Representatives of the Champions Hockey League and the six clubs from Switzerland met with local and national media on Monday to discuss the upcoming season. It is one of several meetings taking place in various CHL countries in the days leading up to the start of the competition.
by Andreas Reiner
ZUG – The Champions Hockey League invited all major Swiss media outlets but also smaller, hockey-specific websites had a chance to listen to what Szymon Szemberg, COO of the CHL and Martin Baumann, CEO, had to say about the upcoming season. Representing the six Swiss clubs were head coach Marc Crawford of the ZSC Lions Zurich, Chris McSorley, head coach and GM of Geneve-Servette, Arno del Curto, head coach of HC Davos, Christian Dube, former player and new general manager of Fribourg-Gotteron, and a couple of active players: Josh Holden of EV Zug and Martin Pluss of SC Bern.
The cloudy weather took a short break and welcomed the representatives of the Swiss newspapers and radio and television stations to an information meeting at the Lake Zug in Oberwil. The six club representatives were seated all in a row, wearing this year's new home sweaters and ready to take a few questions from Szemberg.
But before all of that, Baumann welcomed all members of the media and the clubs and congratulated Davos on their Swiss Championship title. He pointed out how important it will be for the clubs to not only represent their home colours but also Swiss ice hockey itself.
“Many experts suggest that the National League A is probably one of the most spectacular leagues within Europe, making it attractive for imported players. For example, the 17-year-old player (Austen Matthews) from the United States who chose the NLA over the Canadian junior leagues to improve his game in the coming season,” Baumann continued, before wishing all teams good luck in the coming weeks and months.
Szemberg started with last year's Swiss championship coach Arno del Curto, who in his typical manor gave some very pointy answers. He mentioned that he wants to play the same way NHL teams play: hard, fast and with a lot of skill but he also made it clear that he doesn't have the same kind of talent on his roster but the goal must always be to achieve those previously mentioned goals. “I'm definitely looking forward to playing against Farjestad Karlstad of the Swedish Hockey League because it will be great to compare my team with the best teams in Europe,” he emphasized.
Next was Marc Crawford, head coach of last season's finalists, the ZSC Lions. He explained what it was like to be coach of the Quebec Nordiques at the time and made a quick jump to the immediate future – how the focus has increased on the Lions now that Auston Matthews has signed a one-year bridging contract. “It will be a good opportunity for him to play on the bigger ice against grown men.” He also mentioned the interesting possibility of Matthews playing in the CHL should the Lions qualify for the knock-out stage, as Matthews is only eligible to play as of 17 September, his 18th birthday.
Christian Dube, who has made a quick transition from being a player to Fribourg's general manager, explained that he enjoyed the change very much. He pointed out how much he liked international competition, playing in the old European Hockey League with Lugano in the '90s, the first edition of the Champions Hockey League with SC Bern, and the second edition with Fribourg. “Competing against the best European countries was always a challenge and I'm very much looking forward to these games.”
Josh Holden had somewhat of a home game, as Bossard Arena where EV Zug play is just a few kilometres away from the location of the meeting and Holden was asked what memories went through his head on 3 October, 2011. Smiling, he spoke about the game against the New York Rangers and emotions the whole team experienced as they beat the NHL team 8–4. When asked if a top European team could compete against an NHL team he answered, “It would be exciting to see, it would be open. There might be some guys over in North America who still underestimate the skills that players in Sweden, Finland or the Czech Republic display, for example, in a World Junior tournament.”
One of the longest-serving players still active right now was next. Martin Pluss, who in his career has played in four Olympics and 12 World Championships, is a four-time Swiss Champion, one-time Swedish Champion and one-time World Championship silver medallist is still hungry to play for his team, SC Bern. “I know that the time I've got left isn't going to last forever so I'm trying to do the best I can for myself and my team.” He went on to say, “The gap between the teams, not only in the league but also Europe-wide, is getting smaller and smaller compared to earlier occasions, such as the European Hockey League.”
Last but not least, Geneve's Chris McSorley was introduced with a few interesting figures from the past when playing for the Toledo Golddiggers in the '80s. Adding up minutes in the penalty box was one thing but delivering goals and assists that mattered was a completely different topic! He talked out the bitter ending for Geneva last season, explaining, “There are no easy games. You have to be ready, night after night, otherwise you'll learn your lesson the hard way and be embarrassed.”
A question that came up regularly was the participation of KHL teams in the future. Baumann assured that this is a top priority but at this time there is no definite decision. Szemberg then closed the Q&A session, thanked everyone involved and released the club representatives to the journalists, who now had time for one-on-one interviews.
All in all, the event was well organised and the media should now be well aware what to expect this season in terms of format, prize money and the competing teams.