National League A 2008/09

	National League A
	◄ previous	2008/09 season	next ►
Master:	HC Davos
Relegated:	none
• NLA |  NLB ↓   |  1st league ↓↓   |  2nd league ↓↓↓

The 2008/09 season was the second regular Time of the highest ice hockey league of Switzerland after the renaming of the former National League A in National League A . The HC Davos beat in the playoff -Final the Kloten Flyers 4: 3 and won with it for the 29th time the Swiss league title , while the ZSC Lions were unable to defend their title. In the league qualification, the NLB champions HC Lausanne failed at EHC Biel , so that there is neither a promoted nor a relegated from the league.

mode

The 12 teams play 2 double rounds of 22 games each. There are also 6 additional encounters per team against 3 opponents, which are determined on the basis of the qualification table of the previous year. In total, each team plays 50 qualifying games. Then the best eight teams will determine the Swiss champions in play-off style. Quarter-finals , semi-finals and the final are each played according to the best of seven mode .

The other four teams determine in the play-outs which team has to play against the champions of the National League B to stay up.

Attendees

HC Ambrì-Piotta SC Bern EHC Biel HC Davos Friborg-Gottéron HC Servette Genève Kloten Flyers SCL Tigers HC Lugano Rapperswil-Jona Lakers EV train ZSC Lions

Participant of the National League A , season 2008/09

In the composition of the National League A there was a change in the 2008/09 season compared to the previous season. The EHC Biel is after several attempts succeeded promotion. NLA Playout loser who EHC Basel , also failed in the crucial relegation matches in Biel and plays new to the National League B .

team	Location	Ice rink	capacity
HC Ambrì-Piotta	Ambrì	Pista la Valascia	7,000
SC Bern	Bern	PostFinance Arena	17.131
EHC Biel	Biel	Ice stadium Biel	7,000
HC Davos	Davos	Vaillant Arena	7,080
Friborg-Gottéron	Freiburg	Patinoire de St. Léonard	7.125
HC Servette Genève	Geneva	Les Vernets	6,837
Kloten Flyers	Balls	Kolping Arena	7,561
SCL Tigers	Langnau	Ilfishalle	6,500
HC Lugano	Lugano	Resega	8,000
Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Rapperswil	Diners Club Arena	6,000
EV train	train	Hertihalle	6,780
ZSC Lions	Zurich	Hallenstadion	11,000

Main round

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	SV	NV	N	Gates	Pt.
1.	SC Bern	50	30th	4th	5	11	187-136	103
2.	ZSC Lions	50	26th	8th	3	13	176-149	97
3.	Kloten Flyers	50	27	6th	3	14th	174-130	96
4th	HC Davos	50	25th	6th	5	14th	184-135	92
5.	HC Lugano	50	19th	8th	7th	16	175-156	80
6th	HC Servette Genève	50	22nd	5	2	21st	157-140	78
7th	HC Friborg-Gottéron	50	19th	7th	4th	20th	154-143	75
8th.	EV train	50	20th	3	5	22nd	171-166	71
9.	SCL Tigers	50	19th	5	2	24	170-180	69
10.	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	50	14th	1	5	30th	143-208	49
11.	HC Ambrì-Piotta	50	12	1	8th	29	129-190	46
12.	EHC Biel	50	11	2	7th	30th	126-213	44

spectator

In the NLA qualification 2008/09 a new attendance record could be recorded. A total of 1.82 million viewers attended the 300 championship games. This corresponds to a significant increase of 160,000 or 9.6 percent compared to the previous year. Most popular was SC Bern, which, with an average of 16,172 spectators per game, can boast a very high number of spectators even in a European comparison. The stadium occupancy rate in the top division is 75.3 percent.

