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EV Zug right wing DAMIEN BRUNNER (96), the prolific 26-year-old who has represented Switzerland at the annual IIHF World Championships twice in his career (14 ga, 4 go, 12 pts) and just signed an NHL contract with the Detroit Red Wings only this past summer, still leads the Swiss Nationalliga A with 57 points this season but, almost certainly, will not repeat as domestic scoring champion of the NLA this term.
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Brunner, who registered three points (one goal) on his only appearance for EV Zug in the 2012 European Trophy tournament earlier this fall, remains a healthy nine points ahead of his nearest challenger on the Swiss scoring chart. Who would be HC Lugano’s well-traveled Canadian legionnaire GLEN METROPOLIT, the 38-year-old veteran who has appeared in 407 National Hockey League games (57 go, 159 pts) for the Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens over the course of his career. Metropolit, to review, led the entire Swiss Nationalliga A in scoring while skating with EV Zug during the 2010/11 campaign.

SC Bern’s standout NHL refugee JOHN TAVARES, the talented young center who scored three goals for title-winning Canada at the traditional holiday Spengler Cup tournament in Davos just after Christmas, still stands tied for fourth place on the scoring chart in the Swiss Nationalliga A despite having departed to rejoin the New York Islanders now that the National Hockey League’s “Lock-Out” situation has been resolved.

EHC Biel Bienne’s star NHL exile TYLER SEGUIN, the 20-year-old Boston Bruins right wing who scored Canada’s first goal on the opening day of the 2012 Spengler Cup competition, was leading the entire Swiss elite league with 25 goals in only 29 NLA games this season but had already announced during the holiday tournament in Davos that he would be returning to North America immediately — well before the news broke that the NHL labor dispute had actually been settled.

Brunner and Seguin are still the joint top goal-scorers, by a considerable margin, in the Swiss Nationalliga A this term.

2012/13 NLA Season – NHL Refugee Scoring Chart
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57 pts … 25 go … 32 as … 33 ga …… D. BRUNNER, EV Zug
42 pts … 17 go … 25 as … 28 ga …… J. TAVARES, SC Bern
40 pts … 25 go … 15 as … 29 ga …… T. SEGUIN, EHC Biel Bienne
36 pts … 12 go … 24 as … 33 ga …… J. THORNTON, HC Davos
32 pts … 16 go … 16 as … 23 ga …… H. ZETTERBERG, EV Zug
30 pts ….. 9 go … 21 as … 28 ga …… J. SPEZZA, SC Rapperswil Jona
29 pts … 11 go … 18 as … 21 ga …… P. BERGERON, HC Lugano
29 pts ….. 7 go … 22 as … 32 ga …… R. DIAZ, EV Zug
26 pts ….. 7 go … 19 as … 32 ga …… M. STREIT, SC Bern
23 pts … 13 go … 10 as … 20 ga …… P. KANE, EHC Biel Bienne
23 pts ….. 7 go … 16 as … 22 ga …… L. COUTURE, HC Servette Geneva
21 pts ….. 5 go … 16 as … 32 ga …… Y. WEBER, HC Servette Geneva
18 pts … 12 go ….. 6 as … 17 ga …… R. NASH, HC Davos
18 pts ….. 6 go … 12 as … 19 ga …… B. LAICH, EHC Kloten
17 pts ….. 6 go … 11 as … 26 ga …… R. JOSI, SC Bern
16 pts ….. 4 go … 12 as … 16 ga …… D. DESHARNAIS, HC Fribourg Gotteron
13 pts ….. 8 go ….. 5 as … 16 ga …… D. BROWN, SC Zurich
12 pts ….. 5 go ….. 7 as … 30 ga …… L. SBISA, HC Lugano

8 pts ……. 3 go ….. 5 as … 10 ga …… T. ENNIS, SC Langnau
7 pts ……. 3 go ….. 4 as … 13 ga …… J. SPURGEON, SC Langnau
6 pts ……. 3 go ….. 3 as ….. 7 ga …… L. ERIKSSON, HC Davos
5 pts ……. 2 go ….. 3 as ….. 4 ga …… M. DUCHESNE, HC Ambri Piotta
1 pts ……. 1 go ….. 0 as ….. 5 ga …… M. PACIORETTY, HC Ambri Piotta

3.22 avg ….. 91.4% svpct …. 8 ga …… C. SCHNEIDER, HC Ambri Piotta

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SC Bern’s star Canadian legionnaire JOHN TAVARES (91), the 22-year-old center who led the New York Islanders with 81 points (31 goals) in the National Hockey League last season, concluded his stay in Switzerland as the highest scoring foreigner among the all the imported NHL Lock-Out refugees who appeared in the Nationalliga A this term.

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Germany goaltender DENNIS ENDRAS of Adler Mannheim, who, at this time last year was still on the roster of the Houston Aeros in the American Hockey League, observes the situation on his knees as Switzerland spends some time on the attack in the offensive zone during the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in the Bavarian city of Munich.
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The host nation capitalized early on an early two-man advantage with the power play and then effectively employed both an organized as well as energized defense augmented by flawless goaltending as GERMANY shutout visiting neighbor and traditional Alpine arch-rival SWITZERLAND 2-0 on the second day of competition at the 2012 DEUTSCHLAND CUP.

Trainer SEAN SIMPSON’s Swiss troops shot themselves in the foot almost immediately after 23-year-old forward DENNIS HOLLENSTEIN of EHC Kloten (tripping) and 21-year-old defenseman ROMAIN LOEFFEL of HC Fribourg Gotteron (hooking) were whistled for a pair of undisciplined penalties within the first four minutes of the contest.

PAT CORTINA’s side, playing in just the second international match under the leadership of Germany’s new national team trainer of Canadian and Italian descent, were not about to let such a fabulous opportunity against their histiorical Alpine adversaries go to waste.

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Neither defendseman ROBIN GROSSMANN (91) of HC Davos nor goaltender RETO BERRA of EHC Biel-Bienne from Switzerland can prevent Germany center CHRISTOPH ULLMANN (47) of Alder Mannheim, the 29-year-old veteran who finished tied for second on Germany’s squad at the 2012 IIHF World Championships with both five assists and five points in Scandanavia this past spring, from finding the net on the backhand and scoring the first goal of the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in the Bavarian city of Munich.
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CHRISTOPH ULLMANN of Adler Mannheim, the former Koelner Haie veteran who has represented Germany at seven major international tournaments (44 ga, 4 go, 17 pts) in his career, is congratulated by 2010 Olympic veteran THOMAS GREILINGER (39) of ERC Ingolstadt and naturalized Canadian GARRETT FESTERLING (54) of Hamburg Freezers after giving Germany the first period lead over neighboring Switzerland in the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in Munich.
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And so, Germany went to the lead when Adler Mannheim veteran CHRISTOPH ULLMANN scored just as the first penalty to Switzerland was expiring. The hosts would continue to press the attack throughout the opening twenty minutes and would send 14 shots in on netminder RETO BERRA of HC Biel-Bienne’s goal, exactly twice the number of their Swiss guests were able to muster in the first period. The Germans were unable to increase their advantage for all this effort, however, in part due to the fine play of the fourth round pick (# 106 overall) of the St. Louis Blues at the 2006 National Hockey League Draft who happened to be in between the pipes for Switzerland.

