The 2016–17 National League A season was the tenth

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

season of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

's top hockey league, the

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

. Overall, it was the 79th season of Swiss professional hockey.

SC Bern Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is a professional ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rin ...

went on to win its 15th NLA title as the defending champions by defeating

EV Zug EV Zug is a professional men's ice hockey team from Zug, Switzerland. It is a member of the National League and plays its home games at the Bossard Arena. History EV Zug won its first championship in the 1997–98 season, and the second one in t ...

. It was the first time since the 2000–01 season when the defending champions (

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and played at the ...

) won back-to-back titles.

Teams

Coaching changes

On September 22, 2016, Fribourg-Gottéron's Gerd Zenhäusern was relieved of his duties of head coach after posting a 1-1-1-3 record through 6 games this season. It was later announced that

Larry Huras Larry Robert Huras, (born July 8, 1955) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and a former player. He played 2 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers during the 1976–77 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1975 to 1 ...

would take over the job for the remainder of the season. On October 1, 2016, the

SCL Tigers The SC Langnau Tigers are a professional ice hockey team from Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL). The team plays its home games in the 6,050-seat Emmental Versicherung Arena, which is currently one of the sm ...

fired head coach Scott Beattie after posting a 1-0-2-7 record through 10 games this season. He eventually went on to coach his final game that same day against

EHC Kloten EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team plays in the National League (NL). It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss ice hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 year ...

, which Langnau won 5-3. On October 2, 2016, it was announced that Heinz Ehlers would be Langnau's new head coach for the remainder of the season and through the 2017–18 season should the team stay in the NLA. On November 14, 2016,

EHC Biel EHC Biel-Bienne is a professional ice hockey club based in the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland and plays in the National League (NL). Since the city of Biel is completely bilingual, alongside the German name EHC Biel (Abbr: EHCB) the te ...

fired head coach Kevin Schlaepfer after posting an 8-0-2-11 record through 21 games this season.

Mike McNamara Michael McNamara (born 1949) is an Irish former hurling manager and former player. He played hurling with his local club Scariff from the 1960s until the 1980s. McNamara is also a publican and night club owner in Scariff and served as manager ...

who was coaching Biel junior team at the time, became the interim head coach for the main club. On January 16, 2017,

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

fired head coach

Doug Shedden Douglas Arthur Shedden (born April 29, 1961) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former player. He played in the National Hockey League between 1981 and 1991. After his playing career he became a coach, and worked in the minor leagues for severa ...

and assistant coach

Pat Curcio Patrick Curcio (born September 6, 1973) is a Canadians, Canadian-Italy, Italian professional ice hockey coach, executive and former professional ice hockey player. Pat is now a Partner with Optima World Sports Playing career Curcio played profess ...

after posting a 14-4-3-19 record through 40 games this season. It was later announced that Greg Ireland would replace Shedden at the helm of the team for the end of the season. On January 30, 2017,

HC Ambrì-Piotta Hockey Club Ambrì-Piotta is a Swiss professional ice hockey club and a member of the National League (NL). The club was founded September 19, 1937, and is also known as "Bianco-Blu" (English: white and blues). Though they have never won the leagu ...

parted ways with head coach Hans Kossmann after posting a 7-8-4-24 record through 43 games this season, sitting dead last in the NLA at the time.

Gordie Dwyer Gordon Rick Dwyer (born January 25, 1978) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played five seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens. He currently serv ...

will coach the team for the remainder of the season.

Arenas

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

played its final season at

Malley Malley is a surname. It may refer to: People * Alex Malley, former chief executive of CPA Australia * Bill Malley, American production designer and art director * Bill Malley (golfer) (born 1952), American professional golfer * Connor Malley (born ...

before playing two seasons in a temporary arena which will be located in the old city's slaughterhouse. Meanwhile, their new 10,000-seat arena will be built on the site of the old Malley. This was Fribourg's last season in the current

BCF Arena BCF Arena (formerly Patinoire Saint-Léonard) is an indoor sporting arena in Fribourg, Switzerland. Built in 1983 and then completely rebuilt from 2018 to 2020, the capacity of the arena is 9,262 spectators. It is the home arena of ice hockey ...

before it undergoes major renovations in the spring of 2017, which will last for about two years and increase the capacity from 6,500 to 8,500. The team should still be able to play in the arena during the renovations.

Regular season

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 NLA season 1

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

National League (ice hockey) seasons