EHC Kloten

Last updated
EHC Kloten
Kloten Flyers logo.svg
City Kloten, Switzerland
League National League
  • NL
    1962–2018
    2022–present
  • SL
    1947–1962
    2018–2022
  • 1. Liga
    1946–1947
  • Serie B
    1941-1946
Founded1934
Home arena Stimo Arena
Colors   
General manager Larry Mitchell
Head coach Gerry Fleming
Captain Steve Kellenberger
Website www.ehc-kloten.ch
Franchise history
1934–2000
2016–present		EHC Kloten
2000–2016Kloten Flyers
Hockey current event.svg Current season

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 years. EHC Kloten won four consecutive Swiss championships from 1993 to 1996. They had never been relegated until the 2017–18 season. They returned to the NL following the 2021-22 season.

Contents

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

History

EHC Kloten was founded by a group of 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 1947, the EHC Kloten was promoted into the Swiss League. In 1962, they joined the National League 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 NL.

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 reached 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 2005-06 season.

The team's name was reverted from Kloten Flyers to EHC Kloten for the 2016–17 NLA season [2] after the club had been taken over by businessman Hans-Ulrich Lehmann, who bought the organization from the owner group Avenir Sports Entertainment. [3] Pekka Tirkkonen from Finland was appointed new head coach [4] for the 2016–17 season after Sean Simpson had parted company with the club. The team had one of the worst attendances of the NL for the 2016–17 season, averaging only 5,229 spectators over their 25 regular season home games. It was also the only team which failed to sell out at least one game during the regular season. [5]

On February 1, 2017, the team won the first Swiss Cup in club history, against Geneve-Servette HC, in a packed Swiss Arena.

The team won the Swiss League title in April 2022 against EHC Olten to gain automatic promotion to the NL.

Honors

Champions

Runners-up

Players

Current roster

Updated 9 January, 2024. [6]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G AgeAcquiredBirthplace
15 Flag of Finland.svg Miro Aaltonen  ( A ) C L30 2022 Joensuu, Finland
10 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jonathan Ang C R26 2022 Markham, Ontario, Canada
92 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nathan Beaulieu D L31 2023 Stratford, Ontario, Canada
11 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Keanu Derungs LW L21 2022 Ilanz, Switzerland
59 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Luca Deussen D L20 2022 São Paulo, Brasil
89 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Dominik Diem C/LW L25 2019 Zürich, Switzerland
9 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Mika Henauer D L23 2023 Zürich, Switzerland
6 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Matthew Kellenberger D R25 2023 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
19 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Steve Kellenberger  ( C ) D L37 2014 Bülach, Switzerland
47 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Simon Kindschi D L27 2018 Davos, Switzerland
78 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Kevin Lindemann C L21 2021 Zug, Switzerland
71 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Michael Loosli LW L28 2022 Boll, Switzerland
87 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Joel Marchon LW L20 2023 Zug, Switzerland
8 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Marc Marchon  ( A ) C L28 2017 Vuisternens-en-Ogoz, Switzerland
55 Flag of Finland.svg Juha Metsola G L34 2022 Tampere, Finland
88 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Dario Meyer RW L27 2021 Bern, Switzerland
86 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Tyler Morley C L32 2023 Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
77 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Matteo Nodari D R36 2022 Lugano, Switzerland
13 Flag of Austria.svg Patrick Obrist C L30 2015 Dornbirn, Austria
29 Flag of Finland.svg Niko Ojamäki RW R28 2023 Pori, Finland
41 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Leandro Profico D L33 2023 Chur, Switzerland
54 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Mischa Ramel C L20 2021 Olten, Switzerland
64 Flag of Austria.svg David Reinbacher D R19 2021 Hohenems, Austria
82 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Rajan Sataric D L31 2023 Solothurn, Switzerland
62 Flag of the United States.svg Harrison Schreiber C L22 2021 Manhattan, New York, United States
28 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Axel Simic C R25 2022 Gumefens, Switzerland
27 Flag of Latvia.svg Deniss Smirnovs C L24 2023 Latvia
95 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Nicholas Steiner D L32 2018 Eggiwil, Switzerland
39 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Sandro Zurkirchen G L33 2021 Schwyz, Switzerland

Honored members

EHC Kloten retired numbers
No.PlayerPositionCareerNo. retirement
4Marco Klöti [7] D 1992–2007–
7Peter Schlagenhauf RW 1969–1994–
20Reto Pavoni G 1986–2002–
21Roman Wäger LW 1980–1999–
22 Victor Stancescu LW 2001–2016–
24 Felix Hollenstein RW 1985–2002–
26 Mikael Johansson C 1992–1997–
32 Anders Eldebrink D 1990–1995–

NHL alumni

Notable coaches

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References

  1. ↑ "Aus den Flyers wird wieder der EHC Kloten" . Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  2. ↑ "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.
  3. ↑ "Der EHC Kloten ist gerettet: Hans-Ulrich Lehmann ist der neue Investor". www.toponline.ch. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  4. ↑ Kloten, EHC. "Confirmed - Pekka Tirkkonen to take over EHC Kloten" . Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  5. ↑ "NLA team attendances". hockeyfans.ch (in German). 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
  6. ↑ "EHC Kloten team roster" (in German). EHC Kloten. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
  7. ↑ "Retired numbers" (in German). EHC Kloten. July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
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