EHC Kloten

EHC Kloten
City Kloten, Switzerland
League

NLA 1999-present

Founded 1934
Home arena Swiss Arena
General manager Switzerland Matthias Berner
Head coach Finland Pekka Tirkkonen
Captain Switzerland none
Website www.kloten-flyers.ch

EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team participates in the National League A and is known for its promotion of young players. It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss Ice Hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 years.

The team was called Kloten Flyers between 2000 and 2016.[1]

EHC Kloten won four consecutive Swiss championships from 1993 to 1996. They have never been relegated at any point in the club's history.

The team had the worst attendance of the National League A for the 2015-16 season, averaging only 4,790 spectators over their 25 regular season home games.[2]

History

EHC Kloten was founded by a group seven members, led by Emil Hegner, on December 3, 1934. During the first few years, only exhibition matches were played. The home matches were played on the frozen Nägelimoos-Weiher.

When EHC Kloten began to participate in the championship, they had to start in the lowest league, as usual. In 1941, they were promoted into the Serie B and five years later into the Serie A. One year later, in the year 1947, the EHC Kloten was promoted into the Nationalliga B. In 1962, they joined the Nationalliga A when the league expanded to 10 teams.

In 1967, they became the champions for the first time, headed by their Czech coach Vladimir Kobera.

The team has remained in the highest Swiss league since their promotion and are the longest-serving team in the NLA.

For the 1998-99 season the former Russian ice hockey player Vladimir Yurzinov was asked to become the new coach. He introduced a new playing style and encouraged the development and promotion of young players. Even though many people liked this philosophy, the team remained unsuccessful. During the 2003-2004 season, the team had to play the playoffs for the first time in their history. A year later, in the 2004-2005 playoffs, they again managed to remain in the highest league. However, this strategy is paying off today.

In October 2004, Yurzinov was released as their coach. He took on a new role as a youth promoter until the end of the season. Yurzinov's successor was former EHC Kloten defenseman Anders Eldebrink and assistant Felix Hollenstein. The new coaching duo managed to get the team back to success and are still in charge of the team.

During the 2008-2009 season, the Flyers swept both HC Geneve-Servette and EV Zug in the playoffs before losing the playoff final against HC Davos in seven games. They finished the regular season in 3rd place.

The club has a well known junior program. There’s a partnership between the Kloten Flyers and the teams of Bülach, Dielsdorf-Niederhasli and Winterthur. Since the founding of the elite-junior league, the teams have won 19 titles. The latest being in the season 2005-06.

The team's name was changed back from Kloten Flyers to EHC Kloten for the 2016–17 NLA season[3] after the club had been taken over by businessman Hans-Ulrich Lehmann who bought the organization from the owner group Avenir Sports Entertainment.[4] Pekka Tirkkonen from Finland was appointed new head coach[5] for the 2016-17 season after Sean Simpson had parted company with the club.

Honors

Champions

Players

Current roster

Updated May 27, 2015.[6][7][8]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
34 Switzerland Back, ReneRene Back D L 34 2014 Konstanz, Germany
Switzerland Boltshauser, LucaLuca Boltshauser G L 23 2015 Zürich, Switzerland
44 Switzerland Bieber, MatthiasMatthias Bieber LW L 30 2010 Zürich, Switzerland
Switzerland Büsser, XenoXeno Büsser D L 21 2015 Zürich, Switzerland
61 Switzerland Casutt, CorsinCorsin Casutt LW L 32 2014 Chur, Switzerland
Switzerland Collenberg, FrancoFranco Collenberg D L 31 2015 Chur, Switzerland
38 Switzerland Frick, LukasLukas Frick D L 22 2012 Zuberwangen, Switzerland
28 Switzerland Gerber, MartinMartin Gerber G L 42 2013 Burgdorf, Switzerland
94 Switzerland Guggisberg, PeterPeter Guggisberg RW R 31 2014 Zimmerwald, Switzerland
96 Switzerland Harlacher, EdsonEdson Harlacher D L 20 2014 Zürich, Switzerland
91 Switzerland Hollenstein, DenisDenis Hollenstein RW L 27 2009 Zürich, Switzerland
10 Switzerland Jenni, MarcelMarcel Jenni (A) RW L 42 2005 Zürich, Switzerland
19 Switzerland Kellenberger, SteveSteve Kellenberger W L 29 2014 Bülach, Switzerland
United States Kolarik, ChadChad Kolarik RW R 30 2015 Abington, Pennsylvania, USA
83 Switzerland Lee Hartmann, JanJan Lee Hartmann C L 21 2014 St. Peterzell, Switzerland
67 Switzerland Lemm, RomanoRomano Lemm C L 32 2010 Dielsdorf, Switzerland
81 Switzerland Leone, RobinRobin Leone RW R 23 2009 Winterthur, Switzerland
41 Switzerland Liniger, MichaelMichael Liniger (A) LW R 37 2007 Muri, Switzerland
Austria Obrist, PatrickPatrick Obrist C L 23 2015 Dornbirn, Austria
- Norway Olimb, MathisMathis Olimb C L 30 2015 Oslo, Norway
29 Switzerland Praplan, VincentVincent Praplan W R 22 2014 Sierre, Switzerland
23 Finland Santala, TommiTommi Santala C R 37 2008 Helsinki, Finland
15 Switzerland Schelling, PhilippePhilippe Schelling D L 31 2011 Schaffhausen, Switzerland
22 Switzerland Stăncescu, VictorVictor Stăncescu (C) LW R 31 2002 Bucharest, Romania
84 Switzerland Steinauer, JoelJoel Steinauer D L 21 2014 Zürich, Switzerland
57 Switzerland Stoop, LukasLukas Stoop D R 26 2012 Zürich, Switzerland
9 Canada Vandermeer, JimJim Vandermeer D L 36 2013 Caroline, Alberta, Canada
72 Switzerland von Gunten, PatrickPatrick von Gunten D L 31 2012 Biel, Switzerland
Switzerland Wieser, TimTim Wieser LW L 21 2015 Zürich, Switzerland

Honored members

NHL alumni

Notable coaches

References

  1. ↑ "Aus den Flyers wird wieder der EHC Kloten". Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  2. ↑ http://www.hockeyfans.ch/news/meldung/39997
  3. ↑ "Back to the roots - Kloten Flyers to become EHC Kloten once again". swisshockeynews.ch. April 4, 2016. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Der EHC Kloten ist gerettet: Hans-Ulrich Lehmann ist der neue Investor". www.toponline.ch. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  5. ↑ Kloten, EHC. "Confirmed - Pekka Tirkkonen to take over EHC Kloten". Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  6. ↑ "Kloten Flyers > Spieler" (in German). www.kloten-flyers.ch. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  7. ↑ "Kloten Flyers team" (in German). www.nationalleague.ch. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  8. ↑ "Kloten Flyers équipe" (in French). www.nationalleague.ch. Retrieved 2012-09-30.

External links

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