National League A (ice hockey) 2006/07

National League A
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Master:	HC Davos
Relegated:	none
• NLA |  NLB ↓   |  1st league ↓↓   |  2nd league ↓↓↓

The 2006/07 season was the 69th regular season of the National League A , in which the same teams played as in the previous season, as EHC Biel lost the relegation against the NLA bottom Friborg-Gottéron . The HC Davos defeated the SC Bern in the playoff final with 4: 3 wins, becoming the 28th time Swiss champion. The SCL Tigers lost the playouts against EHC Basel , but secured themselves in the league qualification against EHC Biel to stay in the first division.

mode

The 12 teams play 2 double rounds of 22 games each. 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 National League B to stay in the league.

Main round

More than 30,000 spectators at the Bern Derby

On Sunday, January 14th 2007, a new European attendance record for an ice hockey league game was set at the Bern derby between the SCL Tigers and SC Bern (2: 5) in the Stade de Suisse football stadium in Bern with 30,076 spectators. The previous record dates from 1963, when Frölunda HC from Gothenburg , Sweden played on an open ice rink in front of 23,192 spectators.

table

Opening game of the Diners-Club Arena between HC Lugano and Rapperswil-Jona Lakers , September 16, 2006

HC Davos finished the qualification with a total of 28 wins ahead of SC Bern. The ZSC Lions placed last in the top eight and reached the playoffs. The HC Ambrì-Piotta, Friborg-Gottéron, the SCL Tigers and the EHC Basel missed the playoffs and had to compete in the playdowns.

Pl.	team	Sp.	S3	S2	N1	N0	Gates	Pt.
1.	HC Davos	44	26th	2	3	13	154: 120	85
2.	SC Bern	44	24	5	2	13	163: 115	84
3.	EV train	44	22nd	6th	3	13	153: 117	81
4th	HC Lugano	44	25th	1	3	15th	143: 123	80
5.	Kloten Flyers	44	22nd	6th	2	14th	173: 128	80
6th	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	44	19th	5	3	17th	149: 141	70
7th	HC Servette Genève	44	19th	2	4th	19th	147: 140	65
8th.	ZSC Lions	44	13	9	3	19th	111: 127	60
9.	HC Ambrì-Piotta	44	14th	1	8th	21st	128: 165	52
10.	Friborg-Gottéron	44	12	1	12	19th	134: 167	50
11.	SCL Tigers	44	12	5	1	26th	115: 160	47
12.	EHC Basel	44	9	4th	3	28	103: 170	38

statistics

Top scorer

No.	Nat.	team	Surname	Sp	T	A.	Pt	PIM	PPT
1.		SC Bern	Simon Gamache	44	20th	46	66	40	14th
2.		HC Davos	Alexandre Daigle	44	22nd	39	61	44	9
3.		Kloten Flyers	Kimmo Rintanen	41	24	34	58	16	4th
4th		SC Bern	Christian Dubé	40	16	38	54	36	4th
5.		HC Ambrì	Jean-Guy Trudel	44	27	26th	53	38	15th
6th		HC Ambrì	Hnat Domenichelli	44	21st	31	52	50	9
7th		EV train	Oleg Petrov	42	12	40	52	95	4th
8th.		HC Davos	Michel Giant	44	37	14th	51	70	20th
9.		Kloten Flyers	Domenico Pittis	40	17th	34	51	75	7th
10.		Servette	Serge Aubin	40	21st	29	50	50	9
11.		Rapperswil	Stacy Roest	40	14th	36	50	36	4th
12.		Servette	Kirby Law	44	17th	32	49	40	9
13.		HC Lugano	Rickard Wallin	44	14th	35	49	87	5
14th		HC Davos	Reto from Arx	38	11	38	49	46	6th
15th		EV train	Paul DiPietro	41	22nd	25th	47	36	7th

