Genève-Servette HC

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Genève-Servette HC
Genève-Servette HC
Greatest successes
  • Swiss cup winners 1959, 1972
  • Swiss runner-up in
    1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 2008, 2010
  • Spengler Cup winner 2013, 2014
Club information
history Servette HC and HC Genève (1905–1963)
Genève-Servette HC (since 1963)
Location Geneva , Switzerland
Club colors burgundy, yellow
league National League
Venue Les Vernets
capacity 7,135 seats (of which 4,629 seats)
executive Director Christophe Stucki
Head coach Patrick Émond
captain Noah Rod
Season 2018/19 8th place, playoff quarter-finals

The Genève-Servette Hockey Club is a Swiss ice hockey club from Geneva that plays in the National League . It was founded in 1905 and plays its home games at the Les Vernets stadium . The association has been run as a stock corporation since 2001.

Despite the almost identical name, the club has had no financial or legal ties to the football club Servette FC Genève since 1963 . Rather, he was part of the American Anschutz Group , which also includes Eisbären Berlin , Hammarby Hockey and the Los Angeles Kings , and the “Fondation 1890” foundation currently owns the club.

In the early 1990s Servette played in the first division and rose to the then NLB in the 1995/96 season . Six years later Servette won the B championship title and rose to the top division , where he played from 1964 to 1975. In the 2007/2008 season, the club made it to the playoff final for the first time .

history

Around 1905, the Genève Hockey Club was founded as the ice hockey section of the Servette FC Genève football club made up of active ice hockey players from HC Florissant. Up until the 1950s, home games were played on natural ice as well as in Lausanne and L'Abbaye , before the first games on an artificial surface, in the “Pavilion des Sports”, took place on November 21, 1954. The first game was played against Urania Genève Sport , who also used this sports facility for their games. In 1956, with a 2-1 win against EHC Veltheim from Winterthur, the first participation in the National League B and two years later the opening of the artificial ice stadium " Les Vernets ", in which the home games took place from now on.

In the following season, the Genève HC was able to win the Swiss Cup for the first time in 1959 with a win against the Young Sprinters Hockey Club . This game saw 11,820 fans, which was the biggest backdrop for an ice hockey game in Geneva. Four years later, the two teams met again in the final, but this time the team from Neuchâtel had the upper hand. In 1963 the two Geneva teams, Servette and UGS, merged to form what is now Genève-Servette HC, which became independently Servette FC Genève . After the merger the club was champion of the National League B, an increase in the National League A in. The Southwest Swiss established themselves there and were runner-up in the league five times until they were relegated in 1975. In 1972 Servette won the Swiss Cup again. The club slipped into the third division in 1980 and then experienced several promotions and relegations (1984-85, 1988-89 and 1990-91).

After defeating SC Luzern in 1995, Servette was promoted to the NLB again, as a result of which they were able to establish themselves despite internal club problems.

Entry of the Anschutz Group - beginning of the McSorley era

Due to efforts by President Marco Torriani, a contract was signed with the Anschutz Group in 1999 , which should give the club a new boost. In 2001 the Canadian Chris McSorley was hired as a coach and sports director. This led the team in 2002 with the NLB final victory against HC La Chaux-de-Fonds to promotion to the NLA, where the GSHC had last played 27 years earlier. In the following seasons, the club was always able to reach the playoffs and gradually became championship favorites. During the NHL lockout in 2005 , the Confederates also wanted to benefit from the commitment of North American players, but initially received no approval from the Anschutz group. This non-approval was later lifted due to injury concerns and so Derek Armstrong of the Los Angeles Kings , Geoff Sanderson of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Serge Aubin of the Atlanta Thrashers briefly changed jerseys in favor of the Geneva team.

All power for McSorley & Quennec - unsuccessful title hunt

In 2005, the Anschutz group returned their withdrawal from the club, with Chris McSorley and Hugh Quennec becoming the new owners. In February 2006 the shareholder base was to be expanded to include the Swede Bo Johansson, but that did not happen in the end. Jean-Michel Barbey, the son of Honorary President Claude Barbey, who died in 2004, resigned as club chairman shortly afterwards after only a few months, and was succeeded by Quennec in 2006. Quennec convinced, among others, the Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko and the Gunvor group, in which Timchenko was involved, to join Servette as a financier.

The 2005/06 season was not satisfactory from the club's point of view, when after the preliminary round only eleventh place and thus going into the playouts was imminent. A year later, however, the team came back to the quarter-finals of the playoffs and in 2007/08 , reaching the playoff final, celebrated the greatest success in the club's history. The 2008/09 season closed the club with the early elimination in the playoff quarter-finals. In the 2009/10 season Servette reached the playoff final, but failed in the seventh game away against SC Bern after they had previously made up a 1: 3 deficit in the best-of-seven series.

