Goran Bezina

Goran Bezina
Date of birth	March 21, 1980
place of birth	Split , SR Croatia
size	190 cm
Weight	102 kg
position	defender
number	# 57
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1999 , 8th lap, 234th position Phoenix Coyotes
Career stations
1998-2001	Friborg-Gottéron
2001-2004	Springfield Falcons
2004-2007	Genève-Servette HC
2007	EC Red Bull Salzburg
2007-2016	Genève-Servette HC
2016-2017	KHL Medveščak Zagreb
2017-2019	Genève-Servette HC
since 2019	HC Sierre

Goran Bezina (born March 21, 1980 in Split , SR Croatia ) is a Swiss ice hockey player ( defender ). He has been under contract with HC Sierre in the Swiss League since August 2019 . As a dual citizen, he also has Croatian citizenship .

Career

After Bezina had played one season at Villars HC in the first division , he made his professional debut at Friborg-Gottéron in the National League A in the 1998/99 season . During his time in Friborg he was selected in the NHL Entry Draft 1999 in the eighth round in 234th position by the Phoenix Coyotes . From 2001 he ran three seasons for the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League . In the 2003/04 season he came with the Phoenix Coyotes to three games in the National Hockey League . In 2004 Bezina returned to Switzerland and from then on played for Genève-Servette HC . Following the 2006/07 season , Bezina played the playoffs with EC Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian ice hockey league and won the national championship with them . In the 2007/08 and 2009/10 seasons he was runner-up with Servette.

After the end of the 2015/16 season he left Genève-Servette and moved to KHL Medvescak Zagreb in the Continental Hockey League (KHL). Bezina returned to Genève-Servette at the end of January 2017. On the occasion of his return, GSHC President Hugues Quennec called the “prodigal son” in the club's media release “a player with symbolic power and a winner who perfectly embodies the values ​​of the Genève-Servette Hockey Club: unity, pride, perseverance and generosity.”

For the 2019/20 season he was signed by HC Sierre from the Swiss League .

International

For Switzerland , Bezina took part in the junior division at the U18 European Junior Championship in 1998 and the U20 Junior World Championship in 1999 and 2000 . In the senior sector, he was in his country's squad at the A World Championships in 2001 , 2003 , 2004 , 2005 , 2006 , 2007 , 2008 , 2009 , 2010 and 2011 as well as at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin .

Achievements and Awards

2001 Best Swiss defender in the National League A. 2007 Best Swiss defender in the National League A. 2007 Austrian champion with the EC Red Bull Salzburg 2008 Swiss runner-up with the Genève-Servette HC

2008 All-Star Team of the National League A 2010 All-Star-Team of the Spengler Cup 2010 Swiss runner-up with the Genève-Servette HC

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1998/99	Friborg-Gottéron	NLA		38	0	0	0	14th		4th	0	0	0	2
1999/00	Friborg-Gottéron	NLA		44	3	6th	9	10		4th	0	0	0	6th
	EHC Visp	NLB		2	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-
2000/01	Friborg-Gottéron	NLA		44	10	10	20th	44		5	1	1	2	12
2001/02	Springfield Falcons	AHL		66	2	11	13	50		-	-	-	-	-
2002/03	Springfield Falcons	AHL		64	3	4th	7th	24		6th	0	1	1	0
2003/04	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL		3	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-
	Springfield Falcons	AHL		74	11	10	21st	65		-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		34	7th	12	19th	51		4th	0	0	0	8th
2005/06	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		43	8th	14th	22nd	38		5	1	2	3	33
2006/07	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		41	13	20th	33	72		5	0	0	0	4th
	EC Red Bull Salzburg	EBEL		1	1	0	1	2		8th	4th	8th	12	12
2007/08	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		48	11	24	35	46		16	4th	6th	10	16
2008/09	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		48	11	20th	31	97		4th	1	2	3	2
2009/10	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		47	7th	19th	26th	34		20th	4th	12	16	22nd
2010/11	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		50	8th	22nd	30th	70		6th	4th	3	7th	29
2011/12	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		50	7th	20th	27	58		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	Genève-Servette HC	NLA		46	10	22nd	32	40		-	-	-	-	-
NLB total				2	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-
NLA total				533	95	189	284	574		73	15th	41	56	134
EBEL total				1	1	0	1	2		8th	4th	8th	12	12
AHL total				204	16	25th	41	139		6th	0	1	1	0
NHL overall				3	0	0	0	2		-	-	-	-	-

International

Represented Switzerland at:

U18 European Junior Championship 1998 U20 Junior World Championship 1999 U20 Junior World Championship 2000 World Championship 2001 World Championship 2003 World Championship 2004 World Championship 2005 2006 Winter Olympics

World Championship 2006 World Championship 2007 World Championship 2008 World Championship 2009 World Championship 2010 World Championship 2011 World Championship 2012

year	team	event		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1998	Switzerland	U18 European Championship		6th	0	1	1	6th
1999	Switzerland	U20 World Cup		6th	1	1	2	2
2000	Switzerland	U20 World Cup		7th	0	0	0	8th
2001	Switzerland	WM		6th	0	1	1	43
2003	Switzerland	WM		6th	1	1	2	0
2004	Switzerland	WM		7th	0	1	1	4th
2005	Switzerland	WM		7th	1	0	1	8th
2006	Switzerland	Olympia		6th	0	2	2	4th
2006	Switzerland	WM		6th	2	1	3	4th
2007	Switzerland	WM		7th	1	1	2	6th
2008	Switzerland	WM		7th	0	2	2	6th
2009	Switzerland	WM		6th	0	0	0	6th
2010	Switzerland	WM		7th	0	2	2	16
2011	Switzerland	WM		3	1	0	1	4th
2012	Switzerland	WM		5	1	1	2	29
Juniors overall				19th	1	2	3	16
Men overall				73	7th	12	19th	130

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

• Goran Bezina at hockeydb.com (English)
• Goran Bezina at eurohockey.com
• Goran Bezina at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Goran Bezina at hockeyfans.ch

Individual evidence

1. ^ Finally in Croatia - Bezina signs with Medvescak. In: www.medvescak.com. Retrieved June 23, 2016 . 
2. ↑ www.gshc.ch, GSHC - Site officiel du Genève-Servette Hockey Club: Goran Bezina de retour aux Vernets - Genève-Servette Hockey Club. Retrieved February 1, 2017 (French).