Plenty of Nothing

Sens Leafs

Source.

Canada is the only hockey power without its own national professional league. If this were Sweden, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Switzerland, there'd be a national league with twelve or fourteen teams, and a second league with another dozen or so, plus lower leagues. However, this is North America, and for hockey purposes we are not a country, we're a market.

But the closed border has forced to NHL to realign. The seven Canadian clubs are obliged to play each other exclusively this season, at least until the Stanley Cup semi-finals, and so for once there's a opportunity to see what a Canadian league might look like.

The seven Canadian franchises make for a very small league. It was accepted by everyone in soccer that when the Canadian Premier League started with only seven teams it was too small. And an eight-team CFL has always been treated as a temporary evil until a ninth team could be organized. But seven teams playing Canada's most popular sport are fine from the NHL's point of view. In fact, from 1996 to 2010, six teams were fine. You'll recall that the NHL is the league that celebrated Canada's Centennial Year by adding six US franchises.

So let's follow the Ottawa Senators as they meet each of the other six North Division clubs. If the AHL follow suit and create a four-team Canadian division of their own, I'll cover those teams too.

Today the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Ottawa.

Ottawa became a hockey town before Toronto, and in the Challenge Cup era (1893 - 1914) Ottawa teams won the cup 17 times, to 2 times for Toronto. In the early years of the NHL Ottawa won the cup four times, in 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927. During the same period Toronto teams won the cup three times, in 1918, 1922 and 1932.

The modern Senators have the better regular season results, head-to-head, with 64 wins, 46 losses, 3 ties and 10 overtime losses. But the Leafs have won all four playoff series.

[January 15: Ottawa Senators 5 - 3 Toronto Maple Leafs

January 16: Ottawa Senators 2 - 3 Toronto Maple Leafs

And just to annoy North Americans I'll be listing the home team first.]

Sierre

HC Sierre wear red and yellow, based on the city's coat of arms, and ideal for McDonald's sponsorship.  Source.

HC Sierre visit HC Ajoie. Currently Sierre are fourth in the second-tier Swiss League, and Ajoie are third but have eight games in hand.

HC Sierre was founded in 1933. The gained promotion from the third-tier MySport League in 2019, but they have spent many years in tier II and one or two in the top tier.

Their rink is the Patinoire de Graben, which can hold 4,500 spectators. Graben is German for trench, so you can expect a tough game when you go there.

Sierre's head coach is Dany Gelinas who was born in Canada but played all of his hockey in France, Switzerland and Slovenia.

Sierre is a city in the canton of Valais, just to the west of the French/German linguistic frontier. I'll bet you did not know that Jacques Plante is buried in Sierre.

[Ajoie 3 - 5 Sierre.]

One of the Swiss Cup semi-finals has been held:

Fribourg-Gotteron 1 - 4 ZSC Lions (December 20)

The Bern/Geneve-Servette semi-final is scheduled for January 30th. The final is February 7th.

HC Ajoie seasons, overtime era:

                  G     W   OW  SW  SL  OL    L      F      A      GD    P     Pos

2019-20    44    28     4      0     1     2      9    185   105   +80    95    2nd, SL    SC

2018-19    44    29     0      0     1     0    14    151     94   +57    88    2nd, SL

2017-18    46    22     1      2     1     6    14    168   130   +38    79     5th, SL

2016-17    48    24     6                    2    16    202   136   +66    86     6th, NLB

2015-16    45    24     2                    2    17    171   131   +40    78     5th, NLB

2014-15    48    15     3      1     6     3    20    137   152    -15    62     7th, NLB

2013-14    45    14     3      1     3     4    20    123   156    -33    57     9th, NLB

2012-13    50    31     1      4     1     1    12    187   138   +49  105     1st, NLB

2011-12    45    16     1      2     2     0    24    119    154    -35    56     8th, NLB

2010-11    45    19     4                    5    17    141    149      -8    70     7th, NLB

2009-10    45    21     5                    2    17    157    149     +8    75     5th, NLB

2008-09    41    21     5                    2    13    148    125   +23    75     5th, NLB

2007-08    49    28     6                    0    15    201    135   +66    96     4th, NLB

2006-07    45    21     4                    5    15    181    144   +37    76     5th, NLB

NLB = National League B; SL = Swiss League; SC = won Swiss Cup

OW = overtime win; SW = shootout win; SL = shootour loss; OL = overtime loss

Source: German Wikipedia

Ajoie versus Bern

What SC Bern were wearing in 1993. Source.