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Germany defenseman FELIX PETERMANN (43) of hometown side EHC Red Bull Munich, the 28-year-old veteran who skated in three contests (0 go, 0 pts) for Germany at the 2007 IIHF World Championships in Russia, collides with Switzerland left wing DENNIS HOLLENSTEIN of EHC Kloten, the 23-year-old who appeared in seven contestes (7 ga, 0 go, 2 pts) for die Schweiz at the 2011 IIHF World Championships in Slovakia, during the Deutschland Cup second round contest at the Olympia-Eisstadion in the Bavaria.
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Switzerland came into the game more in the second period in part thanks to a pair of German penalties, a hooking call to Koelner Haie left wing PHILIP GOGULLA earlier into the frame and then a cross-checking charge assessed to Eisbaeren Berlin defenseman FRANK HOERLDER at the end of the period. But then again, Germany goaltender DENNIS ENDRAS of Adler Mannheim was also beginning to find his grove in the middle session, as well. This, and the conservative as well as prudent ‘safety-first’, defensive tactics employed by the new trainer Cortina were only just starting to pay dividends for Deutschland.

All the while, the two netminders at both ends of the ice were continuing what was to be a classic goaltending duel to be savored by the 5,500 spectators in attendance at the Olympia-Eisstadion in Munich.

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Switzerland defenseman SIMON BODENMANN (15) of EHC Kloten is left to contend with a pair of attackers in front as Germany left wing MARCEL MUELLER (25), the 24-year-old, former Eisbaeren Berlin youth product who appeared in three games (0 go, 0 pts) for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2010/11 campaign but is now skating for Elitserien club Mo Do Ornskoldsvik in Sweden, fishes for the loose puck in the goal crease during the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in Munich.
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Switzerland defenseman PATRICK GEETING (12) of defending Nationalliga A champion SC Zurich and Germany left wing KAI HOSPELT (18), the 2010 Olympic veteran and one-time NHL draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, jostle as visiting goaltender RETO BERRA (20) of EHC Biel-Bienne, the 25-year-old who made four appearances for Switzlerand (3.01 avg, .880 save pct) at the 2012 IIHF World Championships in Scandanavia last spring, focuses on the puck during the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in the Bavarian city of Munich.
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Switzerland center DANIEL RUBIN (40) of SC Bern, the 27-year-old, former HC Servette Geneva forward who has appeared in seven games (0 go, 0 pts) for die Schweiz at the past two annual IIHF World Championships collectively, shoots the puck right into the left shoulder of in-form Germany goaltender DENNIS ENDRAS (44) of Adler Mannheim, the 27-year-old native of Immenstadt in Bavaria who spent three seasons with the Deutsche Eishockey Liga’s Bavarian club Augsburg Panthers before signing a contract with the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League in the summer of 2011, during the closely-contested Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in the Bavarian city of Munich.
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Switzerland forward FABIAN SCHNYDER (27) of EV Zug is entirely too late to have any meaningful effect as Germany goaltender DENNIS ENDRAS (44), who spent the second half of last season out on loan in the Finnish elite league with IFK Helsinki, prepares to smother the puck easily at the side of the net during the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in Munich.
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The visiting Swiss stepped up their bid to bring themselves level and would go on to outshoot their German hosts by the considerable margin of 13-6 in the third period. But Deutschland doggedly stuck to Cortina’s conservative tactics while, for the most part, maintaining good discipline to stay out of the penalty box. And the stingy Endras did not seem to be so interested in conceding goals to the arch-rival Swiss.

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Germany goaltender DENNIS ENDRAS (44) of Adler Mannheim, who was chosen as the Best Goaltender by the IIHF Directorate and also voted to the All-Star team by the accredited media in addition to being chosen at the tournament’s Most Valuable Palyer at the 2010 IIHF World Championships, finished with 28 saves in the Deutschland Cup second round encounter with neighboring Switzerland at the Olympia-Eisstadtion in Munich.
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Switzerland did have one great opportunity to equalize late in the third period after inexperienced Hamburg Freezers left wing DAVID WOLF, the 22-year-old who did not appear for the host nation in the big triumph over Canada during the opening round of the Deutschland Cup, took a lazy tripping penalty at the 57:15 mark of the match. Not surprisingly, the Swiss would also pull their goaltender with a little over a minute remaining and enjoy a two-man advantave for the last part of the pivotal power play. The German defense held more than firm, however, and steadfastly refused to surrender the tying goal to their Alpine arch-rivals.

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Germany defenseman BENEDIKT KOHL (34), the 24-year-old rearguard from Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg who twice appeared for the U-20 national side at the annual IIHF World Junior Championships but has never appeared with Deutschland at a senior major international tournament in his career, delivers a devasting check to an unfortunate Switzlerland skater during the Deutschland Cup second round match at the Olympia-Eisstadion in Munich.
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With the power play having expired but the Swiss net still empty, the home side clinched the result once and for all. Eisbaeren Berlin defenseman JENS BAXMANN and right wing MICHAEL WOLF of Iserlohn Roosters, the current Germany national team captain who had collected three assists in the important victory over Canada, were able to work the puck to Koelner Haie left wing PHILIP GOGULLA in the neutral zone. A relatively unchallenged goal, then, for the 25-year-old, former Buffalo Sabres prospect who led Germany in scoring with nine points at the 2012 IIHF World Championships in Scandanavia last spring.

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Germany left wing PHILIP GOGULLA (87), who collected two assists in the 3-2 triumph over Canada in the first round of the 2012 Deutschland Cup, finished off Switzerland by shooting a puck into the empty net with just seven seconds remaining in the second round match with neighboring arch-rivals at the Olympia-Eisstadion in Bavaria.
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Germany left wing PHILIP GOGULLA (87), the former 2nd round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres who spent the 2009/10 season skating for the Portland Pirates in the American Hockey League, wheels away after scoring what will prove to be the only goal of the memorable knockout quarterfinal contest with Alpine arch-rival Switzerland at the SAP Arena in Mannheim during the 2010 IIHF World Championships hosted by Deutschland.
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Ever since the two neighbors initially met at what is now recognized as the very first major international tournament ever staged — the 1910 European Championships hosted by the little Swiss town of Les Avants — the two Alpine nations of GERMANY and SWITZERLAND have relentlessly pursued the, oftentimes, supercharged quest for the coveted status of ice hockey supremacy in the continent’s largest mountain chain.

Germany’s exciting 2-1 triumph over the visiting Swiss at Berlin in the de facto semi-final match of the 1930 IIHF World Championships earned Deutschland the title of European champion. Four years later at the neutral site of Milan in northern Italy, the Germans topped Switzerland by the same scoreline (but not before overtime) in the bronze medal match of the IIHF World Championships and claimed a second European title in the process. Sadly, though, more than five decades would pass before Germany and Switzerland would again play a meaningful match at the elite level of the annual IIHF World Championships.

Still, although many things in the world have come and gone in the century since Germany and Switzerland first had the puck dropped between their two national selections in serious competition, nothing at all has changed about the intensity and passion that characterizes this uniquely distinct Alpine rivalry.

