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.
| EHC Kloten | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Kloten, Switzerland |
| League | National League |
| Founded | 1934 |
| Home arena | SWISS Arena |
| Colors | |
| General manager | Larry Mitchell |
| Head coach | Gerry Fleming |
| Captain | Steve Kellenberger |
| Affiliate | HC Thurgau |
| Website | www.ehc-kloten.ch |
| Franchise history | |
| 1934–2000 2016–present | EHC Kloten |
| 2000–2016 | Kloten Flyers |
 Current season | |
The team was called the Kloten Flyers between 2000 and 2016.[1]
History
editEHC 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
editChampions
edit- NL Championship (5): 1967, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
- Swiss Cup (1): 2017
- Swiss League (1): 2022
Runners-up
edit- NL Championship (6): 1972, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2011, 2014
Players
editCurrent roster
editUpdated 5 July 2024.[6]
Honored members
edit| No. | Player | Position | Career | No. retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Marco Klöti[7] | D | 1992–2007 | – |
| 7 | Peter Schlagenhauf | RW | 1969–1994 | – |
| 20 | Reto Pavoni | G | 1986–2002 | – |
| 21 | Roman 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
edit- Dmitri Afanasenkov
- Bruce Affleck
- Jonas Andersson
- Peter Andersson
- Mark Bell
- Patrice Brisebois
- Aris Brimanis
- Severin Blindenbacher
- Rod Brind'Amour
- Curtis Brown
- Greg Brown
- Brandon Convery
- Tony Currie
- Don Dietrich
- Micki DuPont
- Murray Eaves
- Anders Eldebrink
- Brian Felsner
- Martin Gerber
- Alexandre Giroux
- Erik Gustafsson
- Kari Haakana
- Jeff Halpern
- Radek Hamr
- Timo Helbling
- Chris Herperger
- Bob Hess
- Glenn Hicks
- Jaroslav Hlinka
- Peter Ihnacak
- Calle Johansson
- Bernie Johnston
- Olli Jokinen
- Marko Kiprusoff
- Chad Kolarik
- Chris Kontos
- Kamil Kreps
- Scott Lachance
- Brooks Laich
- Gary Lupul
- Rick MacLeish
- Kris Manery
- Bill McDougall
- Bob Mongrain
- Peter Mueller
- Brady Murray
- Kent Nilsson
- Niklas Nordgren
- Mark Olver
- Chris O'Sullivan
- Lasse Pirjetä
- Domenico Pittis
- Vojtech Polak
- Jame Pollock
- Paul Ranger
- Shawn Rivers
- Deron Quint
- Tommi Santala
- James Sheppard
- Gordon Sherven
- Tommy Sjödin
- Tobias Stephan
- David Tanabe
- Chris Tancill
- Claude Verret
- Roman Wick
- Brian Willsie
- Ron Wilson
- Ross Yates
Notable coaches
edit- Vladimir Kobera, champion 1967
- Conny Evensson, champion 1993, 1994
- Alpo Suhonen, champion 1995, 1996
References
edit- ^ "Aus den Flyers wird wieder der EHC Kloten". Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Der EHC Kloten ist gerettet: Hans-Ulrich Lehmann ist der neue Investor". www.toponline.ch. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ Kloten, EHC. "Confirmed - Pekka Tirkkonen to take over EHC Kloten". Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^ "NLA team attendances". hockeyfans.ch (in German). 2017-05-06. Retrieved 2017-05-06.
- ^ "EHC Kloten team roster" (in German). EHC Kloten. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
- ^ "Retired numbers" (in German). EHC Kloten. July 22, 2019. Archived from the original on May 12, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
External links
edit- (in German) Official Website of the Kloten Flyers
- Unity Kloten