( 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 )

goalkeeper

No.	team	Surname	Sp	Min	GT	ATM	MinGT	SO	S.	U	N
1.	SC Bern	Marco Buehrer	43	2582	105	2.4	25th	6th	28	0	14th
2.	EV train	Lars Weibel	43	2606	109	2.5	24	2	29	0	14th
3.	HC Davos	Jonas Hiller	44	2656	115	2.6	23	3	28	0	16
4th	Rapperswil	Marco dispute	26th	1499	67	2.7	22nd	0	13	1	11
5.	ZSC Lions	Ari Sulander	43	2613	118	2.7	22nd	2	21st	0	22nd
6th	HC Lugano	Simon Züger	44	2594	116	2.7	22nd	4th	26th	0	18th
7th	Kloten Flyers	Ronnie Rüeger	44	2656	123	2.8	22nd	2	28	0	16
8th.	Servette	Gianluca Mona	44	2542	123	2.9	21st	2	21st	1	21st
9.	HC Ambrì	Thomas Bäumle	44	2537	148	3.5	17th	0	14th	0	29
10.	EHC Basel	Daniel Manzato	44	2590	151	3.5	17th	2	13	0	30th
11.	HC Friborg	Adam Munro	41	2488	149	3.6	17th	0	12	0	28
12.	SCL Tigers	Matthias Schoder	44	2223	133	3.6	17th	3	15th	0	21st

( 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

The NLA clubs were also able to choose their playoff opponents for the first time in the 2006/2007 season. Compared to the NLB , however, in the playoff and playout selection of the NLA, those opponents were chosen that would have been received after the old playoff mode.

Tournament tree

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

Quarter finals

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Davos	-	ZSC Lions	4: 3	2: 3 a.d.	1: 3	3: 1	2: 5	4: 2	3: 1	3-0

In the first game in the series, the Lions won two power play goals thanks to a hat trick from Jan Alston . The Zurich team also won the second game, with Róbert Petrovický having a large share in this with two goals. The following duel was won by the HCD thanks to two goals from Sandro Rizzi against the Lions. The ZSC were able to increase their lead to 3-1, as they defeated the HCD in the fourth game of the series with 5-2, Dale McTavish scored two goals, while the goalkeeper of the Lions Ari Sulander was eliminated with an adductor injury . As a result, Reto Berra took over the position of goalkeeper in the following game , but could not prevent the 4-2 defeat, which was mainly due to the lack of discipline of the Zurich team, so that Davos was able to score three powerplay goals. The match winner in HC Davos 'third win in the sixth game was double goal scorer Petr Tatíček , while the Zurich team did not find an adequate means to overcome Davos' strong defense. In the last and decisive game seven, the HCD took a 2-0 lead in the first third through Josef Marha and Sandro Rizzi, while the ZSC Lions failed to break the Davos defense. In the second third Josef Marha increased again to 3-0 - this was also the final result. This means that HC Davos is in the semi-finals and the ZSC Lions end the season in the quarter-finals despite a 3-1 lead in the series.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
SC Bern	-	Genève-Servette HC	4: 1	2: 1	3: 2	4: 2	1: 2	7: 3	-	-

SC Bern retained the upper hand in a defensive game with 2-1 in the first game. Also the second game in Geneva won the SCB u. a. thanks to two goals from Christian Berglund . In duel number three, Geneva took the lead, but then conceded four goals in a row, while the Bernese had strong support in Marco Bührer . In just under the fourth game, the HC led through goals from Kirby Law and Jonathan Mercier , the Berners only made it 2-1 through Raeto Raffainer . Game number five brought the decision: seven goals (two each by Thomas Ziegler and Patrik Bärtschi ) and an outstanding Simon Gamache brought SC Bern to the winning road, which is already in the semi-finals.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
EV train	-	Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	4: 3	2: 3	3: 4 a.d.	1: 4	6: 5 n.p.	6: 3	5: 1	6: 2