Despite the fact that the DEUTSCHLAND CUP is, without question, actually a minor tournament on the interntional ice hockey calendar there can be little doubt, however, that the neighboring Switzerland national team is always in the mood to snatch the nice, shiny trophy offered by the Deutscher Eishockey Bund and gleefully make its way back across the border!

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Germany left wing PHILIP GOGULLA (87) of the American Hockey League’s Portland Pirates shoots past Switzerland goaltender MARTIN GERBER (26) of Russian club Atlant Mytishchi Moscow, the experienced veteran who had already appeared in 226 National Hockey League contests for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs up to the that point in his career, and nets the game-winning goal of the 2010 IIHF World Championships quarterfinal match at the SAP Arena in Mannheim … DEUTSCHLAND’s triumph over DIE SCHWEIZ in that knockout quarterfinal match on home ice at Mannheim marked the first time in almost a decade that Germany had actually been able to defeat its Alpine arch-rival Switzerland at a major international tournament.
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1910 … EC ………. Les Avants ……………………GER 9 – SWITZ 1
1911 … EC ………. Berlin ………………………….GER 11 – SWITZ 0
1928 … WOG …… St. Moritz …………………….. SWITZ 1 – GER 0
1930 … WC ……… Berlin ………………………… GER 2 – SWITZ 1
1932 … EC ………. Berlin ………………………… GER 1 – SWITZ 1
1933 … WC ……… Prague ………………………. GER 1 – SWITZ 1
1934 … WC ……… Milan …………………………. GER 2 – SWITZ 1
1936 … WOG …… Garmisch-Partenkirchen …… GER 2 – SWITZ 0
1937 … WC ……… London ………………………. SWITZ 6 – GER 0

1952 … WOG …… Helsinki ……………………….. SWITZ 6 – WGER 3
1953 … WC ……… Basel …………………………. SWITZ 3 – WGER 2
1954 … WC ……… Stockholm ……………………. WGER 3 – SWITZ 3
1955 … WC ……… Duesseldorf ………………….. WGER 8 – SWITZ 3
1959 … WC ……… Kladno ………………………… WGER 6 – SWITZ 0
1964 … WOG …… Innsbruck ……………………… WGER 6 – SWITZ 5
1965 … WC-b …… Turku ………………………….. SWITZ 6 – WGER 1
1966 … WC-b …… Ljubljana ………………………. WGER 4 – SWITZ 0
1970 … WC-b …… Bucharest …………………….. WGER 3 – SWITZ 1
1972 … WOG-b … Sapporo ……………………….. WGER 5 – SWITZ 0
1972 … WC ……… Prague ………………………… WGER 4 – SWITZ 1
1972 … WC ……… Prague ………………………… WGER 6 – SWITZ 3
1975 … WC-b …… Sapporo ……………………….. WGER 8 – SWITZ 3
1976 … WOG …… Innsbruck ………………………. WGER 5 – SWITZ 1
1987 … WC ……… Vienna …………………………. WGER 4 – SWITZ 3

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The national ice hockey team of Switzerland experienced a period of marked improvement under the stewardship of trainer RALPH KRUEGER, who is now the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers in the National Hockey League. The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, went undrafted by the NHL, himself, and, as a result, progressed from the Calgary Wranglers in the Canadian junior ranks to EG Duesseldorf in the West German elite league at the beginning of the 1980s. Krueger, who later represented West Germany as a player twice (1981 and 1986 – 16 ga, 0 go, 2 pts) at the annual IIHF World Championships in the decade to follow, was in charge behind the bench for Switzerland from the start of the 1997/98 season until the conclusion of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games hosted by Vancouver in his native Canada.
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1991 … WC ……… Turku …………………………… SWITZ 5 – GER 2
1991 … WC ……… Tampere ……………………….. GER 3 – SWITZ 3
1992 … WC (qf) …. Bratislava………………………. SWITZ 3 – GER 1
1995 … WC ……… Stockholm ……………………… GER 5 – SWITZ 3
2001 … WC ……… Cologne ………………………… GER 3 – SWITZ 1
2002 … WC ……… Joenkoeping …………………… GER 3 – SWITZ 0
2004 … WC ……… Prague ………………………….. SWITZ 1 – GER 0
2005 … WC ……… Vienna ………………………….. SWITZ 5 – GER 1
2006 … WOG …… Turin …………………………….. GER 2 – SWITZ 2
2009 … WC ……… Bern …………………………….. SWITZ 3 – GER 2
2010 … WC (qf) …. Mannheim ……………………… GER 1 – SWITZ 0

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Switzerland captain MATHIAS SEGER (31) of SC Zurich glances up at the clock at the SAP Arena in Mannheim as the last few seconds of the 2010 IIHF World Championships quarterfinal match melt away and the jubilant German players are only just beginning to spill over the bench and celebrate their notable achievement.

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The late, great HERB BROOKS — the American hockey legend who spent time behind the bench in calling the shots for both HC DAVOS as well as the NEW YORK RANGERS back in the day — would be most proud, indeed.

Canada Olympic gold medalist RICK NASH, the superstar winger acquired by the New York Rangers from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a blockbuster trade this past summer, struck for three goals in the first period of his Nationalliga A debut this season and later added an assist as HC Davos rolled to a 9-2 rout of SC Rapperswil-Jona.

Canada Olympic gold medalist JOE THORNTON, the slick-passing center currently locked out by the San Jose Sharks, had four assists for the home side in the contest with SC Rapperswil-Jona at the Vaillant Arena including all three helpers with the goals from Nash.

The influence of the two National Hockey League players in the first contest since arriving in Europe was clearly evident as HC Davos posted its first victory at the fourth attempt in the Swiss elite league early into this 2012/13 season. Of course, both Nash and Thornton are no strangers to Switzerland and, in fact, are beginning their second tour of duty with HC Davos in the Nationalliga A. The two Canadian Olympic gold medalists both appeared in more than 40 Swiss regular season contests plus all of the playoff schedule for HC Davos during the 2004/05 season — the last time, of course, that the NHL engaged the so-called “Lockout” procedure — and did not play at all in North America that year even after the labor dispute ended, either.

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Prolific winger RICK NASH (61) of HC Davos, the 27-year-old who has appeared with the national team of Canada at six major international tournaments (47 ga, 25 go, 50 pts) including two Winter Olympic Games, slips past the ineffective check of SC Rapperswil-Jona winger JURAJ KOLNIK (21), the 31-year-old Slovakia international who skated 250 NHL games for the New York Islander and Florida Panthers, and two-time Switzerland Olympic goaltender DAVID AEBISCHER, the 34-year-old veteran of 214 NHL games for the Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Phoenix Coyotes, to score his second goal of the game and give the home side a 2-1 lead which would never be relinquished in the match witnessed by 4,884 visitors to the Vaillant Arena in Davos, Switzerland.
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Nash and Thornton, both of whom were the first overall player taken at the National Hockey League Draft (in 1997 and 2002, respectively), teamed on a line for HC Davos against SC Rapperswil-Jona with aging Czech center JOSEF MARHA, the 36-year-old who has been at the club since the start of the 2001/02 campaign; a second round pick (# 36 overall) of the Quebec Nordiques at the 1994 NHL Draft, the well-seasoned Marha skated 159 NHL games for the Colorado Avalanche, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Black Hawks before moving to Switzerland.

