speaking people.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Basketball is mainly played in the Latin part of Switzerland.

But Ice-Hockey is a sport which is popular in all parts of Switzerland. It's just that the italian speaking population is a minority so it's quite clear that less italian-speaking people play ice-hockey than german speaking people.

Same with the french speaking people in Switzerland there are also french names on the roster louis Robin,nicolas perrenoud or kevin pasche.