The Lakers from Rapperswil win away in Zug thanks to three goals in the first period. In a tight second game, the Lakers won only in extra time - outstanding player Mariusz Czerkawski . Mikko Eloranta scored the first and last goal in the third game of the series, leaving the Lakers with only one victory to reach the semi-finals. The fourth game of these quarter-finals was decided in a penalty shootout by Paolo Duca , who had already scored two goals during the second period. Outstanding player on the Lakers side was Mariusz Czerkawski, who scored two goals and prepared three more. In the following game, the Lakers weakened themselves by receiving too many unnecessary penalties - in contrast, the Zugers were very disciplined and hardly received any penalties, so that the Zuger could pull away to 5: 1 (two goals by Krystofer Kolanos ). The two goals conceded in the third period were only a correction of the result. The Rapperswil-Jona Lakers could not prevail against EV Zug in the sixth game of the series - they lost 5-1 at home in front of 6100 spectators (two Zug goals from Kamil Piroš ). The Rapperswil-Jona Lakers also gave away their fourth match puck to make it into the semi-finals, as the will to win was only there in the first minutes, from minute to minute this faded and EV Zug deservedly won in the Herti Halle. Outstanding players were Krystofer Kolanos and Paul DiPietro with two goals each, Björn Christen and Duri Camichel with three assists each and Oleg Petrow with three points.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Lugano	-	Kloten Flyers	2: 4	3: 6	2: 3 a.d.	8: 1	1: 3	5: 3	1: 3	-

Two goals and an assist from Marcel Jenni and a solid team performance guarantee victory for the Klotener in the first game of the series. The second game just went to the Flyers, who won after 29 seconds of extra time thanks to Kimmo Rintanen . The spectators experienced a liberation from the Luganesi in game three: a total of four power play goals and seven different goalscorers for the HCL secured the victory over the Klotener, who could only score in the first third through Kimmo Rintanen. Game number four was decided in favor of Kloten with a goal by Domenico Pittis five minutes before the end of the game. In the following duel, the Flyers led away 3-2 in the second period, but then conceded 3 goals, which brought the victory for the Luganesi. In the sixth game, the series was decided by a 3-1 victory for the Klotener - curious that the HCL's interim equalization to 2-2 was not given by the referee due to the goal area offside. The Kloten Flyers are in the semi-finals and the season is over for the HCL.

Semi-final

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
SC Bern	-	EV train	4: 1	4-0	1-0	4-0	1: 3	4-0	-	-

In a rather mediocre first duel, the SCB defeated a tired looking team from Zug, match winners on the Bernese side were Marc Reichert with two goals, Simon Gamache with three points and Marco Bührer with his first shutout of the play-offs. The second game was characterized by the defensive and two very strong goalkeepers - both Marco Bührer and Lars Weibel showed season best performances and consequently voted among the best players of the game - the decisive 1-0 for the SCB was achieved by Éric Landry .

SC Bern won game number three thanks to an efficient power play and a strong Marco Bührer with his third shutout in a row. The top scorer of the game was Toni Söderholm with one goal and two assists. SC Bern was safer in defense in the first three games, played better than SCB in defense in the fourth game and put it under pressure again and again, so that in the end Zug won 3-1. In front of 16,032 spectators, SC Bern won their fifth game against Zug 4-0. The Bernese owed this great victory to the Swede Christian Berglund , who scored a hat trick in the last third, and their goalie Marco Bührer with his fourth shutout of the playoffs.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Davos	-	Kloten Flyers	4: 1	5-0	3: 4	4: 3	6: 3	-	-

The first semi-final between the HCD and the Flyers was decided by the Davos power play formation (4 PPT) and a good defensive performance - the match winners were Michel Riesen with two power play goals and Jonas Hiller with his second shutout in a row. The Flyers won the second duel in the semifinals, although the HCD had led 3-1 in the third period with two goals from Zbyněk Irgl and one goal from Peter Guggisberg . Kloten was then able to equalize within two minutes and took the lead through Roman Wick three minutes before the end of the game . The HCD could not do anything about it, as it had already weakened itself with a total of 24 penalty minutes.