SC Bern visit HC Ajoie for their Swiss Cup quarter-final. This is their first meeting in the Swiss Cup, and their first encounter of any kind since 1993.

This game was to have been played November 30th, but it got knocked back by two weeks in case Ajoie's quarantine was still in effect.

SC Bern was founded in 1930. The club has been Swiss champion 16 times, most recently in 2018-19. They have won the Swiss Cup twice, in 1965 and 2015. They draw the largest crowds of any European hockey club. However last year was an off season for them, and they finished ninth in the National League, missing the playoffs, and also missing out on an invitation to the 2020-21 IIHF Champions Hockey League, before the tournament was cancelled. SC Bern's record in the Champions Hockey League is here.

How do you spell Bern? It's Bern in German, Berne in French, and Berna in Italian and Romansch.

It's fortunate that the Swiss authorities went ahead with this final Swiss Cup because there will be no Spengler Cup in 2020. This makes the fifth year the Spengler Cup has been called off, the others being 1939, 1940, 1949 and 1956. The tournament was to have followed the usual six team format, with Davos, Team Canada, Ambrì-Piotta, KooKoo Kouvola and Sparta Prague participating.

Ajoie [0 - 3] Bern

The other quarter-finals:

Ambri-Piotta 1 - 2 Fribourg-Gotteron

Langenthal 0 - 8 ZSC Lions

Servette 0 - 0 Lausanne (Servette won in SO.)

HC Ajoie in the Swiss Cup:

14-15    R1    Ajoie 1 - 4 Genève-Servette

15-16    R1    Ajoie 8 - 4 HC Red Ice

             R2    Ajoie 3 - 4 Kloten Flyers

16-17    R1    Ajoie 4 - 5 Lausanne

17-18    R1    Ajoie 4 - 2 Lausanne

             R2    Ajoie 5 - 4 ZSC Lions

             QF    Ajoie 4 - 3 Langnau Tigers

             SF    Rapperswil-Jona Lakers 4 - 0 Ajoie

18-19    R1    Ajoie 2 - 7 Lausanne

19-20    R1    Wiki-Münsingen 1 - 8 Ajoie

             R2    Ajoie 4 - 3 Lausanne

             QF    Ajoie 6 - 3 ZSC Lions

             SF    Ajoie 4 - 3 Bienne

               F    Ajoie 7 - 3 Davos

20-21    R1    Martigny 1 - 4 Ajoie

             R2    Kloten 1 - 3 Ajoie

Source: French Wikipedia

Turk Broda

This is one of the bas reliefs that Elizabeth Wyn Wood installed around the Ryerson University campus in the early 1960s. Source.

Yokohama Grits

Yokohama Grits. Source.

There have been a few developments in hockey in Japan since last spring.

The professional Asia League Ice Hockey added a fifth Japanese club, Yokohama Grits. This puts a top tier club in the Greater Tokyo area for the first time since Seibu Prince Rabbits shut down in 2009. The club's name is further proof that Japanese marketers can't get enough of words that end in 'ts' (like Let's!)

Asia League Ice Hockey has opted not to play the 2020-21 season, mainly because of Covid travel restrictions between the three member countries Japan, South Korea and Russia.

The five Japanese clubs are playing a shortened all-Japan season which began in October and will wrap up at the end of December. Each team will play each other team four times.

The 88th All-Japan Ice Hockey Championship is on, but with a reduced schedule. The games are:

Semi-finals (December 12)

Nikko Ice Bucks [1 - 2] Higashi Hokkaido Cranes

Oji Eagles [2 - 3] Tohoku Free Blades

Third-place game (December 13)

[Ice Bucks 3 - 4 Eagles]

Final (December 13)

[Cranes 3 - 1 Free Blades]

Meanwhile the Asia League's three Korean clubs are playing the 65th South Korean National Ice Hockey Championship. I have yet to find a good source for information for this tournament.