Wins in the Spengler Cup - Quennec becomes sole owner

On December 31, 2013 the club in Davos won the prestigious Spengler Cup , in the final the HK ZSKA Moscow was defeated 5-3. This success could be repeated a year later by a 3-0 victory over Salawat Yulayev Ufa . In the playoffs in spring 2014, the GSHC was eliminated in the semifinals against the eventual champions ZSC Lions.

In 2014 McSorley gave his club shares to Quennec, which became the sole owner.

In the 2014/15 season they were involved in four competitions: in the NLA, in the Cup, in the Champions Hockey League (CHL) and in December in the Spengler Cup. In the NLA playoffs the semi-finals were reached again (also in the cup). In the CHL they were eliminated in the round of 16. At the end of 2014, the title at the Spengler Cup was successfully defended.

In the 2015/16 season, the Eagles were again defeated in the semi-finals of the NLA playoffs (2: 4 against Lugano). In June 2016, Canadians Mike Gillis , Lorne Henning and Peter Gall joined the Servette management team. Gillis, former NHL player and former manager of the Vancouver Canucks , and lawyer Gall became members of the board of directors. Henning, former player and head coach of the New York Islanders , joined McSorley to strengthen the sporting direction.

McSorley's retirement as a coach

2016/17 was the last stop in the quarter-finals against EV Zug. Thus, the club's declared goal of winning the first championship title in club history was again missed. Subsequently, media reports increased that long-term coach McSorley could be about to leave. On March 22, 2017, McSorley announced his retirement as head coach after 16 years in office, but kept his post as sports director. It was also announced that supervisory board member Mike Gillis would henceforth supervise the sporting development and Peter Gall (also sitting on the supervisory board) the new hall project. In addition, President and sole club owner Quennec announced that Gillis intended to become a shareholder in Genève-Servette HC, but that did not materialize.

At the end of June 2017, the new coach was found: McSorley's compatriot Craig Woodcroft was signed for the post. On November 22, 2017, GSHC announced in a statement on its own website that Quennec was still the sole owner of the club and that Gillis would take over co-ownership of the planned new hall.

End of the Quennec era

On January 26, 2018, President and club owner Hugh Quennec announced his immediate withdrawal. François Bellanger, who was previously a member of the Board of Directors, was succeeded in the presidency. "With my departure I want to save the club," said Quennec on the occasion of his departure from GSHC. He had previously given up his shares in the club, and Didier Fischer's foundation “Fondation 1890” took over the shares and thus ownership. At the time of Quennec's departure, Genève-Servette was in financial difficulties, Quennec said in a statement that the club had been going through difficult times for two seasons, largely due to budgetary and liquidity problems. He is taking responsibility for this and is resigning because an immediate solution to the liquidity problem has been found. The takeover by the Fondation was officially announced on February 20, 2018. The new President Bellanger called the change of ownership "a new stage in the life of the club, the keywords of which are toughness, transparency and modernity." At the end of February, Bellanger announced to the newspaper Tribune de Genève that board members Mike Gillis and Peter Gall had left the club but remained involved in the planning for the planned new hall.

As a qualifying eight, the Geneva slipped into the championship round in the 2017/18 season and were eliminated in the quarter-finals with 1: 4 wins against Bern.

As Chairman of the Board of Directors, President Bellanger remained an interim solution; in March 2018 he was replaced by Laurent Strawson. At the end of March 2018, the return of Christophe Stucki, who took over the post of General Director of the operating company GSHC SA, was announced. He had already led the company's fortunes between 2011 and 2016.

McSorley second term as coach and renewed replacement

At the beginning of April 2018, the club announced the separation from coach Woodcroft, Chris McSorley took over the post again and remained sporting director. McSorley led Servette to the playoff four-finals in the 2018/19 season, where it ended against Bern. The decision of the hard-fought series was made in the longest game in Swiss ice hockey history. After the departure, which was classified by journalist Klaus Zaugg as a “terrific failure”, there were increasing reports that the Canadian could be replaced as a coach, even though he was “popular in the city than ever” at the time. In mid-April, McSorley was recalled from the coaching position and replaced by Patrick Émond , the previous coach of the Geneva youth. McSorley remained sports director. On July 31, 2020, McSorley's tenure as sports director came to an end, but according to the club's announcement he should continue to work for Servette in a different role, especially since his long-term contract, which he had received from Servette under Hugh Quennec and of which the Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote, there is " in world sport probably no other such absurd document »that had not yet expired. Marc Gautschi became Geneva's new sports director .