statistics

Outfield player

Nat.	team	Surname	Sp	T	A.	Pt	PIM	PPT
	HC Servette Genève	Juraj Kolník	49	25th	47	72	64	8th
	Kloten Flyers	Kimmo Rintanen	50	23	44	67	38	7th
	HC Lugano	Patrick Thoresen	48	22nd	41	63	83	8th
	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Stacy Roest	50	17th	46	63	50	1
	HC Servette Genève	Byron Ritchie	46	22nd	38	60	62	5
	HC Lugano	Petteri Nummelin	45	21st	39	60	16	14th
	SCL Tigers	Martin Kariya	50	15th	43	58	62	5
	SC Bern	Christian Dubé	46	16	40	56	32	4th
	SC Bern	Simon Gamache	49	18th	36	54	55	7th
	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Niklas Nordgren	50	25th	18th	53	86	10
	ZSC Lions	Ryan Gardner	50	25th	28	53	28	16
	EV train	Josh Holden	49	18th	32	50	100	7th
	Friborg-Gottéron	Sandy Jeannin	50	14th	36	50	60	5
	Kloten Flyers	Tommi Santala	50	13	35	48	96	4th
	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Christian Berglund	49	22nd	25th	47	80	7th
	HC Ambrì-Piotta	Paolo Duca	50	18th	29	47	45	6th
	Friborg-Gottéron	Shawn Heins 1	47	11	19th	30th	172	6th

¹ For comparison: players with the most penalty minutes
( legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games completed; 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 )

goalkeeper

Nat.	team	Surname	Sp	Min	GT	ATM	Min / GT	SO	S.	N
	SC Bern	Marco Buehrer	46	2785	116	2.5	24	5	32	13
	HC Servette Genève	Benjamin Conz	21st	1233	51	2.5	24	2	9	10
	ZSC Lions	Lukas Flüeler	24	1431	60	2.5	24	1	16	7th
	Kloten Flyers	Ronnie Rüeger	50	3014	127	2.5	24	4th	33	17th
	HC Davos	Leonardo Genoni	40	2416	107	2.7	23	2	26th	14th
	Friborg-Gottéron	Sébastien Caron	39	2265	101	2.7	22nd	4th	21st	17th
	HC Servette Genève	Gianluca Mona	29	1699	79	2.8	22nd	2	16	12
	HC Lugano	David Aebischer	49	2953	140	2.8	21st	2	27	22nd
	HC Davos	Reto Berra	16	931	46	3.0	20th	0	5	10
	HC Ambrì-Piotta	Karol Križan	14th	849	43	3.0	20th	0	4th	10
	HC Ambrì-Piotta	Thomas Bäumle	19th	1084	56	3.1	19th	2	6th	12
	ZSC Lions	Ari Sulander	27	1600	86	3.2	19th	0	18th	9
	EV train	Lars Weibel	43	2566	139	3.2	18th	3	21st	22nd
	SCL Tigers	Matthias Schoder	48	2888	163	3.4	18th	3	23	25th
	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Marco dispute	42	2353	146	3.7	16	0	13	27
	EHC Biel	Marco Wegmüller	24	1237	80	3.9	15th	0	7th	15th
	EHC Biel	Pascal Caminada	33	1790	124	4.2	14th	0	6th	22nd

( Legend for the goalkeeper statistics: GP or Sp = total games; W or S = wins; L or N = defeats; T or U or OT = draws or overtime or shootout defeats; min. = Minutes; SOG or SaT = shots on goal; GA or GT = goals conceded; SO = shutouts ; GAA or GTS = goals conceded ; Sv% or SVS% = catch quota ; EN = empty net goal ; ¹  play-downs / relegation ; italics : statistics not complete)

Playoffs

Tournament tree

Quarter finals				Semi-final					Final
1.	SC Bern	2
8th.	EV train	4th
				3.	Kloten Flyers	4th
				8th.	EV train	0
2.	ZSC Lions	0
7th	HC Friborg-Gottéron	4th
(The teams are reset after the first round.)									3.	Kloten Flyers	3
									4th	HC Davos	4th
3.	Kloten Flyers	4th
6th	Genève-Servette HC	0
				4th	HC Davos	4th
				7th	HC Friborg-Gottéron	3
4th	HC Davos	4th
5.	HC Lugano	3

