Switzerland : 2011/12 Season

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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.