Krueger quitting national team head coach duties after 2010 WC
It's been made official. Ralph Krueger will no longer be the head coach of the Swiss national team after the 2010 Olympic tournament in Vancouver. After more than 10 years (since 1997/98), the league decided that it was in the team's best interest to part ways with the German-Canadian coach.
The highlights of Kruger's career at the head of the Swiss team were a 4th spot at the 1998 world championships, 5th spot in 2000, and the recent success at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino where they beat the Czech Republic and the highly favorite Canadians in an epic 2-0 performance.
Now this is where it gets interesting. Although Krueger IMO is a great coach and has installed a great defensive system, the main problem is that he was criticized for NOT taking the best players. Guys like Von Arx, Jenni and Riesen, who are the best in the country, have not played for the national team for several years.
With Krueger leaving in 2010, this could be a real game changer for Switzerland.
Davos coach Arno del Curto is one of the main candidates to take the head coaching job. (Davos is where Von Arx plays and where Riesen used to play up until last season, profit???). He's recently announced that he's ready to take the job. Other noteworthy candidates are Sean Simpson (ZSC Lions) and Doug Shedden (EV Zug)
hopefully you can avoid what happened to germany after hans zach. he played defensive, only nominated the guys who fit in his system and got moreless success. when he was fired and the next coach tried to play more offensive the disaster started.
maybe the national team needs a change, but it could get ugly. interesting situation at least. simpson would be a good choice.
i hope krueger takes over for krupp on german team.
While I think that Krueger is the right man to coach Switzerland, after all these years it was time for a change.
That being said, why not let him coach until the world championships and have the new coach be in charge for an entire season before heading into his first tournament? The time between the olympics and the world champs is awfully short to implement a new system.
Of course at the end, Krueger had better players than at the beginning. Of course he was not perfect and maybe the biggest challenge one could address him would be the Von Arx and Co affair.
I will regret him. Because since we had him, the team was OK. sometimes good (quarter finals), sometimes less good (not qualified) but the team was never below everything.
I hope we will not have some years of wander in the mist with some hikes into the B worldchampionship.
Good Luck Ralph and thanks for what you brought us.
It's been made official. Ralph Krueger will no longer be the head coach of the Swiss national team after the 2010 Olympic tournament in Vancouver. After more than 10 years (since 1997/98), the league decided that it was in the team's best interest to part ways with the German-Canadian coach.
The highlights of Kruger's career at the head of the Swiss team were a 4th spot at the 1998 world championships, 5th spot in 2000, and the recent success at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino where they beat the Czech Republic and the highly favorite Canadians in an epic 2-0 performance.
Now this is where it gets interesting. Although Krueger IMO is a great coach and has installed a great defensive system, the main problem is that he was criticized for NOT taking the best players. Guys like Von Arx, Jenni and Riesen, who are the best in the country, have not played for the national team for several years.
With Krueger leaving in 2010, this could be a real game changer for Switzerland.
Davos coach Arno del Curto is one of the main candidates to take the head coaching job. (Davos is where Von Arx plays and where Riesen used to play up until last season, profit???). He's recently announced that he's ready to take the job. Other noteworthy candidates are Sean Simpson (ZSC Lions) and Doug Shedden (EV Zug)
Thoughts?
By the way, what is your source? I haven't seen this news anywhere.
and I also saw the news on the "teletext". It's a news service on the TV.
Ok. This is old news, it has been known for quite some time already.
And my personal take on the subject is that Krueger, as I said earlier, is the right person to coach the Swiss national team. He understands the difference between making a team out of the 20 best Swiss players, and making the best possible team out of 20 Swiss players. Choosing players based on talent only, like most fans usually suggest, would be a recipe for disaster. Let's get real guys, until Switzerland produces better players, they can't realistically be ranked higher than 8th in the world (yes, 8th. Forget the world ranking, Slovakia still has Hossa, Chara and the likes and still is the 7th best hockey nation) and any win against a better team will be obtained through perfect team play and not because of individual talent.
Just look at the game against Russia during the last world championships. Russia's defencemen don't like being forechecked hard, so what did Krueger do? Send the Paterlini-Ziegler-Ambühl line to tire them. Their power play is crazy good? Switzerland had a fantastic PK performance is that game, thanks to players like Sannitz, one guy the average fan don't understand the presence in the national team. This is the way to go against a team with superior talent.
And don't start to rant about the Von Arx situation. He's been contacted many times by Krueger since 2002, and he's the one who has been too stubborn to return, not the coach.
Those wishing Krueger out simply have a short memory, or are just too young to remember what the Swiss national team looked like before 1998.
That being said, I think the right decision is being taken here. Team Switzerland has been known as Krueger's team for quite some times now, and it now has to show it can compete without him. This will be a very important step for Swiss hockey, and the time has come when there is no point in delaying the moment to take that step. The timing is also perfect, changing now would be a disaster as the new coach would be chosen in a hurry in a season where two tournaments are taking place, but by already announcing Krueger's departure, the federation gives itself one season to appoint the right guy a will let him time to build his team before the next Olympics.
