Foreign Players in Switzerland

Within the last ten years, ballhockey in Switzerland changed a lot. Many things were achieved. The organisational level of the top clubs became better and better. The recognition of the sport within the society grew. Ballhockey has become member of the Swiss Olympic Association, which – not exactly in accord with its name – is the national association that unifies all sports in Switzerland. The quality of the infrastructure increased considerably, the level of competition in the highest league has grown. The best club teams can play almost on the same level like the best teams in Slovakia and Czech Republic.
I have to admit, that there are many problems to be solved: The championship is still plaid with four against four, there should be more junior players etc. But this would be another story.
So let's go back to the successful part of Swiss ballhockey. Obviously there are several reasons for the positive development in the last ten years. A lot of great work was done within the clubs, especially on junior level, locally it was possible to attract sponsors to finance the clubs and the refereeing was put on a new base. But there was one other key element: The use of foreign players.

Those top players from almost around the whole globe brought a new spirit into our sport. Junior players had suddenly a model to follow. But not only juniors, adult players as well were challenged by the quality of the newcomers, they made profit from their knowledge and were motivated to work harder and to perform better to reach the same level. And finally the presence of those players in our country made ballhockey a more attractive for spectators and – only a little bit – for the media.

There quite many foreign players in Switzerland during the last ten years. Some of them wrote several chapters in the book of Swiss ballhockey history, others were just footnotes. I tried to list all of them, but I'm sure that I have overseen one or another. For which I want to apologise.

Jindrich Hossinger, the first one
The first person to be mentioned is for the Czech player Jindrich Hossinger, the ice breaker. Even if he was not exactly the first foreign national team player who ever has plaid a game in Switzerland – this honour goes to German national team player Marco Laumanns who plaid one game for the SHC Belpa 1107 II back in 2001 – Hossinger broke the ice. He proved the value of foreign players for Swiss clubs. Hossinger plaid his first games for the Lions in winter 2002 and brought the team – that plaid then in the second division – directly into the national league A. For the promotion games the Lions signed another Czech player, Radek Huja. Together they were unstoppable, Sierre was promoted into the first division, the national league A. The Swiss Association as well as the ISBHF were somewhat surprised by this development. Now regulations ruling international transfers existed back in 2002. This changed fast. Switzerland limited the number of foreign players to be used in its championship and the ISBHF established the international transfer regulations.
But let's go back to Sierre and Hossinger. His presence and the fact that the ballhockey world championships 2003 were hosted in Sierre created a remarkable ballhockey boom in the whole Wallis province. And on this boom and let by Hossinger the Sierre Lions stormed though the natuional league A and won the title in their first season. With Hossinger conducting the game and with coach Sebastien Pico a the boards, the Lions were just unstoppable in those years. They not only dominated the highest division, their junior program was one of the best of the country as well. Hossinger, being a defender, became several times top scorer of the Swiss league. With him at the helm, the Lions had the best powerplay of the league. And with him, the Sierre Lions qualified as first Swiss team and as first non Checz or Sloavak team for the semi-finals of the European cup for club teams in Kladno in 2004.
But there was even more. As the ISBHF eligibility regulations allow – under certain conditions – the switch from one national team to another, Hossinger was nominated for the Swiss national team for the world championships 2005 in Pittsburgh.
But in 2005 the star of the Sierre Lions was sinking already. In 2005 the Lions celebrated their last title. A new club with yet another international top player took over: The Oberwil Rebells and Tibor Kapanek. Hossinger added several other seasons for the Lions, before he returned to the Czech Republic in 2009. Soon there were rumours about a comeback. But for whome? For Bettlach or Aegerten? Well in the end Hossinger decided in autumn 2010 to become a Lion again. When he came back to Switzerland he found a ballhockey world that differed a lot from what he experienced when he came for the first time to Sierre back in 2002. The sport has become faster, more athletic and the dominance of the foreign players was no longer that big like it was five or six years ago. Hossinger has become older. Still being an excellent player, he has become a little bit slower, but he still is a key player of the Sierre Lions. Nobody should ever forget, that he was the first foreign player who was ready to risk an adventure and who decided to play in Switzerland. He did a lot for Swiss ballhockey and many other things happened just because he was here. He for sure has written an important chapter of Swiss ballhockey history.

Tibor Kapanek, the leader of the Rebells
When great skills and passion meet money incredible things can happen. And this is the origin of the story of the Oberwil Rebells and Tibor Kapanek. Not many places in Switzerland have such a passion for hockey like Zug. And when it came to ballhockey, it is difficult to find in 2005 players and officials that were more passionate for our sport then the Rebells from the suburb of the city of Zug. As of the readers might know, if there is place in Switzerland, where you can find real bunch of money, then it is Zug. Thanks to an excellent work of board of the club, the Rebells were able to create an excellent environment for ballhockey. On of the best junior departments in Switzerland was established. The team was promoted in the national league A in 2004. The next step was a logical one, the Rebells were looking for a foreign player. And they found one. With Tibor Kapanek, one of the best Slovak players, moved to the shores of the lake of Zug in 2005. And with him, the Rebell express took up speed. He was an excellent helmsman, a great team player and a dangerous scorer. With him, success came to Zug. He quickly became a model for a whole generation of young Swiss ballhockey players. With him the Rebells became almost unbeatable. Since he plays in Zug, Oberwil has won six titles in a row, have seldom lost more then two games in a season and has qualified two times for the semi-finals of the European Cup for club teams. I don't think that there is any team in Europe, which plays the four on four ballhockey better then the boys around Kapanek.
Kapanek now plays his seventh season for the Rebells and he is still as strong as he was when he came to Switzerland. He will be one of the key players of the Slovak national team at the worlds this June in Bratislava where the host will play for gold.
It looks like Kapanek has found a new home in one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland. The chances are high, that – when at one moment or another – he will decide to end his active career as a player; he will stay with the Rebells as coach. But why stop, if you are still a big player? I think that he might reduce his engagement in the coming years, and let a new foreign player take over the helm to steer the Rebells' ships to further success. This is possible as a foreign player who plaid at least five consecutive season in Switzerland no longer counts as foreing when it comes to ballhockey.

