National League (ice hockey)

National League

Current season	Season 2019/20
sport	ice Hockey
abbreviation	NL
Association	Swiss Ice Hockey Federation
League foundation	1937
Teams	12
Country countries	Switzerland
Title holder	SC Bern
Record champions	HC Davos (31)
TV partner	SRG ; MySports
Website	nationalleague.ch
↓ Swiss League

The National League (NL; formerly National League A, National League A) is the highest ice hockey league in Switzerland . It currently consists of twelve teams. After the main round in 2018/19, the league generated 6,949 spectators per game in Europe, the highest average of all leagues before the KHL (6,397) and the DEL (6,215). The capital club SC Bern has been number one of all European clubs for 18 seasons and had an average attendance of 16,290 after the main round in 2018/19. With the ZSC Lions , another club from this league was represented in the top ten of European ice hockey, the club from Zurich was in seventh place with 9,694 spectators.

The name "National League" was introduced in the 2007/08 season along with additional innovations. The changes include a new cup and a new game mode.

history

The National League A was established in 1937 as the successor to the National and International Championships in Switzerland. Since 1986, the playoffs have been held at the end of the season, in which the champions of the league are determined. In 2007 the league was renamed National League A. In 2017 the cut in the National League followed.

TV contract

In 2012 a new TV contract was negotiated, which is valid until the 2016/17 season . The public broadcasters in particular expanded their ice hockey programs considerably. The SRG stations can now broadcast National League A play-offs right from the start. For the quarter-finals, the SRG stations have two games of their choice, from the semi-finals onwards, the same play-off game will be broadcast on all SRG SSR stations. All games are also on the pay-TV transmitter Teleclub broadcast live. From the 2017/18 season , UPC and Suisse Digital secured the TV rights for five years and a record amount of an average of 35.4 million Swiss francs annually. The games will be shown on the newly created sports channel MySports .

mode

qualification

In a first phase, the championship is played as a round-robin tournament (qualification). Since the 2007/08 season it has comprised 50 rounds, with each team playing four times against each other team (a total of 44 games) plus an additional six group games. For this purpose, the twelve clubs are divided into three groups of four, whose composition is regional. The groups are formed as follows: West: Genève-Servette HC , Lausanne HC , Friborg-Gottéron , EHC Biel . Middle: SC Bern , SCL Tigers , EV Zug , ZSC Lions . East: SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers , HC Ambrì-Piotta , HC Lugano , HC Davos . In each group of four there is a round trip, whereby these results are included in the overall ranking of the qualification.

In contrast to the past, there has not been a draw since the 2006/07 season . If a game is not decided after 60 minutes, there is a five-minute extra time with three field players each. If no goal is scored, the match will be decided in a penalty shootout. A win after 60 minutes gives three points, a win after overtime or a penalty shootout gives two points, a defeat after extra time or penalty shootout one point, and a defeat after 60 minutes no point.

Playoffs / playouts

After qualifying, the eight best teams will determine the Swiss champions in play-off style. Since the 2013/14 season , the last four teams have been determining the last two teams in the newly introduced placement round, which then decide in the playouts who has to play against the champions of the Swiss League to stay up. In all rounds of the playoffs, as well as in the playouts and in the relegation games, the best-of-seven mode is used.

Sudden death has been taking place in the overtime of the playoffs since the 2017/18 season . This means: an extra time with five against five players is played until a goal is scored. The home right is alternated in each case. The better team in each qualification receives home rights and can therefore play the first game, and possibly the seventh and decisive game, at home.

Attendees

HC Ambrì-Piotta EHC Biel SC Bern HC Davos Friborg-Gottéron Genève-Servette HC HC Lugano SCRJ Lakers SCL Tigers Lausanne HC ZSC Lions EV train

The NL clubs 2019/20

The following twelve teams are represented in the NL in the 2019/20 season :

	team	Location	Ice rink	capacity	Average attendance 2019/20	workload
	HC Ambrì-Piotta	Ambrì	Pista la Valascia	6,500
	SC Bern	Bern	PostFinance Arena	17.131
	EHC Biel	Biel	Tissot Arena	6,521
	HC Davos	Davos	Vaillant Arena	6,795
	Friborg-Gottéron	Freiburg	BCF arena	6,700
	Genève-Servette HC	Geneva	Les Vernets	7,285
	SCL Tigers	Langnau	Ilfishalle	6,050
	Lausanne HC	Lausanne	vaudoise aréna	9,600
	HC Lugano	Lugano	Resega / Cornèr Arena	7,800
	SCRJ Lakers	Rapperswil-Jona	SGKB Arena	6,100
	EV train	train	Bossard Arena	7,200
	ZSC Lions	Zurich	Hallenstadion	11,200

The average attendance refers to all games (qualification, playoffs, playouts, league qualification).