Last edited by stv11: 09-08-2009 at 04:10 AM.
Reason: typo
So ... many days after everybody knows ...and after it was announced but not confirmed by STV11, i confirm : it is Sean Simpson. (lightnings and thunders after you read the name )
Actually while i am affraid of swiss national hockey without Krueger, (remember the good old Russia 10 Switzerland 0 ..) ...
i also think that it is time for a change ... and maybe with simpson we could finally break the quarter final barrier.
A bit like Kuhn and Hitzfeld. Today i am definitely happy with Hitzfeld ... results back him fully. (i wonder how comparable the game string is with the one the results were compared with with Kuhn). BUT when Kuhn left, i was scared we would slip into Arturo George territory.
So now, once my mind digested that Krueger will soon not be leading our hockey team i am almost sad we do not change the trainer NOW because this : we change in 1 year after the WC is a looser .... if the nati misses its goal, we will regret not having had changed before .... if they achieve super results, we will regret Krueger goes !!
Whatever ... alea jacta est ... inch halla ... i hope for : veni vidi vinci.
Simpson will surely go on with the work that Krueger did and players like Sannitz, Reichert or Ziegler will always be in the line-up and many people won't understand that but that's why they are not national coach.
I can live with Simpson but the work Krüger, Kölliker and their other assistants did for Swiss hockey is just huge.
I think there will be some changes guys like Ziegler or Paterlini probably won't be called anymore, and Simpson might be partial to some players he had success with in Zürich (Wichser could be called back, some role players like Stoffel could get a chance).
But those who expect a complete overhaul are going to be disappointed.
Of course the names will probably change, also because Ziegler and Paterlini aren't getting any younger but as you said, role-players are always needed.
Perhaps Simpson can get Vauclair back, so we'd get a quite good defence for the next few years.
Streit, Vauclair, Blindenbacher, Forster, Josi, Sbisa, Weber, Bezina, Furrer, etc.
All those players would be able to crack the NHL-lineup of some teams, I'm sure.
More offense is needed.
Seger, yes. Bezina and Forster played great tournaments for Switzerland, don't forget that. Of course Bezina had a terrible tournament in Switzerland, but I'm sure he can do better.
What means ready, I'm sure Sbisa and Weber would be dominant defenders in the Swiss leage, as Josi is currently. They're not ready for the NHL yet, but I'm sure they're better (or at least equal) than most of the defenders which are playing in Switzerland.
Anyway, for Sotchi 2014 they will be ready.
Offense is more of a problem with no one even in sight who could crack the NHL (Niederreiter perhaps).
Krüger selected him for the Deutschland Cup, but as he is sick he cannot play. I don't think that we'll see him at the Olympics, just my personal opinion.
What about Damien Brunner? could he be a locked? was leading scorer of the league a while ago, 28pt in 20 games ain't bad....
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonas234567
Krüger selected him for the Deutschland Cup, but as he is sick he cannot play. I don't think that we'll see him at the Olympics, just my personal opinion.
I don't know if we have enough good forwards to become picky !
Seger, yes. Bezina and Forster played great tournaments for Switzerland, don't forget that. Of course Bezina had a terrible tournament in Switzerland, but I'm sure he can do better.
What means ready, I'm sure Sbisa and Weber would be dominant defenders in the Swiss leage, as Josi is currently. They're not ready for the NHL yet, but I'm sure they're better (or at least equal) than most of the defenders which are playing in Switzerland.
Anyway, for Sotchi 2014 they will be ready.
Offense is more of a problem with no one even in sight who could crack the NHL (Niederreiter perhaps).
I can't remember Bezina having a good tournament, and Forster was just ok in 2003 and 2008.
The problem with Weber is that he brings only offense, and doesn't do it better than more complete players like Streit, Blindenbacher, Seger or Josi. Sbisa will play junior hockey this season and it could be hard for him to jump straight into an international tournament, especially the olympics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by torero
I don't know if we have enough good forwards to become picky !
Wick and Lemm were our best wingers pair last spring, Ambühl, Rüthemann and Gardner should be locks and Sprunger and Monnet still enter the picture. There are only so many offensive wingers you can dress.
The current performance of Brunner in the NLA doesn't mean that he'd be good at the Olympics, too. I mean there is a huge difference between Swiss hockey and the tournament with all the stars there. And Brunner had now a good start in the season, he also has to show that he can play at the same level over a period of time. If he's still that good in February I'd be the first to select him, but I just don't think that he can keep that.
About defenders, of course Bezina isn't the ultimate solution to all problems of Swiss hockey, but in my opinion he's a very decent defender who (if he is in a good shape) should be a lock. I don't think that there are many alternatives to him who could do better. Same for Forster.
For Sbisa the U-20 WC will be the only chance to get a place. If he shows a great tournament I see a possibility Krüger selecting him. But that won't be an easy job.
