EHC Kloten

EHC Kloten
City	Kloten, Switzerland
League	National League NL 1962–2018 2022–present SL 1947–1962 2018–2022 1. Liga 1946–1947 Serie B 1941-1946
Founded	1934
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
2000–2016	Kloten Flyers
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.

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

• NL Championship (5): 1967, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
• Swiss Cup (1): 2017
• Swiss League (1): 2022

Runners-up

• NL Championship (6): 1972, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2011, 2014

Players

Current roster

Updated 9 January, 2024.^[6]

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
15		Miro Aaltonen (A)	C	L	30	2022	Joensuu, Finland
10		Jonathan Ang	C	R	26	2022	Markham, Ontario, Canada
92		Nathan Beaulieu	D	L	31	2023	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
11		Keanu Derungs	LW	L	21	2022	Ilanz, Switzerland
59		Luca Deussen	D	L	20	2022	São Paulo, Brasil
89		Dominik Diem	C/LW	L	25	2019	Zürich, Switzerland
9		Mika Henauer	D	L	23	2023	Zürich, Switzerland
6		Matthew Kellenberger	D	R	25	2023	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
19		Steve Kellenberger (C)	D	L	37	2014	Bülach, Switzerland
47		Simon Kindschi	D	L	27	2018	Davos, Switzerland
78		Kevin Lindemann	C	L	21	2021	Zug, Switzerland
71		Michael Loosli	LW	L	29	2022	Boll, Switzerland
87		Joel Marchon	LW	L	21	2023	Zug, Switzerland
8		Marc Marchon (A)	C	L	28	2017	Vuisternens-en-Ogoz, Switzerland
55		Juha Metsola	G	L	35	2022	Tampere, Finland
88		Dario Meyer	RW	L	27	2021	Bern, Switzerland
86		Tyler Morley	C	L	32	2023	Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
77		Matteo Nodari	D	R	36	2022	Lugano, Switzerland
13		Patrick Obrist	C	L	31	2015	Dornbirn, Austria
29		Niko Ojamäki	RW	R	28	2023	Pori, Finland
41		Leandro Profico	D	L	34	2023	Chur, Switzerland
54		Mischa Ramel	C	L	20	2021	Olten, Switzerland
64		David Reinbacher	D	R	19	2021	Hohenems, Austria
82		Rajan Sataric	D	L	31	2023	Solothurn, Switzerland
62		Harrison Schreiber	C	L	22	2021	Manhattan, New York, United States
28		Axel Simic	C	R	25	2022	Gumefens, Switzerland
27		Deniss Smirnovs	C	L	24	2023	Latvia
95		Nicholas Steiner	D	L	32	2018	Eggiwil, Switzerland
39		Sandro Zurkirchen	G	L	34	2021	Schwyz, Switzerland

Honored members

NHL alumni

Notable coaches

• Vladimir Kobera, champion 1967
• Conny Evensson, champion 1993, 1994
• Alpo Suhonen, champion 1995, 1996

References

External links

• (in German) Official Website of the Kloten Flyers
• Unity Kloten

This page was last edited on 19 February 2024, at 10:11