Ice hockey team in Bern, Switzerland
Schlittschuh Club Bern
(
Ice-skating
Club Bern
in
English
) is a professional
ice hockey
team based in
Bern
, Switzerland. They play in the
National League
(NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the most attended ice hockey team in
Europe
for the
2018?19
regular season, averaging 16,290 spectators.
[1]
They are traditional rivals with
HC Fribourg-Gotteron
,
EHC Biel
, and the
SCL Tigers
.
History
[
edit
]
The ice hockey section of the Bern Sports Club, which was established on 3 November 1930, officially began playing on 1 January 1931.
Today, SC Bern is a highly popular team and regularly fills its home stadium, the
PostFinance Arena
, one of the largest ice hockey stadiums in Europe. In 2006, they set a new record among European clubs for average attendance, with an average of 15,994 in 22 home games.
[2]
They have won the Swiss Championship thirteen times, with the most famous victory coming in 1989 over
HC Lugano
During the
2004?05 NHL lockout
,
Daniel Briere
,
Dany Heatley
,
J. P. Dumont
,
Marc Savard
,
Henrik Tallinder
, and
Chris Clark
played for SC Bern. Although, league rules allow only four players without Swiss passports to suit up in a single game.
After a disappointing run in the 2006 playoffs, the club replaced head coach
Alpo Suhonen
with
John Van Boxmeer
and general manager Roberto Triulzi with
Sven Leuenberger
.
[3]
Leuenberger had previously played thirteen seasons of defence with the club, totaling 67 goals, 145 assists, and four national championships. His jersey number 16 is one of many that has been retired by SC Bern.
On 30 September 2008, SC Bern faced off against the
National Hockey League
's
New York Rangers
to celebrate one hundred years of ice hockey in Switzerland. Forty-nine years since the Rangers' last visit to Switzerland, the blueshirts beat the home team 8?1 in front of a sellout crowd. Despite the slanted score, SC Bern played a close game with a 2?0 score at the end of the second. Former
Phoenix Coyotes
' Canadian-born defenceman
Travis Roche
scored SC Bern's goal early in the third period, bringing the game to 2?1. SC Bern only allowed two even-strength goals, but could not withstand the Rangers' potent power play in the final frame (6-for-9). "We played for our pride tonight," said center
Sebastien Bordeleau
after the exhibition game. Christian Dube wore the captain's "C" because
Ivo Ruthemann
was injured.
During the
2012 NHL lockout
,
Roman Josi
,
Mark Streit
and
John Tavares
played for the SC Bern. Tavares quickly became the
PostFinance Top Scorer
tallying 42 points (17G, 25A) in 28 games.
During the 2013?14 season,
Guy Boucher
signed a contract as coach of the SC Bern for the current year and two more seasons. He has since been relieved from his duties, moving on to coach the Ottawa Senators, being replaced by former assistant and SC Bern player
Lars Leuenberger
, who guided the team to the championship in 2016. Leuenberger was then replaced by former Finnish national team coach
Kari Jalonen
prior to the 2016?17 season. Jalonen went on to win the NL title in his first year at the helm of the team.
On 1 October 2018, SC Bern played a friendly game against the
New Jersey Devils
of the
National Hockey League
(NHL), which featured their former player
Nico Hischier
who in
2017
became the first Swiss player to be drafted first overall in an
NHL Entry Draft
.
[4]
[5]
On January 28, 2020, Jalonen was relieved of his duties following terrible results.
Hans Kossmann
stepped in to replace him as head coach for the remainder of the 2019/20 season.
Honors
[
edit
]
Champions
[
edit
]
- NL Championship
(16)
: 1959, 1965, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2016,
2017
,
2019
- SL Championship
(3)
: 1958, 1969, 1972
- Swiss Cup
(3):
1965, 2015, 2021
- European Cup
appearances
(10)
: 1965, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997
Players
[
edit
]
Current roster
[
edit
]
Updated 11 January 2024.
[6]
Honored members
[
edit
]
NHL alumni
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]