Quarter finals

The quarter-finals took place between February 26th and March 12th.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
SC Bern	-	EV train	2: 4	5: 2 (3: 0, 0: 1, 2: 1)	2: 3 (0: 1, 1: 1, 1: 1)	n.V. 3: 2 (1: 1, 0: 0, 1: 1, 1: 0)	2: 5 (1: 1, 0: 2, 1: 2)	2: 3 (0: 0, 1: 3, 1: 0)	1: 3 (0: 0, 1: 1, 0: 2)	-
Kloten Flyers	-	Genève-Servette HC	4-0	2: 1 (1: 1, 0: 0, 1: 0)	6: 2 (4: 0, 0: 1, 2: 1)	4: 1 (1: 1, 2: 0, 1: 0)	n.P. 6: 5 (1: 1, 2: 1, 2: 3, 0: 0, 1: 0)	-	-	-
ZSC Lions	-	HC Friborg-Gottéron	0: 4	1: 3 (0: 0, 0: 2, 1: 1)	0: 3 (0: 2, 0: 1, 0: 0)	1: 2 (0: 2, 0: 0, 1: 0)	n.V. 2: 3 (1: 0, 1: 1, 0: 1, 0: 1)	-	-	-
HC Davos	-	HC Lugano	4: 3	n.V. 1: 2 (0: 1, 1: 0, 0: 0, 0: 1)	n.V. 3: 2 (1: 0, 0: 1, 1: 1, 1: 0)	n.V. 4: 3 (0: 1, 1: 1, 2: 1, 1: 0)	5: 3 (1: 1, 2: 0, 2: 2)	n.V. 4: 5 (1: 0, 2: 3, 1: 1, 0: 1)	n.P. 2: 3 (0: 0, 1: 0, 1: 2, 0: 0, 0: 1)	7: 1 (2: 0, 4: 0, 1: 1)

Less than 20 hours after leaving against Zug, SCB coach John Van Boxmeer was sacked with immediate effect. He has led the SCB to 115 wins in 173 games since 2006.
The ZSC Lions were eliminated as Champions Hockey League winners in the quarter-finals. Freiburg's Julien Sprunger became the match winner in the last game: He scored all three goals, with the 2-2 only 12 seconds before the supposed final siren.

Semi-final

The semi-finals took place between March 14th and 28th.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
Kloten Flyers	-	EV train	4-0	n.V. 3: 2 (0: 0, 2: 0, 0: 2, 1: 0)	3: 2 (0: 1, 2: 1, 1: 0)	6: 0 (2: 0, 3: 0, 1: 0)	3: 0 (1: 0, 1: 0, 1: 0)	-	-	-
HC Davos	-	HC Friborg-Gottéron	4: 3	4: 1 (2: 1, 1: 0, 1: 0)	3: 5 (1: 1, 2: 2, 0: 2)	1: 3 (0: 0, 0: 0, 1: 2)	0: 1 (0: 1, 0: 0, 0: 0)	3: 2 (1: 1, 0: 1, 1: 1)	3: 0 (1: 0, 0: 0, 2: 0)	4: 3 (0: 1, 2: 1, 2: 1)

Final

Kloten Flyers - HC Davos 3: 4

In the final of the NLA, the Kloten Flyers met the 2007 champions, HC Davos . The best-of-seven series for the title of Swiss champion was mainly characterized by a high proportion of away wins and a more defensive tactic by both teams. In the end, the team from Davos prevailed with 4: 3 wins against the Flyers, making them the first team in the NLA playoffs that required the maximum number of 21 games to win the title.

