Sheffield Steelers win Grand Slam
Sheffield Steelers (EIHL) claimed the third trophy on offer to clinch a Grand slam of trophies from the Eihl. Read more»
How are the teams of the NLA doing after the first 1/3 of the season compared to last year? Here's the overview of all twelve teams.
How are the teams of the NLA doing after the first 18 rounds
compared to last year, here's the overview.
1. HC Davos, 18 games, 42 points (last year 1st, 18 games, 38
points)
HC Davos are there where they were a year ago, top of the league
with a plus-minus of +39, no other team has scored that many goals.
84 goals means an average of 4,6 goals per game. Although coach Arno
del Curto has criticized that his team will be playing too many
games, the players seem to enjoy and riding the wave of success.
2. ZSC Lions, 19 games, 39 points (last year 3rd, 19 games, 35
points)
The Lions are top when it comes to defence. Only 42 goals conceived
make them number one league wide, that's 2.2 goals per game while
scoring 64 goals. Coach Crawford has managed to tickle a little more
out of his team compared to last season. Chris Baltisberger who
already had a good last season now has become a big player on the
team. Roman Wick who announced his retirement from the Swiss
national team is top scorer and remains one of the main characters
on the team.
3. SC Bern, 18 games, 36 points (last year 8th, 18 games, 21 points)
What a difference for the hockey crazy town compared to last year.
Bern went through some rough times that ended in the play-outs but
this year they're ready to attack. One reason might be goalie Marco
Bührer with a GGA of 2.50 but also in the offensive area, Byron
Ritchie and Bud Holloway together with oldie Martin Plüss have added
their part to a hopefully more successful season.
4. HC Lugano, 18 games, 36 points (last year 11th, 18 games, 20
points)
Probably the biggest improvement compared to last year comes from
"grande" Lugano. There's one big reason for the change and it comes
in a triple pack imported from the North. Fredrik Petterson isn't
just the top scorer for Lugano but also for the League. 16 goals and
12 assists couldn't be topped by anyone else so far. But also Linus
Klasen, known for his veritable stick handling has 7 goals and 12
assists while Ilari Filppula is third with 5 goals and 9 assists.
5. EV Zug, 18 games, 33 points (last year 9th, 17 games, 20 points)
EV Zug is another team that found a way up the stands when compared
to last year. Harold Kreis has given the team a more defensive
structure and it seems to work so far. Offensive power is provided
through Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Daniel Sondell and Robbie Earl. Lino
Martschini has heavily improved and was awarded with the nomination
for the national team for the Deutschland Cup.
6. Lausanne HC, 19 games, 29 points (last year 7th, 18 games, 25
points)
Lausanne has remained on about the same position as last year and
completes the first half of the NLA. The addition of Finnish forward
Ossi Louhivaara (10 goals/6 assists) has surely helped the team of
coach Heinz Ehlers to compete with and withstand the best teams of
the league. Pesonen and Hytönen still have potential to increase
their scoring production.
7. Servette-Gevève HC, 19 games, 24 points (last year 6th, 18 games,
27 points)
The second romand team that is able to keep the same point pace and
a nice fact aside, has a Swiss born top scorer with Kevin Romy (10
goals/4 assists) but the Pyatt brothers and Matt D'Agostini are
catching up in the scoring race. Goalie Christophe Bays has played
the most games so far but young Robert Mayer is waiting and has had
a good season so far (8 games, 2.44 GAA, 91.23 Sa%)
8. EHC Biel, 18 games, 23 points (last year 10th, 18 games, 20
points)
Biel looked like they would have a better start compared to last
season but in the last few games the Seeländer gave away points too
easily and find themselves in a downwards spiral although Top Scorer
Pär Arlbrandt is doing as requested. 9 goals and 8 assists but a
minus 2 rating are symptomatic for the whole team.
9. Kloten Flyers, 17 games, 22 points (last year 4th, 19 games, 35
points)
Kloten definitely didn't expect to find themselves where they've
been at the beginning of September and October. Slowly but surely
they've worked their way up from 12th place and with Matthias Bieber
(10 goals/3 assists) an unexpected forward has left his marks on a
deeply insecure team where Tommi Santala needed more than 10 games
to get into scoring mode and thanks to young Denis Hollenstein's and
Peter Mueller's return the Flyers are in ascending mode.
10. Fribourg-Gottéron, 18 games, 16 points (last year 5th, 18 games,
34 points)
What's to say about Fribourg. Less than half the points from last
year was just too little and so head coach Hans Kossmann had to
leave. Gerd Zenhäusern replaced him and since his arrival, the
Dragons have shown signs of improvement. Julien Sprunger is the
scoring leader by far (9 goals/14 assists) but his role has been
important for the whole team. And while the team has been struggling
in the NLA, they still have a realistic chance of advancing to the
round of the best 8 European teams this coming Tuesday.
11. Ambri-Piotta, 18 games, 16 points (last year 2nd, 18 games, 38
points)
The second team from Ticino is the negative suprise, whereby it
needs to be said that last season might have been over the
expectations of many. Giroux, Aucoin and Hall lead the internal
scoring race but they account for 16 goals and 14 assists which is
too little if they want to remain in the race for a play off spot.
12. Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, 18, 11 points (last year, 19 games, 12
points)
Oh oh, Anders Eldebrink already is in trouble again. And this
although the Swedish head coach has four countrymen on his team who
also are able to score but the problem is that they are overly utilised in in special teams. How long will the Executives of the Club watch their
club book an early ticket for the play outs?
Czech Rep.: Tipsport extraliga | 1.liga | 2.liga
Slovakia: Tipsport Extraliga | 1.liga
Sweden: SHL | HockeyAllsvenskan
Other: EBEL | Belarus | Croatia | Denmark | Estonia | France | Great Britain | Iceland | Italy | Latvia | Lithuania | MOL-liga | Norway | Poland | Romania | Serbia | Slovenia | Spain | NHL | AHL |
Sheffield Steelers (EIHL) claimed the third trophy on offer to clinch a Grand slam of trophies from the Eihl. Read more»
Having clinched the Challenge Cup on Wednesday the Sheffield Steelers (EIHL) made it two trophys yesterday as they clinched the Elite league title. Read more»