Since the renaming to National League A in 2007, the following clubs have also been represented in the league:

• EHC Basel (until 2008)
• EHC Kloten (until 2018)

National league A championship title 1938–2007

1938: HC Davos 1939: HC Davos 1940: no championship 1941: HC Davos 1942: HC Davos 1943: HC Davos 1944: HC Davos 1945: HC Davos 1946: HC Davos 1947: HC Davos 1948: HC Davos 1949: Zürcher SC 1950: HC Davos 1951: EHC Arosa 1952: EHC Arosa 1953: EHC Arosa

1954: EHC Arosa 1955: EHC Arosa 1956: EHC Arosa 1957: EHC Arosa 1958: HC Davos 1959: SC Bern 1960: HC Davos 1961: Zürcher SC 1962: EHC Visp 1963: HC Villars 1964: HC Villars 1965: SC Bern 1966: Grasshoppers Club Zurich 1967: EHC Kloten 1968: HC La Chaux-de-Fonds 1969: HC La Chaux-de-Fonds

1970: HC La Chaux-de-Fonds 1971: HC La Chaux-de-Fonds 1972: HC La Chaux-de-Fonds 1973: HC La Chaux-de-Fonds 1974: SC Bern 1975: SC Bern 1976: SC Langnau 1977: SC Bern 1978: EHC Biel 1979: SC Bern 1980: EHC Arosa 1981: EHC Biel 1982: EHC Arosa 1983: EHC Biel 1984: HC Davos 1985: HC Davos

Introduction of the play-offs 1986: HC Lugano 1987: HC Lugano 1988: HC Lugano 1989: SC Bern 1990: HC Lugano 1991: SC Bern 1992: SC Bern 1993: EHC Kloten 1994: EHC Kloten 1995: EHC Kloten 1996: EHC Kloten

1997: SC Bern 1998: EV Zug 1999: HC Lugano 2000: ZSC Lions 2001: ZSC Lions 2002: HC Davos 2003: HC Lugano 2004: SC Bern 2005: HC Davos 2006: HC Lugano 2007: HC Davos

National League A championship title 2008-2017

• 2008: ZSC Lions
• 2009: HC Davos
• 2010: SC Bern
• 2011: HC Davos
• 2012: ZSC Lions
• 2013: SC Bern
• 2014: ZSC Lions
• 2015: HC Davos
• 2016: SC Bern
• 2017: SC Bern

Champion National League from 2018

• 2018: ZSC Lions
• 2019: SC Bern
• 2020: no title awarded (championship canceled due to corona virus)

Clubs by championship title

title	Title since 1986	Club
31	6th	HC Davos
16	10	SC Bern
9	-	EHC Arosa
9	6th	ZSC Lions (formerly Zürcher SC)
7th	7th	HC Lugano
6th	-	HC La Chaux-de-Fonds
5	4th	EHC Kloten
3	-	EHC Biel
2	-	HC Villars
1	1	EV train
1	-	EHC Visp
1	-	GCK Lions (formerly Grasshopper Club Zurich)
1	-	SCL Tigers (formerly SC Langnau)

See also

• PostFinance top scorer
• Swiss champions (ice hockey)
• Ice hockey in Switzerland

Web links

Commons : National League A  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ice hockey association
• Website of ice hockey fans
• List of Swiss ice hockey champions at srf.ch

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ice Hockey News from March 19, 2019, page 4
2. ↑ Confirmed: TV deal with UPC and SRG. hockeyfans.ch, accessed on March 10, 2017 (English). 
3. ↑ Fairness questioned: Why the game plan is a blessing for the HCD. Retrieved January 25, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Schedule NL A (PDF). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 10, 2016 ; accessed on September 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ "Sudden Death" in the NLA playoffs delights the fans . In: watson.ch . ( watson.ch [accessed on March 6, 2017]).