playoff action !!
 

So here comes a thread on the NLA and NLB playoff (starting friday 11).
Standings at the end of the NLB season :
1 HC Chaux-de-Fonds 90 pts
2 EHC Olten 81 pts
3 Lausanne HC 81 pts
4 SC Langenthal 74 pts
5 EHC Basle Sharks 71 pts
6 EHC Visp 71 pts
7 HC Ajoie 70 pts (were first at midseason!)
8 HC Sierre-Anniviers 55 pts

do not play in the playoffs:
9 Grasshopper Küsnacht 50 pts
10 EHC Thurgau 32 pts

Standings 2 weeks from the end of the NLA
1 EHC Kloten Flyers 46 games (50 total)/103 pts
2 HC Davos 46/101
3 EV Zug 47/88
4 SC Bern 47/88
5 SC Langnau Tigers 47/73 (1st ever playoff!)
6 HC Geneva Servette 46/65
7 Zürcher SC Lions 46/64
8 HC Fribourg Gottéron 46/63

And playout (relegation tour) teams
9 HC Bienne/EHC Biel 47/53
10 HC Lugano 46/50
11 Rapperswil-Jona Lakers 47/45
12 HC Ambri-Piotta 46/44

New post when the NLB draws are chosen

NLB playoff draws
 

HC La Chaux de Fonds (1) - HC Sierre-Anniviers (8)
EHC Olten (2) - EHC Basle Sharks (5)
Lausanne HC (3) - HC Ajoie (7)
SC Langenthal (4) - EHC Visp (6)

1st round results
 

HC Chaux de Fonds - HC Sierre 4-0 (1-0 in the series)
EHC Olten - EHC Basle Sharks 4-3 a.e.t. (1-0 in the series)
Lausanne HC - HC Ajoie 0-1 a.e.t. (0-1 in the series)
SC Langenthal - EHC Visp 2-4 (0-1 in the series)

Chx-de-Fds win, impressive as they were throughout the season, Olten wins, LHC loses without scoring (underperforming... largely... again...), and a EHC Visp who had an impressive second half of the season beats Langenthal.

Next games tommorow, 13.2

1st round results
 

HC Sierre - HC Chaux de Fonds 4-5 (0-2 in the series)
EHC Basle Sharks - EHC Olten 3-4 (0-2)
HC Ajoie - Lausanne HC 1-3 (1-1)
EHC Visp - SC Langenthal 4-3 (2-0)

Happy to see Lausanne bounce back, hoping they can move up to NLA and hoping Basel is able to beat Olten.

Couple questions, does NLA have draw for play-offs or are they just seeded 1-8? Also, do you believe anybody has chance to move up or too early to tell? Thanks in advance.

The NLA is a 1vs8 system,etc

On the paper, Lausanne is the best. Coach Van Boxmeer said he want LHC on the top shape for the playoff, we'll see. And i think it's possible they have a team to move up. But on the ice, Chaux-de-Fonds show the best disposition in this LNB, perhaps they can threathen some LNA teams with their heart. Apart these 2 teams, i don't see any threat for the team who'll lose the playout.

1st round results
 

:handclap:SvenskaRiga, I love you!!
And by the way, my beloved Lausanne did NOT bounce back, as you see

HC La Chaux-de-Fonds - HC Sierre 6-4 (3-0 in the series)
EHC Olten - EHC Basle Sharks 5-4 aet (3-0)
Lausanne HC - HC Ajoie 1-2 (1-2)
SC Langenthal - EHC Visp 5-2 (1-2)

Haha Lausanne is amazing, been my favourite club out of Switzerland for awhile.:handclap: That match-up is turning out to be nobody can win on home ice, big win on Friday and finally home win on Sunday! :nod:

I figure Basel would match up well with Olten, they win season series but now cant win in play-off, two close matches though, hopefully they can also get win friday.

yeah, it's a pitty that they still play NLB. One of the best audience in Switzerland by numbers as well as by atmosphere. Would be great if they could replace Rapperswil. But they are miles away of being a contender with the current roster.

Nice to see that Lausanne is an appriciated hockey team. It's not the case everywhere here in Switzerland.

With time, it'll come, even if it's not this year. They're building a quite nice team for next years, especially if they stay in the LNB. They extended Setzinger for 3 years and acquired some LNA quality players, even if these players are not that dominant at the upper level. Others will come.

For this year, I wouldn't say they don't have the roster for it, I think it's more a matter of getting every pieces together and getting everyone concerned. At this stage last year, they were down 3-1 against the same opponent, yet it didn't prevent them to go to the Ligaqualification. And who would have bet on Lausanne after two games in the Ligaqualfication ? Not many. Don't count them out yet, even if there is tougher competition this year. CDF and Olten look like the best outsiders for me, outside of Lausanne. Don't forget that Olten is doing pretty well without their best player.

We do have better strangers this year (Setzinger, Pecker and Tremblay instead of Tremblay, Roy and Banham) but quality lacks in Swiss players. We lost very good of those last year (Miéville and Gailland, notably), and they were replaced by Donati *spits* and Dostoinov who is a decent player but not half as good as any of the pair. At least we got Conz for next year now.
But this year's team isn't at all as good as last year's. I don't even think they'll even manage to be NLB champions.

Btw, it's damn true that Malley rocks :yo: and when 9'000 fans start singing the "Aux armes", it makes me shiver.

as a supplement: results of the 4. round

HC Sierre - HC Chaux de Fonds 4-5 (0-4 in the series/ sierre is out)
EHC Basel Sharks - EHC Olten 3-4 (0-4 in the series / basel is out)
HC Ajoie - Lausanne HC 0-2 (2-2 in the series)
EHC Visp - SC Langenthal 4-3 (3-1in the series)

Wow, nobody really can win on home ice in Lusanne-Ajoie series. Hope that trend continues tomorrow and finally Lusanne can win on home ice.