HC Davos are one of Switzerland’s oldest clubs having been originally founded more than nine decades ago in 1921. It was “HCD”, as known by its popular nickname, that hired the American HERB BROOKS for the 1980/81 season after the United States had shockingly skated to the gold medal at the Winter Olympic games at Lake Placid. And, HC Davos are also the most successful team in the history of Swiss ice hockey having won 30 national championships in all with the last title arriving at the conclusion of the 2010/11 campaign.

HC Davos, to review, had great success with the addition these very same two National Hockey League stars before. Nash registered 27 goals and 47 points in 44 Nationalliga A games while Thornton added 10 goals and 54 points (sixth most in the circuit) in 40 NLA contests as HC Davos ended up placed second out of twelve teams in the regular season. Nash then added another nine goals in fifteen playoff games while a dominant Thornton led all playoff scorers with 25 points (four goals) and HC Davos swept past SC Zurich in the final to capture a most convincing title.

Thornton ended up being named the Most Valuable Player of the Nationalliga A for the 2004/05 campaign.

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JOE THORNTON, HC Davos # 19

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SC Zurich goaltender LUKAS FLUEELER (30), the 23-year-old, one-time Ottawa 67s netminder who would later be named to the Switzerland senior national team for the 2012 IIHF World Championships in Scandanavia, fans out with the pads to deny SC Bern forward JOEL VERMIN (92), the 20-year-old youngster who has represented Switzerland at the last two IIHF World Junior Championships, a scoring chance at the side of the net during the National League A’s final playoff series match contested at the world-renowned PostFinance Arena in Bern.
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The final series of the National League A playoffs featured a pair of upstarts in SC BERN and SC ZURICH, neither of whom had ended the Swiss regular season even ranked among the top four teams in the standings. Nevertheless, this particular encounter still produced an epic battle that raged back and forth from the PostFinance Arena in Bern to the Hallenstadion in Zurich until the issue could be finally settled. The memorable, see-saw struggle would continue unabated, in fact, up until the very last seconds of the decisive seventh game.

