The Hockey Corner

A special thank you to goaltender Rémi BARBEROT for his account of hockey in Switzerland, along with the amazing photos he took!

Thank you, Rémi!

In Europe, hockey is properly developed in several countries such as Czechia, Finland, Sweden and…Switzerland.

As a matter of fact, the Swiss hockey top division league named since a few years « National League » is composed of 14 teams: rural teams such as Langnau, Ambri Piotta, Ajoie and urban teams like Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne. Hockey in Switzerland is the most popular sport.

The particularity of the Swiss Championship is that every single team as an important local anchoring due to local language and habits (There are 3 main languages in Switzerland: French, Swiss German and Italian).

This situation results in local rivalries.

Certain games such as Geneva Lausanne or Ambri Piotta Lugano are much appreciated by the locals and those games are sold out early.

Big budgets are in big cities, but rural teams compensate with a solid young players development policy and a big players pride in representing the local crowd which is very supportive.

Then, the 25-26 regular season had a 90% occupancy rate with some team close to 95%. The big thing is the team of Fribourg-Gotteron, a small city of 40 000 inhabitants, in which all games are sold out since March 2023 (capacity: 9372 people).

Note that the total season crowd of the Swiss hockey season is upper than the total Swiss soccer season crowd…

The hockey regular season consists of 52 games. Each team plays against all the others 4 times (2 home games, 2 away games). The season stretches from mid-September till the end of the playoffs final late in April.

At the end of the regular season the first 8 teams compete for the title in 3 rounds of best of 7 games series.

The playoffs games are, of course, fully packed.

Budgets of the clubs are between CHF 15 million and CHF 50 million.

Swiss Championship is considered as the 3rd most lucrative league, behind of course the NHL and the KHL. There are big foreign players signatures among the years. In Geneva there are/had players such as Valtteri Filppula (only Finnish triple gold club member), Linus Omark, Logan Couture, Brian Pothier, Juraj Kolnik, Jesse Puljujärvi (2016 4th overall draft pick), Henrik Tommernes… They also appreciate the away games short distances and the Swiss life quality.

Every weekday game starts at 7.45pm. The whole season and playoffs games are broadcasted by a unique private channel.

There are also games at 2pm and 3.45pm on Sundays.

Here is the situation in Switzerland.

Now let’s talk about a gameday in Geneva.

In Geneva, the gates always open one hour and a half before puck drop.

The Geneva arena called Les Vernets, is the oldest of the league (1957) and is composed of 2 rinks.

One with 1000 people capacity and the main one with 7135 people capacity, where the pros play their games. During the last decades, renovations were made, notably in the suites, the north and south stands, the official stores. The sports complex offers also an olympic swimming pool (A new 8500 people arena should be opened for 2030 with all the modern facilities).

I always come to the game in advance.

About an hour before the teams warm up with friends to gather and socialize in one of the numerous bars available. Beer is the favorite drink of the attendance. On gamedays, up to 5000 liters of beer can be poured.

Wine and cocktails are also available. You can also eat the famous fondue in restaurants and food trucks.

The timing of the games is precise: 7pm warm up, 7.35pm show and players entrance, 7.45pm puck drop with Sherkan, a real eagle present to every game for 20 years.

The jumbotron give the rhythm with animations according to the scenario of the game.

In Geneva, lots of fans are usually seated solely some minutes before puck drop. Except in the standing area where the most passionate fans give a big atmosphere to the games with songs, tifos, flags and encouragements. They arrive in advance to support the team all game long.

Thanks to the fans, the atmosphere in the arena is quite similar to a soccer game atmosphere, except that there are no violence problems. Families comes to the game. Although, a section is dedicated to them with special offers.

In Europe, in the main hockey countries, most of the arenas offers standing areas where the ultras get together to support the team with songs, drums, flags, tifos…

Between the periods, most of the crowd goes to the bars in the main hall of the arena to restock on beers. Usually, I run into some veteran teammates or Swiss friends…

In Geneva, there are also 2 eagle mascots, Calin and Calvina, which entertain the spectators during every game. From time to time, there are also cheerleaders.

Of course, some former players have their number retired, hockey tradition.

When the game is over, the crowd leave the rink calmly but quickly. A part of them goes to the arena bars to cheer late at night and the other tries to leave the district as soon as possible. Traffic jams are inevitable because of the arena situation in the city.