But wow at the offensive explosion from Langenthal in their last match, wishing they are able to put up the goals in Game 6 as welll.

Question, after the quarter-finals in NLB, do the clubs draw their opponents again or are they ranked by standings? Also, how come NLB dosnt have a play-out, is 1.Liga (believe this is what next level is called) not a pro league or clubs not strong enough to have promotion series?

1st round results
 

Lausanne HC - HC Ajoie 2-5 (2-3 in the series)
SC Langenthal - EHC Visp 10-4 (2-3)

I think they won't force any team down to the 1. Liga until there are 12 teams in the NLB, but this seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. The 1. Liga is not a pro league and thus clubs wishing to be promoted have many constraints to fullfill (budget, arena...), making new teams in the NLB a rare occurence. And with the promotion often ending in bankruptcy a few seasons later (I can think of three such cases since 2006), fewer clubs are interested in joining the NLB nowadays.

It's too bad. I wish the EHC Arosa could become a pro team again, but they already stated that they wouldn't move to NLB in case of winning the 1. Liga.
Sadly, most of the teams down there have financial problems and couldn't pay the pro salaries.

Arosa in the NLB would be nice, but teams think twice about getting promoted after what happend to Neuchâtel, Morges and Martigny (though Martigny seems to think that all it takes for the third attempt to be a success is a new name :shakehead). I don't think any team from groups 2 and 3 could play in the NLB, and from group 1 maybe Winterthur could make sense (Is anyone from the Zurich area familiar with their situation?), or a team from canton Ticino (I know Ambrì and Lugano have some plans about it, but it would probably take two or three years at least).

Don't know about the situation in Winterthur, but it'd make a lot of sense since Winti will be the Hockey centre of the country for the coming years. I love the project the just allowed. Biggest development center of any sports in Switzerland. A very good sign for the future of Swiss Hockey.
Of course, the main talent won't play for Winterthur but they could benefit from that for sure...

This: HC Red Ice came out with ONLY VICTORIES IN REGULAR TIME IN 50 MATCHES. Is that enough?

EDIT: What's more, being half Verbier, they have of course attracted many rich Russian investors, so they now have an upper half NLB income and budget, so they are much more reliable than, say, Ceresio who imagine going up with 300 affluence per match :shakehead

I am open to discussion on this.

NLA Playoffs

HC Davos(1) - HC Fribourg-Gottéron(8)
Kloten Flyers (2) - ZSC Lions(7)
SC Bern (3) - SCL Tigers (6)
EV Zug (4) - Genf-Servette HC (5)

NLA PLayouts

EHC Biel (9) - HC Ambri-Piotta (12)
HC Lugano (10) - Rapperswil-jona lakers (11)

EDIT: NLB results:
HC Ajoie - Lausanne HC 0-3 (3-3 in the series)
EHC Visp - SC Langenthal 6-1 (4-2 in the series / langenthal's out)

Peachy ! when i was working as analyst ... people would complain about figures from the past ! they would be asking forecasts ! not past datas !
The past is easy to describe ... specially in figures ... the future is much more interesting and challenging ... specially in figures !
So put your feminine intuition at work ;)

Here we go :
1st round :

Davos - Fribourg : Davos in 5
Kloten - ZSC : Kloten in 6
Bern - Langnau : SCB in 6
Zug - Servette : Zug in 4

Ultimately SCB will become the champion. (this is in no case wishfull thinking !)

and

Biel - Ambri : Ambri in 7
Lugano - Rappi : Lugano in 5

Rapperswill should be playing for the relegation against ...

Mark my words !

Crazy serie between Lausanne and Ajoie, both teams combine for 0 win and 4 goals at home after 6 games. I'm looking forward to game 7.

Dominating the amateur league doesn't imply success at the NLB level (see Neuchâtel some years ago), and that's only considering the hockey side of things.

On the business side, they are playing in a crappy arena, even by NLB standards (which, in a league including Ajoie, Visp or Olten, says a lot), and can't expect much bigger crowds than the last time they played at this level. Pretty much the same situation that forced them to pull out of the league twice in the last 15 years.

Regarding Ceresio, they would be backed by two NLA clubs (although I'm not sure Ambrì can spend too much to back another club, but Lugano kept Chur alive for many season so it can be done), so they could be another GCK Lions. Like it or not, this model is much more sustainable than going the Neuchâtel, Morges or Martigny way.

My predictions:

Davos - Fribourg : Davos in 6
Kloten - ZSC : ZSC in 7
Bern - Langnau : SCB in 6
Zug - Servette : Zug in 5

Davos - ZSC : Davos in 5
Bern - Zug : Zug in 7

Davos - Zug : Zug in 6

it's not the past time, it's the status quo :) and the status quo is the basis for discussions. totozenerd started this thread this way, so why not continued? it's probably easier to follow the thread for "outsiders".

by the way, i thought an analyst need the the database from the past and of the moment to analyse and predict the trends? ;)
well, i was never a big fan of predictions, but well, if you want it:laugh:

Playoff Series
hcd - fribourg 4:2
kloten - zsc 3:4 (i guess the first 2 games are the most important, if zsc aren't able to win one, they gonna lose 0:4, but the games between the zürich clubs were this season very close, so i think zsc can make it)
scb - scl Tigers 4:1
zug - servette 3:4 ( first of all, i couldn't decide, who will win it, but after i read an article in "blick" about holden and thinking about markanen, i guess, servette gonna win)

Edit: oops, i forgot the playouts;
hcap - ehcb 4:1 ^^
hcl - lakers 4:0

It seems you are right!!