The Canadian element
While the Sierre Lions and the Oberwil Rebells chose the model of long time cooperation with their foreign players, another cub decided to try another way. If you look at ice hockey – and many ballhockey players do so – there is only one true hockey country Canada. And somehow it is a little bit the same in ballhockey. Canada has won four out of the five last world championships and Canada has more registered ballhockey players then all other countries together.
During the years it became obvious, that foreign players have a positive influx on the development of ballhockey, so other clubs the Sierre and Oberwil were looking out for foreign players as well. And there was one club that decided to go a new way, to bring in a Canadian player. This club was the SHC Belpa 1107: a club with an excellent junior department, on of the top teams in Switzerland for years, but a team that never managed to win a big title. So in January 2008 another chapter of Swiss ballhockey history was opened, the chapter of the North American players.
Here too, a little reference to another North American player has to be made, that plaid in Switzerland earlier, Bermudas Roger Cash who plaid for the SHC Martigny between 2004 and 2008 while he was working in Switzerland. Aged forty when he arrived in Switzerland he gave some inputs to the team but never became a central figure like Hossinger or Kapanek, neither did he play regularly.
But back to January 2008, when with Jim Nistas the first Canadian national team player arrived in Switzerland. His arrival gave Belp – that had a very average start into this season – a moral boost. The team made the semi-finals of the playoffs where they lost the decisive game in overtime against the Sierre Lions with Hossinger shouting the decisive goal. Even if the expected success was not achieved, Belp decided to continue to work with Canadiens. In 2009 and 2010 Brank Cook was reinforcing the team from the Bern province. In 2009 Belp lost the playoff semi-finals against Oberwil, the Kapanek boys just were too strong. in 2010 Belp lost again in the semi-finals, this time against Grenchen in the overtime of the third game, without Cook, as he was injured. This year Belp has engaged the young Tyler McFadden. Even if the final goal, a title has not yet been reached, it would be wrong to judge if the model with changing players has failed. As Oberwil and Sierre, Belp profited a lot from the technical and tactical skills of his Canadian players.
One year after Nistas joined Belp another team jumped on the Canadian train, the Sierre Lions. They brought over Canadas national team captain Sandro Morello in spring 2009. In spring 2010 Steve Nowakowski reinforced the Lions and this year Kevin Marchuk is playing for the Lions.
During the years and due to the regular appearance of different Canadian players in Switzerland, a close contact between CBHA and SSHA was established and a kind of player exchange program was started. With Nicola Fuchs the first Swiss player was able to participate in the Canadian championship in summer 2010. More Swiss player might follow.

Andrew Hildreth, Petr Rybon and others
With the start of the season 2010/11 two new foreign players turned up in Switzerland. One of them was a player, well known to the ballhockey world and the other a rather unknown player, at least outside the Czech Republic. Andrew Hildreth won 2006 the junior worlds with team USA and was at the world championships 2009 in Pilsen one of the key players of the team USA that eliminated Canada in the quarterfinals. Hildreth is the new foreign player of the Oberwil Rebells who is foreseen to replace Tibor Kapanek at some point in the future as helmsman in Zug. He did quite well and finished third in the scoring list of the national league A only behind Tibor Kapanek and Belps Alessio Faina. Hildreth for sure has the qualities to continue Kapaneks work in Oberwil.
While Oberwil relied on a player already known, the SHC Aegerten-Biel engaged the Czech player Peter Rybon who finished twelfth in the scorer list of the Czech Extra league in 2010. Rybon, rather a tough worker then a brilliant star, led his team to the second place after the qualification, the best rank this team ever achieved. It will be infesting to follow, how Aegerten will perform in the playoffs.
There were other foreign players active in Switzerland. Jozef Pistecky enforced the Sierre Lions in the playoffs in spring 2008, with limited success. In autumn 2005 the Czech player David Kucharcik plaid three months for the second division team SHC La Chaux-de-Fonds. Even if the engagement was quite successful, it was never repeated or renewed.

Futur
All in all the engagement of foreign players in Swiss ballhockey was a success, even if there were a few setbacks, not all planed transfers could be realised.
I think, we will see more foreign top ballhockey players in Switzerland during the next couple of years. With the arrival of Hossinger ballhockey in Switzerland got a big impulse, his successors have and will help to keep ballhockey in Switzerland on a high level and may help to further reduce the gap between us and the top teams of the world.

Christoph Curchod