The third game between the HCD and the Flyers was decided in the third period by three HCD goals in a row after Kloten had already led 2-1 - Zbyněk Irgl had a large share in the success of the Bündner with two goals. An efficient power play and an outstanding row around Alexandre Daigle (two goals) and Reto von Arx (three assists) were the key to the success of the HCD in the fourth duel of the series, although Kloten was still 3-1 in the lead midway through the game . In game five of the series, Davos took the lead in the tenth minute through Dino Wieser , Kloten was able to equalize, but both the 2: 1 goal by Petr Tatíček and the 3: 1 by Josef Marha remained unanswered - so the HCD is in Playoff final.

Final

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Davos	-	SC Bern	4: 3	3: 2	0: 4	3: 1	2: 3	3: 1	2: 3	1-0

The first game of the final series won the HCD due to the better offensive performance, Josef Marha convinced with two goals and Reto von Arx with the game-deciding goal. Although the Bernese came closer to 2: 3 through Simon Gamache in the last third , they lacked the necessary degree of hardness overall. In an intense, fast and tough second game, SC Bern won 4-0 against a defensive HC Davos, with Marco Bührer celebrating his eleventh shutout of the season. A double strike in the second third of the third game resulted in the decision in favor of HCD, who achieved a 3-1 victory. The Bernese failed because of their own inability or because of Jonas Hiller, who parried 36 shots.

After the first third of the fourth duel, the Bernese led 3-0 and ultimately won 3-2 despite a race to catch up. In the third Davos home game of the series, the HCD won 3: 1 due to a straightforward offensive tactic, a convincing outnumbered game and a strong Jonas Hiller. Game number six was decided by a power play goal from Simon Gamache in favor of SC Bern after Robin Leblanc was able to equalize with a penalty. HC Davos won the seventh game in the series, which was evenly balanced over long stretches, with a goal by Robin Leblanc 1-0 and is thus Swiss champions 2007.

Playoff statistics

Top scorer

No.	Nat.	team	Surname	Sp	T	A.	Pt	PIM	PPT
1.		SC Bern	Simon Gamache	16	7th	9	16	10	4th
2.		SC Bern	Christian Dubé	17th	0	16	16	24	0
3.		HC Davos	Josef Marha	19th	8th	6th	14th	26th	1
4th		Kloten Flyers	Kimmo Rintanen	11	6th	7th	13	2	3
5.		HC Davos	Alexandre Daigle	18th	4th	9	13	6th	3
6th		HC Davos	Zbyněk Irgl	15th	8th	4th	12	20th	1
7th		Rapperswil	Mariusz Czerkawski	7th	6th	6th	12	16	2
8th.		HC Davos	Peter Guggisberg	19th	6th	5	11	4th	2
9.		Kloten Flyers	Radek Hamr	11	2	9	11	22nd	2
10.		SC Bern	Marc Reichert	17th	6th	4th	10	4th	2
11.		SC Bern	Christian Berglund	16	5	5	10	18th	2
12.		EV train	Oleg Petrov	12	4th	6th	10	18th	1
13.		Kloten Flyers	Domenico Pittis	11	2	8th	10	55	1
13.		HC Davos	Reto from Arx	19th	2	8th	10	38	1
15th		HC Davos	Michel Giant	15th	5	4th	9	37	4th

( 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 )

goalkeeper

No.	team	Surname	Sp	Min	GT	ATM	MinGT	SO	S.	N
1.	SC Bern	Marco Buehrer	17th	1013	25th	1.5	41	5	11	6th
2.	HC Davos	Jonas Hiller	19th	1138	39	2.1	29	3	12	7th
3.	EV train	Lars Weibel	12	751	35	2.8	21st	0	5	7th
4th	HC Lugano	Simon Züger	6th	357	17th	2.9	21st	0	2	4th
5.	Kloten Flyers	Ronnie Rüeger	11	657	40	3.7	16	0	5	6th

( 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) ; only goalkeepers with more than 4 games taken into account

Playouts

The playouts and the relegation will be played consistently in the Best of Seven mode.