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Game One (Bern) … SC BERN 4 – SC ZURICH 2
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SC Bern winger J.P. DUMONT (17), the first round pick of the New York Islanders and third player taken overall at the 1996 National Hockey League Draft who went on to total 214 goals for the Chicago Black Hawks, Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators before arriving in the National League A to start this season, snapped a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the game late in the second period. The 34-year-old NHL veteran then assisted on SC Bern’s third for defenseman PHILIPPE FURRER, a former sixth round draft pick of the New York Rangers, seven minutes into the final frame before long-time Switzerland national team performer MARTIN PLUESS, a constituent of Furrer in Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, added a fourth with nine minutes remaining. SC Zurich pulled a power play goal back via ANDRES AMBUEHL, the one-time New York Rangers farmhand who spent the 2009/10 campaign with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the American Hockey League, three minutes from time … BYRON RITCHIE, the 35-year-old journeyman with more than 300 NHL games under his belt, registered three assists although, significantly, these would the last points that SC Bern’s PostFinance Topskorer would record in the 2012 NLA playoffs … RETO SCHAEPPI, who scored five goals for SC Zurich during the regular season, had tied the game for the visiting Lions with his fourth goal of the playoffs shortly past the midway mark of the second period.
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Game Two (Zurich) … SC ZURICH 2 – SC BERN 1
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SC Zurich winger THIBAUT MONNET (above), the 2010 Vancouver Olympian who had already represented Switzerland at six major international tournaments prior to this season, scored a massive goal with five minutes remaining in the game to complete a third period rally and lift the Lions to level terms in the final playoff series. The visitors had drawn first blood two minutes into the second period via JOEL VERMIN, the Switzerland junior international who finished tied for third on SC Bern with 11 goals during NLA regular season. However, it was Canadian import BLAINE DOWN who reacted first to a lively rebound off the boards behind the net and equalized for SC Zurich seven minutes into the final period … The well-traveled Down, who spent three seasons with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League and also played in Denmark and Italy before signing with the farm club GC Kuesnacht Lions in the summer of 2008, certainly picked a prominent moment to strike for his one and only playoff goal this term; the 29-year-old forward had totaled six goals in 24 games for SC Zurich during the regular season … Making matters worse for SC Bern on the evening, the 2010 Swiss champions lost their two-goal hero from Game One, the highly-experienced and effective J.P. DUMONT, to injury in the defeat, as well; the 34-year-old had averaged one point per game in 31 regular season contests and, more importantly, compiled 14 points (6 go 8 as) in a dozen playoff games but, like SC Bern’s PostFinance Topskorer BYRON RITCHIE, would add no more points in the final series.
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Game Three (Bern) … SC BERN 3 – SC ZURICH 0
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SC Bern center ETIENNE FROIDEVAUX (20), the 23-year-old checker who notched six goals while playing in all 50 National League A regular season games this campaign, struck for a third time in the playoffs halfway through the contest and then set up a second for 21-year-old TRISTAN SCHERWEY nine minutes into the final frame as Finnish trainer ANTTI TORMANEN’s troops regained the advantage in the title series. Aging SC Bern assistant captain IVO RUETHEMANN, the 35-year-old, three-time Olympian who has represented Switzerland at 14 major international tournaments in his long career, added one last goal with but three minutes remaining. At the other end, veteran netminder MARCO BUEHRER blocked all 28 shots faced to frustrate visting SC Zurich … A first and last strike of the playoffs for the youthful Scherwey, who scored a combined five goals in all contests during SC Bern’s 2009/10 championship season but slipped to three goals in all this year … Replacing the injured J.P. Dumont in the SC Bern line-up was fellow Canadian legionnaire JEAN-PIERRE VIGIER (Northern Michigan University), the 35-year-old veteran of 213 National Hockey League games for the Atlanta Thrashers who had been a healthy scratch for the first two games of this NLA playoff final. Vigier’s coach his final season in Atlanta had been none other than the man currently standing behind the bench for SC Zurich, the imported Canadian trainer BOB HARTLEY. Also appearing in the series for the first time was former Phoenix Coyotes defender TRAVIS ROCHE (North Dakota University), the 33-year-old rearguard who had previously played a prominent role for SC Bern during its last title-winning campaign of 2009/10 … The match produced an uglier moment or two when SC Bern defender JOHANN MORANT, who would be suspended a considerable 14 games for his aggressive actions, repeatedly struck SC Zurich center CYRILL BUEHLER in the head and then manhanded a Swiss NLA official.
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Game Four (Zurich) … SC BERN 2 – SC ZURICH 0
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Three minutes after failing on a penalty shot, SC Bern finally broke the scoreless deadlock when Switzerland veteran international IVO RUETHEMANN (32) netted a goal nine minutes into the second period and sent the visitors well on their way. MARCO BUEHRER, the 32-year-old, reliable veteran who has backstopped SC Bern to two National League A titles since arriving from EHC Chur in the summer of 2002, turned aside all 25 shots and shutout SC Zurich for a second consecutive contest. Sparkplug SC Bern captain MARTIN PLEUSS, the 35-year-old, highly-experienced center who has also represented Switzerland at 14 major international tournaments and assisted on Ruethemann’s opening tally, tacked on an empty net goal in the final minute as the visitors stormed to a commanding 3-1 lead in the NLA final playoff series … SC Zurich defenseman PATRICK GEERING, the 22-year-old who played exactly one game for Switzerland at the 2010 IIHF World Championships, was unlucky to hit the crossbar with seven minutes to go in the opening period … ZSC Lions goaltender LUKAS FLUEELER, who put on a fine display at the Hallenstadion despite the defeat, halted SC Bern’s PostFinance Topskorer BYRON RITCHIE on the penalty shot six minutes into the second period … Veteran Switzerland international center THOMAS ZIELGER, the 33-year-old who skated nine seasons for SC Bern after returning from North America during the 2001/02 campaign, was scratched from the SC Zurich line-up by trainer BOB HARTLEY and would remain so for the rest of the series; Ziegler appeared in five National Hockey League games for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2000/01 campaign but bolted the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League after skating in just three games to start the next season.
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Game Five (Bern) … SC ZURICH 2 – SC BERN 1
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Highly-experienced, three-time Switzerland Olympic defenseman and club captain MATHIAS SEGER (15) scored a life-saving goal ten minutes into the overtime session as SC Zurich avoided elimination in dramatic fashion at the “unique cauldron” that is the PostFinance Arena. Relatively-untested ZSC Lions goaltender LUKAS FLUEELER was the real star of the show who made it all possible by saving 33 shots from an SC Bern squad determined to end the series immediately. With their backs up against the proverbial wall, the visitors had broken through first after 37-year-old dinosaur DOMENIC PITTIS, the former 2nd round pick of the Pittsburgh Penquins at the 1993 National Hockey League Draft who later managed 86 NHL games in ten years of North American professional hockey, converted a pass from Switzerland Olympic center ANDRES AMBUEHL almost halfway through the contest but SC Bern, who outshot SC Zurich by a 17-9 margin over the first two periods, equalized four minutes later with a goal from checker ETIENNE FROIDEVAUX, his second of this final playoff series … Having skated in 94 games (3 go 18 as) while representing Switzerland at 15 major international tournaments since 1998 heading into this season, the SC Zurich skipper Seger is the most-experienced international player on either side of this final playoff series … Sitting out for a second consecutive contest was suspended SC Bern defenseman JOHANN MORANT, the 26-year-old who appeared twice for France at the Division I (old B Pool) of the IIHF World Junior Championships previously in 2005 and 2006 but plays in the National League A with a Swiss passport and, thus, does not count against the strict quota on foreigners … SC Bern defenseman JOEL KWIATKOWSKI, who logged 282 NHL games for five clubs in ten years of North American professional hockey, was a healthy scratch for the second time in three games; the 35-year-old who represented Canada at the 2009 IIHF World Championships originally signed with SC Bern in the summer of 2010 after two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League with Russian clubs Severstal Cherepovets and SKA St. Petersburg, respectively.
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Game Six (Zurich) … SC ZURICH 6 – SC BERN 3
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With the opportunity to tie the series at hand, SC Zurich unleash a Schuetzefest and score six goals, the exact same number Canadian trainer BOB HARTLEY’s charges had totaled against SC Bern’s veteran goaltender MARCO BUEHRER (39) through the first five games of the playoff final, on home ice at the Hallenstadion. After a scoreless first period, the ZSC Lions opened up a 3-0 lead on goals by Switzerland Olympic forwards THIBAUT MONNET (7) and ANDRES AMBUEHL, as well as influential club captain MATHIAS SEGER, all in a 10-minute span midway through the second. Two Blitztore from Canadian-born Switzerland international RYAN GARDNER, the 34-year-old veteran who once played three seasons of junior with London and North Bay in the Ontario Hockey League, brought SC Bern back quickly but eternal 37-year-old National Hockey League veteran DOMENIC PITTIS, enabled by Ambuehl and Monnet, struck on the power play for SC Zurich with only a minute left in the second session … SC Bern captain MARTIN PLUESS, who previously spent four seasons in the Swedish elite league with HC Vastra Frolunda Gothenburg before returning home in 2008 and has also registered 25 goals in 88 games at major international tournaments for Switzerland in his career entering this season, responded with a power play goal and pulled the visitors to within one just two minutes into the final period. But 27-year-old Switzerland international winger PATRICK BAERTSCHI, the one-time Pittsburgh Penquins’ 7th round draft pick who spent three seasons with SC Bern before joining the ZSC Lions in the summer of 2010, aborted any comeback by scoring a big goal against his old club and just four minutes later. SC Zurich’s PostFinance Topskorer JEFF TAMBELLINI (Michigan Univ), the former 1st round pick of the Los Angeles Kings at the 2003 NHL Draft who skated in six playoff games for the Vancouver Canucks during their run to the Stanley Cup Final last season, sealed the deal by finding the empty net about a minute to go … The late goal and an assist on Ambuehl’s strike earlier in the contest amounted to the first two points of the final playoff series for the Canadian legionnaire Tambellini, the 28-year-old left wing who led the ZSC Lions with both 23 goals and 45 points during the “Qualifikation” campaign … SC Zurich defenseman STEVE MCCARTHY, the former 1st round pick of the Chicago Black Hawks at the 1999 NHL Draft who was brought in to bolster the blueline a quarter of the way through the season by ZSC Lions trainer BOB HARTLEY, sent some kind of message by blasting a puck off the post only 50 seconds into the contest … Baertschi’s goal chased veteran SC Bern goaltender MARCO BUEHRER, who traveled with the Swiss national team to seven major international tournaments from 2001 thru 2006 but only appeared in six matches collectively, to the bench six minutes into the deciding period.
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Game Seven (Bern) … SC ZURICH 2 – SC BERN 1
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A sensational goal with exactly 2.5 seconds left in the third period not only powered resilient SC Zurich to victory in the seventh and final game of the National League A final playoff series, the score also completed a spectacular comeback which saw the ZSC Lions fight back after initially falling behind admirable SC Bern three games to one. Despite being outshot by an 8-5 margin, SC Zurich managed to take the lead on the road at the PostFinance Arena in the very last minute of the opening period with a goal by MARK BASTL, the 31-year-old Swiss veteran who once played three seasons of college hockey in the United States for Findlay University in Ohio. SC Bern retaliated, however, only two minutes into the following frame when SC Bern veteran Switzerland international IVO RUETHEMANN scored his third goal of the series … The home side went on to outshoot their guests by the lopsided 16-3 margin in the second period but the ZSC Lions persevered with trainer BOB HARTLEY’s conservative tactics and profited from solid goaltending by 23-year-old LUKAS FLUEELER. SC Bern would come to regret not having capitalized on so many opportunities as SC Zurich came out of its shell to generate ten shots on goal in the final period and ultimately scored to win when imported Canadian defenseman STEVE MCCARTHY, the 31-year-old veteran of 302 National Hockey League games initially signed to a three-week contract with no guarantees by the ZSC Lions last October, picked up a loose puck in the slot between the faceoff circles … McCarthy’s Meistertreffer (championship goal) was not only the first of this 2011/12 playoff campaign for the one-time first round NHL Draft pick, the tally was also the very first goal that the 12-year professional had ever scored in the postseason in any league … Filling in for injured Canadian import BLAINE DOWN and making his first appearance of the final playoff series for SC Zurich was Slovakia international winger JURAJ KOLNIK, the 31-year-old veteran of 250 NHL games who topped HC Servette Geneva in scoring two consecutive years after leaving the Florida Panthers at the end of the 2006/07 season; a two-time performer at the annual IIHF World Championships, Kolnik had reached the National League A final playoff series with HC Servette Geneva in 2010 only to lose the title to SC Bern.
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Triumphant SC Zurich captain MATHIAS SEGER (15), who scored just two goals in 14 postseason contests but saved them both for the final playoff series against vanquished SC Bern, lifts the National League A title trophy high at the conclusion of the heart-stopping Game Seven contested at the sold-out PostFinance Arena in Bern, Switzerland.