And I have no idea what the Sakhalin team are up to.

Hockeyists

Hokkeyisti (1959-60), by Alexandr Deineka. Source.

In Zug

Zug's Bossard Arena. The club plays on the indoor rink. Source.

Ajoie visit Bossard Arena to play EVZ Academy, the development team of Eissportverein Zug. Ajoie were off for a week or so due to coronavirus and are now three to six games behind the other clubs.

Bossard Arena was opened in 2010, but the club has already outgrown it and there are plans in the works for a newer larger rink. Bossard can hold 7,200, but the parent club has 6,000 season ticket holders.

Ajoie have a new building.

Zug is on Lake Zug in the heart of the Swiss Confederation. Zug is the German name of the town. In French it's Zoug, in Italian Zugo. The name comes from the Latin Tugium, named after the local Celtic people the Tougeni, or in Greek Tōygenoí.

[Zug 2 - 6 Ajoie.]

HC Ajoie seasons, part 1:

                  G     W    T     L       F       A      GD   B    P     Pos

2005-06    42    13    3    26    135    206    -71         29    10th, NLB

2004-05    44      8    4    32    107    200    -93         20    12th, NLB

2003-04    45    19    3    23    150    161    -11         41      7th, NLB

2002-03    38    16    2    20    148    158    -10         34      7th, NLB

2001-02    36    16    4    16    152    157      -5         36      6th, NLB

2000-01    40    17    5    18    167    155   +12         39      7th, NLB

1999-00    20    17    0      3    133      50   +83         34      1st, 1L (Group 3)

1999-00      6      5    1      0      35      15   +20    4   15      1st, 1L (Pool A)

1998-99    20    16    2      2    128      43   +85         34      1st, 1L (Group 3)

1998-99      6      5    0      1      38      18   +20         10       1st, 1L (Group A)

1997-98    24    19    0      5    118      60   +58         38      2nd, 1L (Group 3)

1996-97    22      4    0    18      55    114    -59           8     12th, NLB (main round)

1996-97    20      4    2    14      55      93    -38           8       6th, NLB (qual. round)

1995-96    22    17    1      4    127      43   +84         35      2nd, 1L (Group 3)

1994-95    36      4    1    31    105    197    -92           9     10th, NLB

1993-94    36      9    2    25    102    156    -54         20       9th, NLB

1992-93    36      9    1    26    103    178    -75         19       9th, NLA

1991-92    36    21    4    11    176    153   +23         46        1st, NLB

1990-91    36    18    5    13    148    152     +4         41        4th, NLB

1989-90    36      8    3    25    108    189    -81         19      10th, NLA

1988-89    36      5    4    27      97    202  -105         14      10th, NLA

1987-88    36    19    4    13    174    146   +28         42        4th, NLB

1986-87    36    14    8    14    144    132   +12         36        5th, NLB

1985-86    36    14    5    17    135    170    -35         33        7th, NLB

1984-85    26                          257      73 +184         50        1st, 1L (Group 2)

1983-84    28      9    2    17    123    179    -57         20        7th, NLB West

1983-84    14      5    1      8      60      74    -14         13        7th, NLB (Releg.)

1982-83    28      9    1    18    121    181    -60         19        8th, NLB West

1982-83    10      4    2      4      57      55     +2         10        4th, NLB (Releg.)

1981-82    18    14    1      3    114      63    +51        29        1st, 1L (Group 3)

1980-81    18    12    1      5    128      77    +51        25        4th, 1L (Group 3)

1979-80    18    11    3      4      99      70    +29        25        2nd, 1L (Group 3)

1978-79    18    13    0      5      96      71    +25        26        3rd, 1L (Group 3)

1977-78

1976-77

1975-76

1974-75

1973-74

1L = 1re Ligue (tier III); B = bonus points earned in the group stage

(Sources: German Wikipedia for NLA and NLB; Hockey Archives for 1re Ligue)

 

Schlittschuh Club Langenthal

Ajoie and Langenthal played an exhibition game September 25th, and Langenthal won 4 - 3. Source.

Tomorrow Ajoie visit Langenthal. [Nope, postponed. Ajoie is quarantined.]

SC Langenthal was founded in 1946. The club has been part of the second-tier NLB or Swiss League since 2001.

