SCL Tigers

Last updated
SCL Tigers
SCL Tigers logo.svg
City Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland
League National League
Founded1946
Home arena Emmental Versicherung Arena
Colours   
Owner(s)Peter Jakob
General managerSimon Laager
Head coach Thierry Paterlini
Captain Harri Pesonen
Affiliate EHC Chur
Website Official website
Franchise history
1946–1999Schlittschuh Club Langnau
1999–presentSCL Tigers
Hockey current event.svg Current season

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 smallest arenas in the NL.

Contents

History

Originally formed as the Ice skating club Langnau, the team was founded on 30 January 1946. The 1948–49 season started in the summer due to the planing on the grounds of the Napro, where the ice rink was to be built. The ice rink began operation on 26 December 1948. SC Langnau, who had not yet completed any championship games, secured the "Begert Cup". Nine out of 16 games were won. The game against Rotblau Bern was attended by over 1000 spectators.

SC Langnau participated for the first time within the Swiss Championship, starting in the lowest league stage of the Swiss ice hockey. Opponents in the 1949–50 season were Roggwil, Olten, Münsingen and the second team of Red Blue Bern of the Serie B. In the season 1950–51, SC Langnau took part in the league operation of Serie B, Group 6 Central Switzerland. Langnau was group winner for the first time, but lost in the final against Bern. Langnau won the Cantonal Cup of the Serie B. In that season, the team completed a total of 23 games, including 16 at home.

The SCL Tigers, promoted to the NLA in 1998, are the successor club of the Schlittschuh-Club Langnau (SCL), which was outsourced to SCL Tigers AG in 1999 under the direction of President René Zeh. Zeh became the first chairman of the board. The club's club logo comes from the long-standing main sponsor, the long-established traditional company "Tiger Käse AG" (since 2004 " Emmi Fondue AG"), which has been sponsoring the club with its "Tiger" brand since the 1970s.

SCL Tigers versus SC Bern in an outdoor game on January 14, 2007 Tatze-derby.jpg
SCL Tigers versus SC Bern in an outdoor game on January 14, 2007

In October 2001, businessman Ruedi Soltermann took over Zeh's Presidency to lead SCL. [1] In the summer of 2002, the club confirmed to have a debt amount of more than one million francs with the financial difficulties plaguing the club in the following years. [2]

At the beginning of February 2005, Armin Müller was removed from the Board of Directors. According to the SCL, Müller, who was responsible for sponsorship, promised advertising revenues of nearly 1.3 million francs for the 2004–05 season, of which only a fraction arrived. The SCL Tigers announced that they would file charges for document forgery and misleading management. [3] With SCL's long standing economical trouble's, an initiative "Save the Tigers" was founded in July 2009 with entrepreneur, Peter Jakob. [4] In September 2009, Jakob became the President to the board of directors of SCL Tigers AG, and over the following years added financial stability to the Tigers and erasing their debts. [5]

After their initial promotion in 1998, they played in Switzerland's top hockey level for 15 years. At the end of the 2012–2013 NLA season, they were defeated in the promotion/relegation games by Lausanne HC and were relegated to the National League B. SCL Tigers became the champions of the 2014–15 NLB season and gained the right to play against the worst team of 2014–15 NLA season in the promotion/relegation round. They returned to National League A for the 2015–2016 season after they defeated the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in four games. Langnau was the eighth most attended team in the NLA for the 2015–16 season, averaging 5,868 (98%). [6]

Honors

Champions

Runners-up

Players

Current roster

Updated 5 July 2024. [7]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G AgeAcquiredBirthplace
28 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Dario Allenspach C L22 2024 Herisau, Switzerland
42 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Phil Baltisberger D L29 2024 Zofingen, Switzerland
19 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Pascal Berger RW R36 2016 Burgdorf, Switzerland
39 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Luca Boltshauser G L32 2022 Zurich, Switzerland
43 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Claudio Cadonau D R37 2022 Zurich, Switzerland
38 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Stéphane Charlin G L24 2022 Geneva, Switzerland
93 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Nolan Diem C R31 2018 Herisau, Switzerland
83 Flag of Latvia.svg Darels Dukurs F L22 2023 Sigulda, Latvia
72 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Samuel Erni D L34 2017 Frauenfeld, Switzerland
10 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Joshua Fahrni C R22 2024 Switzerland
66 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Jiří Felcman C L20 2023 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
21 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Bastian Guggenheim D L23 2020 Bern, Switzerland
87 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Timo Jenni RW L21 2024
13 Flag of Latvia.svg Oskars Lapinskis F L23 2021 Riga, Latvia
8 Flag of Finland.svg Saku Mäenalanen F L23 2023 Tornio, Finland
15 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Tim Mathys D L20 2024 Huttwil, Switzerland
24 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Noah Meier D L22 2023 Switzerland
51 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Claude-Curdin Paschoud D L31 2024 Davos, Switzerland
82 Flag of Finland.svg Harri Pesonen  ( C ) LW L36 2021 Muurame, Finland
94 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Patrick Petrini F R23 2021 Switzerland
50 Flag of Finland.svg Juuso Riikola D L31 2023 Joensuu, Finland
63 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Dario Rohrbach RW L27 2022 Langenthal, Switzerland
91 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Matthias Rossi RW R34 2023 Menziken, Switzerland
25 Flag of Finland.svg Aleksi Saarela C L28 2021 Helsinki, Finland
46 Flag of Finland.svg Vili Saarijärvi  ( A ) D R28 2022 Rovaniemi, Finland
22 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Joel Salzgeber C L24 2020 Switzerland
40 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Flavio Schmutz  ( A ) C L30 2020 Andwil, Switzerland
71 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Julian Schmutz C R31 2023 Bern, Switzerland
90 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Jonas Schwab D L21 2024 Bern, Switzerland
7 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Ramon Tanner C L25 2023 Appenzell, Switzerland
9 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Brian Zanetti D L22 2023 Lugano, Switzerland

Honored members

SCL Tigers retired numbers
No.PlayerPositionCareerNo. retirement
12 Todd Elik C 1998–2000, 2002–2009
15 Markus Graf [8] F 1977–1983
17Daniel Aegerter D 1992–2008
26 Martin Gerber G 1994–2001, 2004–2005
44Walter Gerber [9] F 1990–1991, 1994–1998

References

  1. "SCL Tigers record 700,000 francs loss". eishockey.ch (in French). 2017-04-01. Archived from the original on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  2. "Unrealistic Budget". nzz.ch (in German). 2002-07-30. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  3. "Acute liquidity bottlenecks at SCL Tigers". nzz.ch (in German). 2005-02-22. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  4. "Save the Tigers founded". eishockey.ch (in French). 2009-07-07. Archived from the original on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  5. "A healthy jubilee". derbund.ch (in German). 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  6. "Hockey attendances released". hockeyfans.ch (in French). 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  7. "SCL Tigers team roster" (in German). www.scltigers.ch. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  8. "All-Time-Legends: Das sind die All-time Legends SC Langnau & SCL Tigers". SCL Tigers (in German). Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland. 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
  9. "Retired numbers" (in German). SCL Tigers. July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.