player

Blocked jersey numbers

Squad for the 2019/20 season

As of October 9, 2019

No. Nat. player Item Date of birth in the team since place of birth
34 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Gauthier Descloux G July 23, 1996 2018 Freiburg im Üechtland , Switzerland
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Daniel Manzato G 17th January 1984 2020 Friborg , Switzerland
47 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Eliot Antonietti Injured.svg D. January 27, 1993 2007 Orbe , Switzerland
5 Flag of Switzerland and France.jpg Enzo Guebey Injured.svg D. 0May 6, 1999 2019 Sallanches , France
17th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Arnaud JacquemetA. D. March 29, 1988 2013 Sion , Switzerland
25th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Roger Karrer D. January 21, 1997 2019 Zurich , Switzerland
90 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Simon Le Coultre D. 0August 9, 1999 2019 Le Sentier , Switzerland
74 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Marco Maurer D. February 21, 1988 2019 Affoltern am Albis , Switzerland
22nd SwitzerlandSwitzerland Jonathan MercierA D. February 18, 1986 2003 Geneva , Switzerland
70 SwedenSweden Jens Olsson D. 0December 9, 1984 2019 Malmo , Sweden
81 LatviaLatvia Sandis Šmons D. May 19, 1999 2019 Riga , Latvia
77 SwedenSweden Henrik Tömmernes D. August 28, 1990 2017 Karlstad , Sweden
52 United StatesUnited States SwitzerlandSwitzerland Mike Völlmin D. May 13, 1993 2018 Wilmington, North Carolina , USA
92 FranceFrance Eliot Berthon C. April 27, 1992 2018 Lyon , France
94 FranceFrance United StatesUnited States Tim Bozon LW March 24, 1994 2018 St. Louis , United States
72 FranceFrance Floran Douay LW 0February 7, 1995 2014 Sallanches , France
16 CanadaCanada Eric Fehr C. 0September 7, 1985 2019 Winkler , Manitoba , Canada
91 SwitzerlandSwitzerland John Fritsche Injured.svg LW 03rd September 1991 2018 Parma , Ohio , USA
19th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Timothy Kast C. 19th August 1988 2018 Genève , Switzerland
98 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Guillaume Maillard F. October 11, 1998 2016 Switzerland
85 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Marco Miranda LW 0June 2, 1998 2019 Zurich , Switzerland
SwedenSweden Linus Omark LW 05th February 1987 2020 Övertorneå , Sweden
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Damian Riat F. February 26, 1997 2020 Geneva , Switzerland
71 Flag of Canada and Switzerland.png Tanner Richard C. 0April 6, 1993 2017 Markham , Ontario , Canada
96 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Noah RodC. RW 0June 7, 1996 2018 La Chaux-de-Fonds , Switzerland
14th SwitzerlandSwitzerland Juraj Šimek RW September 29, 1987 2015 Prešov , Czechoslovakia
27 LatviaLatvia Deniss Smirnovs C. 0March 7, 1999 2019 Latvia
60 SwitzerlandSwitzerland Jesse Tanner RW February 19, 2000 2019 Saint-Imier , Switzerland
18th Flag of Canada and Switzerland.png Jeremy Wick RW June 13, 1989 2014 Grand Valley , Ontario , Canada
10 United StatesUnited States Tommy Wingels C. April 12, 1988 2018 Evanston , Illinois , USA
26th CanadaCanada Daniel Winnik C. 0May 6, 1985 2018 Toronto , Ontario , Canada
Coaching staff
Item Nat. Surname Date of birth in the team since place of birth
Head coach CanadaCanada Patrick Émond January 31, 1965 2019 Quebec City , Canada
Assistant coach CanadaCanada Louis Matte June 8, 1972 2008 Quebec City , Canada
Assistant coach SwitzerlandSwitzerland Jan Cadieux March 17, 1980 2019 Davos

Trainer

Venue

Home ground of HC Servette Genève

Les Vernets has been home to Genève-Servette HC since 1958 . The original capacity of 11,500 seats was reduced from 1992 to 9,000 spectators during the renovation. After another renovation in 2009, the hall now holds 7,202 spectators, of which 5,337 seats. 6,700 spectators, 4,100 of which are seated, are permitted for championship games. During the NLB times, derbies against HC Lausanne were often sold out. In recent history, games against Friborg-Gottéron in particular have attracted a large number of spectators.