SC Langenthal has won the NLB/Swiss League three times, in 2012, 2017 and 2019, but has not been promoted. The first two times they lost the promotion playoff final to Ambrì-Piotta, and the third time their rink was ruled too rinky-dink for the top tier (though it was fine the first two times). The Eishalle Schoren holds 4,500.

Team colours are dark blue and yellow.

Canadian Jeff Campbell is head coach.

Langenthal is about an hour's drive from Ajoie's hometown Porrentruy on the far side of the Jura Mountains, and across the French/German linguistic frontier.

Ticino Rockets

Bunch of bums. Source.

Ajoie visit Biasca in Ticino to play the Ticino Rockets.

Ticino Rockets serve as the farm team for the National League's two Ticino clubs, Lugano and Ambrì-Piotta. See here for a club history.

Ticino's head coach is Éric Landry, who played for the Flames and the Habs and has coached the Gatineau Olympiques.

[Ticino 2 - 6 Ajoie.]

Kloten

Anders Eldebrink played for Kloten in the glory days of the Nineties.

It's the Swiss Cup, Round of 16. Our guys Ajoie visit Kloten. These two met up in the second round of the 2015-16 cup, and Kloten won 4 - 3.

Kloten have won this cup once. (See below.) They are five-time National League champions (1966-67, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96). At present they play in the second-tier Swiss League, having suffered relegation in 2018. Their colours are blue, red and white. From 2000 till 2016 they were known as Kloten Flyers.

Kloten is a town in Zurich Canton with a population of about 20,000. The club's rink, Swiss Arena, holds 7,800 spectators.

Per Hånberg is head coach of EHC Kloten.

Kloten/Ajoie is the only game in this round to feature two Swiss League teams.

Lugano's game against Oberthurgau in the previous round has not yet been played as Lugano are under quarantine.

Final score: Kloten 1 - 3 Ajoie.

EHC Kloten in the Swiss Cup:

59-60    R3    Kloten 2 - 6 Ambrì-Piotta

60-61    R1    Kloten 8 - 4 Veltheim

             R2    Kloten 1 - 12 ZSC

61-62    R2    Thun 2 - 6 Kloten

             R3    Kloten L - W Fleurier

62-63    R2    Rapperswil-Jona 6 - 8 Kloten

             R3    Sion 4 - 9 Kloten

             R4    Kloten 5 - 0 Fleurier

             QF    Kloten 5 - 9 Neuchâtel Sports Young Sprinters

63-64    R3    Kloten 8 - 4 Basel

             QF    Kloten 4 - 3 Neuchâtel Sports Young Sprinters

             SF    ZSC 10 - 6 Kloten

64-65    R4    Lugano 5 - 0 Kloten

65-66    R4    Kloten 2 - 4 ZSC

71-72    R2    Kloten 9 - 6 Uzwil

                      Uzwil 10 - 5 Kloten

14-15    R1    Dübendorf 1 - 6 Kloten

             R2    Bienne 1 - 2 Kloten

             QF    Ambrì-Piotta 2 - 4 Kloten

             SF    Genève-Servette 1 - 2 Kloten

               F    Berne 3 - 1 Kloten

15-16    R1    Thurgau 1 - 5 Kloten

             R2    Ajoie 3 - 4 Kloten

             QF    Bienne 2 - 3 Kloten

             SF    Lausanne 4 - 3 Kloten

16-17    R1    Frauenfeld 1 - 4 Kloten

             R2    Bienne 3 - 4 Kloten

             QF    Langenthal 2 - 3 Kloten

             SF    Kloten 3 - 2 Lausanne

               F    Kloten 5 - 2 Genève-Servette

17-18    R1    Thurgau 2 - 6 Kloten

             R2    Kloten 2 - 4 Zug

18-19    R1    Rheintal 0 - 13 Kloten

             R2    Kloten 4 - 3 Bienne

             QF    Kloten 3 - 4 Zug

19-20    R1    Kloten 0 - 3 Rapperswil-Jona

20-21    R1    Thurgau 1 - 3 Kloten

Source: French Wikipedia. Usually German Wikipedia is best for European hockey, but for Switzerland it's French.