Playout tree

Semi-final					Final
9	HC Ambrì-Piotta	4th
12	EHC Basel	3
					11	SCL Tigers	2
					12	EHC Basel	4th
10	HC Friborg-Gottéron	4th
11	SCL Tigers	0

Semi-final

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Ambrì-Piotta	-	EHC Basel	4: 3	3: 2	5: 4 a.d.	4: 2	2: 3	4: 5 a.d.	2: 3	5: 1

Eero Somervuori was involved in all three goals of the HCAP, which the Basler narrowly defeated. In the second game of the series, the Basel team lead 4-0 after the first period, but with a hat-trick from Hnat Domenichelli and two goals from Jean-Guy Trudel , the HCAP wins in extra time. Part three of the series was mainly determined by the series around Jean-Guy Trudel, so that Ambri is now 3-0 ahead. The first block of both teams determined the fourth game of playouts, which ultimately won the EHC. Two goals by Patric Della Rossa and the decisive goal by Franco Collenberg in the third minute of extra time secured the Basel team's second victory in the fifth clash between the two teams. The sixth game was mainly characterized by the defensive and tactical ice hockey, with Basel taking the lead 2-0 through Della Rossa and Mike Maneluk - in the third period the Ticino tried hard to succeed, but conceded the third goal. In the seventh and decisive game of the playout semi-finals, the Ticino team easily beat EHC Basel 5-1, with Eero Somervuori scoring four goals and Nick Naumenko providing three assists.

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
HC Friborg-Gottéron	-	SCL Tigers	4-0	6: 3	3: 2	4: 3 a.d.	4: 3 n.p.	-	-	-

Two double packs each from Benjamin Plüss and Jozef Balej secure victory for Friborg in the first game of the series. The Friborg team also won the second game, with Thibaut Monnet shining with two goals. Despite a 3-2 lead by Mathias Joggi in the third period, the Tigers lost in extra time - first Thibaut Monnet equalized 18 seconds before the end and then Josef Balej scored the decisive goal after 3 minutes of extra time. Friborg Gotteron defeated the SCL Tigers 4: 3 in a highly dramatic game four in the penalty shootout - Thibaut Monnet ensured his team's league retention with two converted penalties. For the SCL Tigers the duel against the loser of the series HC Ambri Piotta vs. EHC Basel.

Final

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
SCL Tigers	-	EHC Basel	2: 4	2-0	3: 4	9: 2	0: 4	0: 4	2: 3 a.d.	-

Langnau won the first game of the playout final against EHC Basel 2-0. The nervousness of both teams could be seen in the starting minutes, but from the second third the Langnauer succeeded and decided the game with two goals in the middle third. Matthias Schoder showed a good performance , who achieved a shutout. EHC Basel managed to equalize in the best of seven series due to two strong thirds in front of only 2,168 spectators . The outstanding player on the Basel side was Martin Sevc, who scored one goal and two assists.

EHC Basel suffered a bitter defeat in game number three and experienced a fiasco in the third period when the Tigers scored five goals in a row. Match winner on the side of the SCL was Fabian Sutter with four goals - also remarkable the 19 penalties against the EHC. The home team also prevailed in the fourth game of the playout final - with two goals from Thomas Nüssli and a confident Daniel Manzato with his first shutout, the EHC won 4-0. The following game also went to the EHC: thanks to two goals from Mike Maneluk and another strong Daniel Manzato with his second shutout, Basel won 4-0. In the sixth game, the EHC Basel managed to maintain the league, defeating the SCL Tigers - which were each leading 1-0 and 2-0 - after extra time with 3-2. Thibaut Monnet shot the decisive penalty

League qualification

			series	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
SCL Tigers	-	EHC Biel	4: 1	4: 1	5: 2	2: 5	6: 1	5: 3	-	-

The SCL Tigers remain in the NLA.