March 31, 2009 7:45 p.m.	Kloten Flyers	2: 1 n.V. (0: 1, 0: 0, 1: 0, 1: 0) game statistics	HC Davos	Kolping Arena , Kloten spectators: 7,624 (sold out)
April 2, 2009 7:45 p.m.	HC Davos	6: 5 a.s. (3: 1, 0: 3, 2: 1, 1: 0) game statistics	Kloten Flyers	Vaillant Arena , Davos spectators: 6,599
April 4, 2009 8:15 pm	Kloten Flyers	1: 2 (1: 0, 0: 1, 0: 1) game statistics	HC Davos	Kolping Arena, Kloten spectators: 7,624 (sold out)
April 7, 2009 8:15 pm	HC Davos	0: 4 (0: 1, 0: 1, 0: 2) game statistics	Kloten Flyers	Vaillant Arena, Davos spectators: 6,926
April 9, 2009 8:15 pm	Kloten Flyers	2: 4 (1: 0, 0: 2, 1: 2) game statistics	HC Davos	Kolping Arena, Kloten spectators: 7,624 (sold out)
April 11, 2009 8:15 pm	HC Davos	0: 1 n.V. (0: 0, 0: 0, 0: 0, 0: 1) game statistics	Kloten Flyers	Vaillant Arena, Davos spectators: 6,926
April 13, 2009 8:15 pm	Kloten Flyers F. Du Bois 44:07	1: 2 (0: 0, 0: 2, 1: 0) match statistics	HC Davos 26:15 D. Wieser 31:36 Rv Arx	Kolping Arena, Kloten spectators: 7,624 (sold out)

HC Davos champions team

	goalkeeper	Reto Berra , Leonardo Genoni
	Defender	Florian Blatter , Beat Forster , Andreas Furrer , Lukas Gerber , Marc Gianola , Robin Grossmann , Lukas Stoop , Jan von Arx
	Attacking player	Andres Ambühl , Dario Bürgler , Daniel Carbis , Alexandre Daigle , Peter Guggisberg , Lee Jinman , Robin Leblanc , Josef Marha , Michel Riesen , Sandro Rizzi , Petr Sýkora , Petr Tatíček , Reto von Arx , Dino Wieser , Marc Wieser
	Trainer	Arno Del Curto , Remo Gross

Playouts

Both the playouts and the relegation are consistently played out in the Best of Seven mode.

Tournament tree

Semi-final					Final
9.	SCL Tigers	4th
12.	EHC Biel	3
					11.	HC Ambrì-Piotta	4th
					12.	EHC Biel	2
10.	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	4th
11.	HC Ambrì-Piotta	2

Semi-final

In the first round of the play-outs, the SCL Tigers and the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers prevailed against their competition and thus secured relegation.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
SCL Tigers	-	EHC Biel	4: 3	5: 1	1: 4	3: 4	3: 2	5-0	3: 4	5: 1
Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	-	HC Ambrì-Piotta	4: 2	5-0	1: 2	2: 1	2: 3	3: 1	3: 1	-

Final

In the second round of play-outs, the team that has to compete in the relegation against the winner of the NLB will be determined.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Ambrì-Piotta	-	EHC Biel	4: 2	2: 4	2: 3	5: 1	2-0	7: 5	4: 3	-

League qualification

In the games of the league qualification it is decided who is allowed to play in the National League A in the coming season. The loser of the playouts competes against the B master and first enjoys home rights in the best-of-seven series.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
EHC Biel	-	Lausanne HC	4: 3	n.V. 4: 5 (1: 2, 2: 1, 1: 1, 0: 1)	2: 4 (1: 1, 1: 1, 0: 2)	6: 3 (4: 0, 0: 2, 2: 1)	4: 1 (1: 0, 2: 0, 1: 1)	3: 1 (1: 0, 1: 0, 1: 1)	1: 6 (0: 3, 0: 2, 1: 1)	5: 1 (4: 1, 1: 0, 0: 0)

This means that last year's promoted EHC Biel remains in the National League A and HC Lausanne will play in the National League B for another year.

swell

1. ↑ National League news from March 10, 2009
2. ↑ Game details of the National League from 07.03.2009