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Perhaps it was the experience gathered while guiding the National Hockey League’s Coloardo Avalance to the coveted Stanley Cup title a little over a decade earlier. But SC ZURICH losing its first seven Swiss National League A contests at home to start this 2011/12 season never did get imported trainer BOB HARTLEY down. Neither did finishing an unimpressive seventh in the regular season standings nor even even falling behind to SC Bern 3-1 in the best-of-seven playoff final.

A decisive Game Seven to be played on the road at the imposing PostFinance Arena in Bern? No problem. Apparently, in retrospect, nothing would be allowed to rattle the unflappable Hartley and prevent the 51-year-old Canadian from adding a third championship title to an already-distinguished coaching resume.

Hartley had been out of hockey since being released by the Atlanta Thrashers shortly into the 2007/08 NHL campaign and had been employed as an analyst for French-Canadian television channel Reseau des Sports when the call came in from Switzerland last spring. SC Zurich had recently let go of Swedish trainer BENGT-AKE GUSTAFSSON, the former NHL center for the Wasington Capitals who had steered Tre Kronor to the Olympic gold medal in 2006, after only just one term. A seventh place finish in the regular season coupled with a first round exit from the playoffs was not acceptable so far as ZSC Lions management was concerned.

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A touch of class from the ‘rookie’ Canadian trainer in Switzerland, then, as the long-serving Finnish netminder ARI SULANDER skates out to replace SC Zurich starting goaltender LUKAS FLUEELER (30) in the very last minute of Game Six at the Hallenstadion during the dramatic National League A final playoff series. It had been, of course, the 43-year-old veteran who backstopped the ZSC Lions to three national titles (in 2000, 2001 and 2008) previously. Although named the Best Goaltender at the 1998 IIHF World Championships hosted by Switzerland, Sulander will be, perhaps, best remembered for his work when Finland defeated Wayne Gretzky and Canada in the Bronze Medal Match at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan.
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Hartley, who claimed his first professional championship piloting the Hershey Bears to the 1998 American Hockey League’s Calder Cup title, had two players follow him across the Atlantic Ocean to sign with SC Zurich last summer. Swizerland national team veteran defenseman SEVERIN BLINDENBACHER was returning home after a season skating in the AHL for the Texas Stars. JEFF TAMBELLINI, the one-time Los Angeles Kings’ first round pick from the University of Michigan, had just departed the 2011 Stanley Cup runners-up Vancouver Canucks.

As has been hallmark of his teams throughout his career, Hartley installed a conservative, defense-first system upon arriving at SC Zurich. But not every move made by the native of Hawkesbury, Ontario, worked out exactly as planned. The attempt to recycle 39-year-old Swedish veteran MICHAEL NYLANDER, who notched a career-high 83 points for the New York Rangers during the 2006/07 NHL campaign, was abandoned just before Christmas after the two-time Olympian was injured following 15 National League A appearances (5 go, 5 as) for ZSC.

Hartley did, however, do very well with the signing of veteran NHL defenseman STEVE MCCARTHY to a try-out contract this past October. The defense corps had been surrendering too many goals and the team were struggling to win even a single game at home, so the first-year SC Zurich trainer turned to the former 1st round NHL Draft pick whom he had coached previously during his time in Atlanta. And McCarthy, for his part, more than certainly rewarded that faith at the end of the day.

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SC Bern’s imported Canadian center BYRON RITCHIE, the 35-year-old veteran who contested 342 NHL games for the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks before originally signing in Switzerland with HC Servette Geneva in the summer of 2008, jostles with SC Zurich defenseman STEVE MCCARTHY (3), who twice earned bronze medals representing Canada at the annual IIHF World Junior Championships.

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Joined in the crease by all five SC BERN skaters on the ice, former New York Rangers farmhand ANDRES AMBUEHL (44) of SC ZURICH eyes the puck in the net behind veteran Switzerland international goaltender MARCO BUEHRER (39) as the match referee at the side of the net observes the action intently. It is the decisive GAME SEVEN of the NATIONAL LEAGUE A PLAYOFF FINAL series featuring visiting SC Zurich and host SC Bern, then. The two sides are deadlocked at one goal apiece and there are exactly 2.5 seconds to play in the third period at the sold-out PostFinance Arena …
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Black-sweatered SC BERN, the second-most successful Swiss ice hockey club since the National League A was first formed in the winter of 1937/38 having won a dozen domestic championships, had stormed to a commanding 3-1 lead after the first four contests in the best of seven series with SC ZURICH. What’s more, the hosts would outshoot their guests by the margin of 28-18 in the dramatic Game Seven showdown on home ice. But all of that amounted to nothing now as the referee acknowledged the puck in the back of the net with 17,131 mostly-disappointed spectators also looking on at the ice rink with the world-renowned standing-room-only section.
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SC Zurich journeyman rearguard STEVE MCCARTHY (3), the first round draft pick (# 23 overall) of the Chicago Black Hawks at the 1999 National Hockey League Draft, had never been much of a goal-scorer over the course of his dozen campaigns in the ranks of professional hockey on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed, the 31-year-old native of Trail, British Columbia has totaled just 30 goals while skating in a little over 500 regular season contests for clubs in the NHL, American Hockey League, Kontinental Hockey League (Russia), Finland in addition to Switzerland. Nevertheless, McCarthy could not have picked a better moment to score his first-ever ever playoff goal in any country while sensationally catapulting SC Zurich to the 2012 national championship all with one dramatic shot.
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After sufficently impressing following an official three-day tryout period, defenseman STEVE MCCARTHY (3) was only formally signed by Swiss club SC Zurich this past October after a quarter of the National League A season had already been played. Even then, the veteran of 302 National Hockey League games was only offered a three-week contract with absolutely no guarantees from SC Zurich’s imported Canadian trainer BOB HARTLEY, the former Stanley Cup champion coach of the Colorado Avalanche who had also had McCarthy on his bench a few years earlier while with the Atlanta Thrashers. Having made ten appearances for the ZSC Lions and significantly helped to shore up a defense that had been leaking goals for a team that had lost its first six matches at home previously, McCarthy was soon tendered another contract by the Swiss club thru the end of the 2011/12 campaign.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see appreciate the brilliance of that decision by SC Zurich.

