While playing for Team Canada at the Spengler Cup, veteran defenceman Micki Dupont talked about the frustrating season the Kloten Flyers have had this season in the Champions Hockey League and Switzerland's NLA.

by Andreas Reiner

DAVOS, Switzerland – One of the regular participants in the annual Spengler Cup tournament is a team of Canadian players who play on club teams throughout Europe. This year's Team Canada includes 10 players who played in this year's Champions Hockey League, including veteran defenceman Micki Dupont, who recorded one assist in six games with the Kloten Flyers. 

Kloten had a disappointing CHL campaign in 2014–15, recording only one point in Group I, and their Swiss NLA season hasn't gone much better – they currently sit in ninth place out of 12 teams and are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Prior to the team's semi-final game, which they lost 6–5 to Geneve-Servette, Dupont talked about playing in the annual Christmas-time tournament and the season in Kloten. 

Did you spend Christmas up here in Davos with your family and Team Canada or did you come up later?

I played with Kloten the 22nd and 23rd of December and on the 24th around noon we drove up to Davos – there was a big dinner and everybody met up. Every year it's exciting, you have some guys you know like Brett McLane, Marc-André Pouliot, Joel Kwiatkowski, Biron Ritchie and a lot of new guys from the AHL as well.

How many times have you played in the Spengler Cup?

This is my eighth year – six years with Canada, once with Kloten and once with Eisbären Berlin.

How is it to play together with guys you normally play against in the NLA?

The first couple of games and practices you have to try to learn each other's habits and get some chemistry but (Canadian head coach) Guy Boucher did a really good job of putting a system in place and finding some structure so everybody knows what to expect, where to be. It's a little easier that way.

Do you know any guys from the Canadian team?

Yeah, a couple of guys played at the Spengler Cup for Team Canada previously like Curtis McLane, Pascal Pelletier, Mark Popovic. Hockey is such a funny world – I played junior hockey with Shaone Morrison when I was 18, 19 and I haven't seen him since. And the Zagreb assistant coach, Alan Letang, I played with him when I was 22 and obviously I know Doug Shedden, their head coach too.

You played in the Champions Hockey League with the Kloten Flyers this season. What's the difference to playing against international club teams compared to the Spengler Cup?

In some way it's pretty similar because it's teams you usually don't play against. In the Swiss league, you know exactly what Davos is gonna do, how Geneve will play – you know how these teams will play. But when you play against a Swedish or a Finnish team, you haven't played against them before so you don't know what to expect. So you just try to play your game and take the game to them.

So what's up next? Will you be spending New Year's Eve in Davos?

I'm not quite sure. We'll probably go back to Kloten as soon as we can. Our first game is on the 3rd (against Fribourg-Gottéron) so we'll get back and prepare for the game.

It's been a difficult season for Kloten so far. How does that make you feel being in such a situation?

Yeah, it's been a tough year in Kloten. We had a bad start and ever since then the confidence in the team has been down. It's been tough for everybody, I mean, everybody's not playing to their top level but now with Sean Simpson coming in (Kloten released Felix Hollenstein and Kimmo Rintanen before Christmas), I think he's a really good coach and he's gonna push us hard and put more structure in place so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm excited and I think it'll turn our team around but it's gonna take a lot of hard work by the players – it's not gonna happen just like that.

What do you do personally to shake off those negative feelings and put it behind you and how do you focus on the future?

Like I said, this season started bad and it kind of snowballed. I think it's really important that the players and coaches on the bench stay positive. If somebody makes a mistake you don't just shake your head and put your head down, you really try to support each other, give a guy a tap on the shin pads or the shoulders and say, "Let's go buddy, let's go, keep going, keep pushing!" Just keep the energy up. When things aren't working, everybody gets really tense and that's not what you want, you want to stay loose but also aggressive so you have to find that balance.