Web links

Commons : Genève-Servette HC  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. gshc.ch: History of Genève-Servette HC, The Swiss Cup 1959 , accessed on June 30, 2009
  2. gshc.ch: History of Genève-Servette HC, 2004–2005 Season , accessed on June 30, 2009
  3. Il avait relancé Genève Servette, le voilà champion de NHL . ( letemps.ch [accessed on March 22, 2017]).
  4. Geneva / Servette remains externally controlled: larger shareholders . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . February 2, 2006, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on March 22, 2017]).
  5. obols bluff när de blev Dolphins sponsor . March 14, 2007 ( nt.se [accessed March 22, 2017]).
  6. Daniel Germann: After the withdrawal at Lausanne HC: The world of Hugh Quennec . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . ( nzz.ch [accessed on March 22, 2017]).
  7. https://www.gshc.ch/fr/Club/Historique.html
  8. Gerald Hosp, Jean-Pierre Kapp: Secretive commodity billionaire Timchenko talking: "I have been successful, as Putin still vice mayor was" . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . April 16, 2013, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on March 22, 2017]).
  9. Gerald Hosp: Sanctions against "Putin's friends": Timchenko sold Gunvor shares before sanctions . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . March 20, 2014, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed on March 22, 2017]).
  10. Philippe ReichenKorrespondent @ PhilippeReichen: Timtschenkos remain patrons even after US sanctions . In: Tages-Anzeiger, Tages-Anzeiger . May 4, 2014, ISSN  1422-9994 ( tagesanzeiger.ch [accessed on March 22, 2017]).
  11. ^ GE-Servette décroche sa première Coupe Spengler . In: RTSSport.ch . ( rts.ch [accessed February 1, 2017]).
  12. ^ Emil Bischofberger: Servette's sole ruler demoted. In: Tages-Anzeiger. Retrieved March 22, 2017 .
  13. Genève-Servette successfully defends title: Genève-Servette wins the Spengler Cup in Davos again. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. December 31, 2014, accessed February 1, 2017 .
  14. ^ Le Genève-Servette Hockey Club renforce son Conseil d'Administration et affirme ses ambitions. In: gshc.ch. Retrieved March 22, 2017 (French).
  15. Mike Gillis on the Geneva Executive Committee: Mike Gillis strengthens the carpet floor at Genève-Servette. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. June 14, 2016, accessed March 22, 2017 .
  16. NLA play-offs: Servette fails after a clear defeat by Zug . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . ( nzz.ch [accessed on March 15, 2017]).
  17. ^ Prize de position du GSHC. In: gshc.ch. Retrieved March 18, 2017 (French).
  18. ^ Daniel Germann: Servette coach Chris McSorley: Disenchanted magician. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  19. Hugh Quennec semble bien décidé à lâcher Chris McSorley . In: tdg.ch . ( tdg.ch [accessed on March 18, 2017]).
  20. Le Genève-Servette Hockey Club redéfinit son organization. In: gshc.ch. Retrieved March 22, 2017 (French).
  21. http://www.gshc.ch/News/Craig-Woodcroft-a-signe-au-Geneve-Servette-Hockey-Club.html
  22. https://www.gshc.ch/fr/News/Actualites/Communique-de-presse-clarification-de-la-situation.html
  23. www.gshc.ch, GSHC - Site officiel du Genève-Servette Hockey Club: Le Genève-Servette Hockey Club redéfinit son organization - Genève-Servette Hockey Club. Retrieved March 22, 2017 (French).
  24. https://www.srf.ch/sport/eishockey/national-league/besitzerwechsel-in-genf-quennec-tritt-als-praesident-von-genf-servette-zurueck
  25. https://www.langenthalertagblatt.ch/sport/hockey/hugh-quennec-gibt-ein-amt-ab/story/31559990
  26. https://www.lematin.ch/sports/18h-ge-servette-vecu-revolution/story/17322364
  27. http://www.planetehockey.com/news-gshc-hugh-quennec-se-retire-du-club-grenat,71357.html
  28. www.gshc.ch, GSHC - Site officiel du Genève-Servette Hockey Club: La reprise du GSHC SA par la Fondation 1890 est entérinée - Genève-Servette Hockey Club. Retrieved February 20, 2018 (French).
  29. https://www.tdg.ch/sports/gshc/francois-bellanger-geservette-assaini-avenir-garanti/story/26733405
  30. https://www.watson.ch/Sport/Eishockey/874005069-Bern--Lugano-und-die-ZSC-Lions-im-Halbfinal-----Biel-fehlt-noch-ein-Sieg
  31. https://www.nzz.ch/sport/abermaliger-praesidentwechsel-bei-genfservette-ld.1369082
  32. https://www.gshc.ch/fr/News/Actualites/Retour-de-Christophe-Stucki-a-la-Direction-Generale-du-Geneve-Servette-Hockey-Club-SA.html
  33. https://www.gshc.ch/fr/News/Actualites/Retour-de-Chris-McSorley-comme-Head-Coach-du-GSHC.html
  34. SC Bern wins a record game - has it also ended the era of coach Chris McSorley? In: NZZ. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  35. Despite the terrific quarter-finals: Does Chris McSorley have to go? Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  36. https://www.gshc.ch/fr/News/Actualites/Patrick-Emond-reprend-la-premiere-equipe.html
  37. Nicola Berger: The next disempowerment of Chris McSorley is also the last | NZZ. Retrieved August 5, 2020 .
  38. ^ Genève-Servette Hockey Club: Change à la direction sportive - Genève-Servette Hockey Club. Retrieved August 5, 2020 (French).