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POSTFINANCE TOPSKORERS face off as HC Fribourg-Gotteron forward SIMON GAMACHE (left), the 30-year-old Quebec native who skated in 48 National Hockey League contests for the Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs in his career, and SC Bern pivot BYRON RITCHIE, the 34-year-old from British Columbia who participated in 342 NHL games for the Carolina Hurricane, Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, wait for the National League A linesman to drop the puck during a match earlier this 2011/12 season at the Patinoire Saint-Leonard rink in Fribourg, Switzerland.
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It is not very hard at all for any Swiss ice hockey spectator, be it at the rink in person or at home watching on television, to simply identify the leading point-getter — easily recognizable by the yellow helmet adorned with red flames as well as the distinct, number-less sweater — for any given National League A team in any given match at any given time over the course of a long season.

Ever since the start of the 2002/03 campaign, the POSTFINANCE TOPSKORER jersey is worn by the current scoring leading for each team at every match in the Swiss top flight. Indeed, this same unique policy, which is found nowhere else in Europe, is also applicable in the National League B, as well. The regular season scoring champion for each club then earns the right to wear the Topskorer sweater throughout the entire playoff schedule.

The sponsor of the program is the financial services company PostFinance, the fifth-largest retail financial institution in Switzerland. For every point any given player wearing the PostFinance Topskorer shirt registers, PostFinance donates 200 Swiss francs to the applicable NLA team (or 100 Swiss francs to an NLB outfit) with the stipulation that the money must be used specifically applied the respective clubs’ youth programs.

PostFinance, originally founded in 1906 and not an actual bank but rather a component of the national mail carrier SWISS POST, also makes a matching contribution to the Schweizerischer Eishockeyverband (SEHV – Swiss Ice Hockey Association) for the development of the national team’s youth programs.

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Switzerland senior national team winger and 2012 National League A PostFinance Topskorer DAMIEN BRUNNER of EV Zug, the first homegrown ice hockey player in 30 years to win the scoring title in the domestic top flight, beats HC Lugano netminder BENJAMIN CONZ (91), the number one goaltender for Switzerland at both the 2010 and 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, during a shootout this past October at the Bossard Arena in Zug.
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POSTFINANCE TOPSKORER
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60 pts – 2011/12 … Damien BRUNNER (Switz), EV Zug
53 pts – 2010/11 … Glen METROPOLIT (Can), EV Zug
65 pts – 2009/10 … Randy ROBITAILLE (Can), HC Lugano
72 pts – 2008/09 … Juraj KOLNIK (Svk), HC Servette Geneva
72 pts – 2007/08 … Erik WESTRUM (USA), HC Ambri-Piotta
66 pts – 2006/07 … Simon GAMACHE (Can), SC Bern
66 pts – 2005/06 … Glen METROPOLIT (Can), HC Lugano
67 pts – 2004/05 … Randy ROBITAILLE (Can), SC Zurich
72 pts – 2003/04 … Ville PELTONEN (Fin), HC Lugano
72 pts – 2002/03 … Petteri NUMMELIN (Fin), HC Lugano

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Canadian import RANDY ROBITAILLE of HC Lugano (above) was the first player ever to repeat as the end-of-the-year PostFinance Topskorer award for the National League A in Switzerland; the 36-year-old product of Miami (Ohio) University who took part in 531 National Hockey League games for no fewer than nine different NHL teams recently completed his 15th professional season playing in the Kontinental Hockey League for modest Russian club Metallurg Novokuznetsk

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The current playoff format of the 12-team NATIONAL LEAGUE A in SWITZERLAND has remained constant since it was first implemented during the 1988/89 season. The top eight teams qualify for the post-season and are paired off in best-of-seven-games quarterfinal series. Naturally, the knockout rounds continue until only two sides are left standing.

Although historically-successful HC DAVOS have won the most domestic titles in Switzerland since the National League A was first formed in the late 1930s, it is actually SC BERN — who have led all of Europe in attendance the past ten years consecutively — who are the club that have captured the most national championships (six) since the current playoff format was adopted in die Schweiz.

Despite the fact that the regular season champion has went on to win the National League A playoff title on exactly nine occasions in what is now 24 years, either the first or second place team has ultimately triumphed in the post-season two-thirds of that same time. This year in the Swiss Alps, however, it was underdogs who had their day in the domestic playoffs. None of the top four clubs for this 2011/12 regular season, including table-toppers EV ZUG or even defending 2011 champion HC Davos, would reach a final round which featured a remarkable tussle of the two lowest-seeded teams ever to meet on Switzerland’s biggest ice hockey stage.

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Exactly half of the 12 National League A titles won by well-supported SC BERN (above) have been attained since the current post-season playoff format in place today was originally inaugurated at the conclusion of the 1988/89 regular season; Schlittschuh Club Bern have reached the playoff final in 10 of the past 24 seasons, a feat unmatched by any other Swiss club.
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SC BERN finished the regular season in fifth place after firing Canadian trainer LARRY HURAS, the one-time New York Rangers defenseman who had steered the Swiss club to the 2010 National League A title, late this past October and promoting assistant ANTTI TORMANEN, the former Finland national team forward who first skated in 50 National Hockey League games for the Ottawa Senators and then later earned an Olympic bronze medal at the 1998 Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan.

SC ZURICH, who skated to three National League A titles in a nine-year stretch from 2000 to 2008 after posting just three national championships in the seven decades since the club was first founded in 1930, ended the regular season in seventh place under the direction of imported Canadian trainer BOB HARTLEY, the former Stanley Cup winner for the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche on his first tour of duty in Switzerland.

Both clubs would see to it that, for the fifth time in the last seven years, the final series of the National League A playoffs was extended to the maximum seven games.

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Host SC ZURICH (left, blue) and visiting SC BERN (right, white) line-up on their respective blue lines just prior to the start of Game Six of the 2012 National League A Final before a reported crowd of 11,200 spectators at the venerable Hallenstadion in Switzerland’s largest city.

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Officially known by the English title of “NATIONAL LEAGUE A” since the start of the 2007-08 schedule, the elite ice hockey circuit traditionally referred to in German as “Nationalliga A”, in French as “Ligue Nationale A” or in Italian as “Lega Nazionale A” was originally formed in multilingual SWITZERLAND to start the 1937-38 season; of course, the very first national championship title in die Schweiz was awarded in 1916.
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HC DAVOS, the eastern club who once employed the legendeary HERB BROOKS for a season after the former University of Minnesota head coach guided the unheralded United States team to a spectacular gold medal triumph at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, are the Rekordmeister in die Schweiz having won 20 domestic titles since the National League A was officially created; the team founded in 1921 also won another 10 national championships in Switzerland prior to the milestone 1937/38 campaign.

2011/12 National League A … (50-game regular season)
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98 points – 24 wins … 8 otw … 10 otl …… EV Zug
98 points – 27 wins … 7 otw ….. 3 otl …… HC Davos
94 points – 26 wins … 6 otw ….. 4 otl …… HC Fribourg-Gotteron
91 points – 27 wins … 2 otw ….. 6 otl …… EHC Kloten
87 points – 23 wins … 6 otw ….. 6 otl …… SC Bern
79 points – 21 wins … 5 otw ….. 6 otl …… HC Lugano
77 points – 19 wins … 8 otw ….. 4 otl …… SC Zurich
68 points – 19 wins … 4 otw ….. 3 otl …… EHC Biel-Bienne
67 points – 16 wins … 5 otw ….. 9 otl …… HC Servette Geneva
52 points – 13 wins … 5 otw ….. 3 otl …… SC Langnau
49 points – 10 wins … 6 otw ….. 7 otl …… HC Ambri-Piotta
40 points – 12 wins … 1 otw ….. 2 otl …… Rapperswil-Jona Lakers

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EV Zug right wing DAMIEN BRUNNER (middle), the 26-year-old who will be making his second career appearance for Switzerland at the annual IIHF World Championships this spring in Scandanavia, is the first Swiss-born ice hockey player in three decades to claim the scoring title in the domestic elite league; Brunner had not even been born 30 years ago when EHC Arosa’s Guido Lindemann last accomplished the feat during the 1981/82 campaign.
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2011/12 National League A
PostFinance Topskorer chart
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60 pts … 24 go – 36 as … Damien BRUNNER, EV Zug
51 pts … 27 go – 24 as … Julien SPRUNGER, HC Fribourg-Gotteron
50 pts … 14 go – 36 as … Jaroslav BEDNAR (Cze), HC Lugano
49 pts … 21 go – 28 as … Petr SYKORA (Cze), HC Davos
45 pts … 23 go – 22 as … Jeff TAMBELLINI (Can), SC Zurich
45 pts … 20 go – 25 as … Simon GAMACHE (Can), HC Friboug-Gotteron
44 pts ….. 9 go – 35 as … Tommi SANTALA (Fin), EHC Kloten
43 pts … 22 go – 21 as … Byron RITCHIE (Can), SC Bern
42 pts … 15 go – 27 as … Benny PLUESS, HC Fribourg-Gotteron
42 pts … 14 go – 28 as … Kurtis MCLEAN (Can), SC Langnau
41 pts … 26 go – 15 as … Petr TATICEK (Cze), HC Davos
41 pts … 21 go – 20 as … Michael LINIGER, EHC Kloten
41 pts ….. 6 go – 35 as … Micki DUPONT, EHC Kloten
40 pts … 10 go – 30 as … Reto VAN ARX, HC Davos
39 pts … 18 go – 21 as … Kevin ROMY, HC Lugano
39 pts … 16 go – 23 as … Pavel ROSA (Cze), HC Fribourg-Gotteron
39 pts … 15 go – 24 as … Bjorn-Olaf CHRISTEN, EV Zug
37 pts … 16 go – 21 as … Josh HOLDEN, EV Zug
37 pts ….. 8 go – 29 as … Andrei BYKOV, HC Fribourg-Gotteron
36 pts … 20 go – 16 as … Viktor STANCESCU, EHC Kloten
36 pts … 16 go – 20 as … Kimmo RINTANEN, HC Lugano
36 pts … 15 go – 21 as … Glen METROPOLIT (Can), EV Zug
36 pts … 14 go – 22 as … Pascal PELLETIER (Can), SC Langnau
36 pts ….. 8 go – 28 as … Christian DUBE (Can), HC Fribourg-Gotteron
35 pts … 19 go – 16 as … Peter SEJNA (Svk), HC Davos

26-year-old Switzerland Olympic right wing JULIEN SPRUNGER, the 4th round pick (# 117 overall) of the Minnesota Wild at the 2004 National Hockey League Draft who has appeared thus far at five major international tournaments (30 ga, 7 go 10 pts) for his homeland, led all players in the National League A with 27 goals scored for HC Fribourg-Gotteron this season.

35-year-old winger JAROSLAV BEDNAR, the veteran Czech Republic international who scored 10 goals in 117 NHL game for the Los Angeles Kings and Florida Panthers before returning to Europe several years ago, finished as the highest-scoring imported skater in Switzerland after transferring from HC Lugano to 2011 National League A champion HC Davos this past summer.

Journeyman MICKI DUPONT of EHC Kloten, the 32-year-old who participated in 23 NHL games (Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penquins, St. Louis Blues) in five years of North American professional hockey and also added the two German domestic titles over three winters spent with Eisbaeren Berlin before signing with Swiss club EV Zug in the summer of 2008, led all National League A defenseman in scoring for a second consecutive season.

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France Olympic goaltender CRISTOBAL HUET (39) of HC Fribourg-Gotteron, the 36-year-old veteran who contested 273 National Hockey League games in seven seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals and Chicago Black Hawks while earning a coveted Stanley Cup ring in the summer of 2010, faces Rapperswil-Jona Lakers forwards JORDY MURRAY (28), the 22-year-old former University of Wisconsin winger who is the son of long-time NHL bench boss Andy Murray (Huet’s head coach with the Kings), and LOIC BURKHALTER during the National League A match at the Diners Club Arena in Rapperswil this past February.
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2011/12 National League A
goaltending (minimum 20 games)
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2.12 avg – .920 sv pct – 39 ga ….. Cristobal HUET (Fra), HC Fribourg-Gotteron
2.17 avg – .930 sv pct – 50 ga ….. Tobias STEPHAN, HC Servette Geneva
2.17 avg – .913 sv pct – 48 ga ….. Ronnie RUEGER, EHC Kloten
2.24 avg – .931 sv pct – 50 ga ….. Leonardo GENONI, HC Davos
2.30 avg – .915 sv pct – 41 ga ….. Lukas FLUEELER, SC Zurich
2.36 avg – .909 sv pct – 38 ga ….. Marco BUEHRER, SC Bern
2.37 avg – .924 sv pct – 43 ga ….. Jussi MARKKANEN (Fin), EV Zug
2.44 avg – .916 sv pct – 49 ga ….. Reto BERRA, EHC Biel-Bienne
2.47 avg – .903 sv pct – 24 ga ….. Nolan SCHAEFER (Can), HC Ambri-Piotta
2.73 avg – .907 sv pct – 50 ga ….. Benjamin CONZ, HC Lugano
3.07 avg – .898 sv pct – 40 ga ….. Robert ESCHE (USA), SC Langnau
3.14 avg – .901 sv pct – 25 ga ….. Thomas BAEUMLE, HC Ambri-Piotta

In the final season of a four-year contract worth $ 22.5 million dollars, two-time France Olympic netminder CRISTOBAL HUET spent a second consecutive campaign between the pipes for HC Fribourg-Gotteron on loan from the National Hockey League’s 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Black Hawks and finished this term with the lowest goals-against-average in the Swiss National League A.

Huet, who will be making his 10th career appearance at a major international tournament as a member of head coach Dave Henderson’s French squad at the annual IIHF World Championships in Scandanavia this spring, significantly lowered the 2.86 goals-against-average while slightly improving the .919 save percentage numbers he posted for HC Fribourg-Gotteron a year ago after first being farmed out by the Black Hawks organization.

28-year-old TOBIAS STEPHAN, who fashioned 11 NHL appearances in three years with the Dallas Stars before returning to Switzerland in the summer of 2009, had a standout season despite competing for a HC Servette Geneva side that missed the playoffs by a single point. The former EHC Kloten goalkeeper also figures to be first choice between the pipes once again for trainer Sean Simpson’s Swiss national team at the IIHF World Championships in Scandanavia, as well. LEONARDO GENONI of 2011 National League A champion HC Davos, the 24-year-old who served as number two behind Stephan at the annual World Championships a year ago hosted by Slovakia, narrowly led the top flight in save percentage this season but has declined his invitation and will not appear for die Schweiz in Scandanavia.