When injuries to the team’s regular roster resulted in Jonah Neuenschwander suiting up for EHC Biel-Bienne’s National League game against Lausanne HC on Tuesday night, he became the second-youngest player ever to play in the league at 15 years, eight months and 16 days.
Just 12:06 into the game, Neuenschwander put himself in the record book as the youngest player to record a point by drawing an assist on Alexander Yakovenko’s power-play goal.
In the video below, Neuenschwander is wearing number 82 for Biel-Bienne in red, and on the game’s opening goal is positioned on the far half-wall, passing to Johnny Kneubuehler in the high slot, who in turn sets up Yakovenko’s point shot.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8ilhRZ6PLA[/embed]
Biel-Bienne coach Martin Filander decided that if he was going to play the youngster, he may as well put him on the top line with Jere Sallinen and Aleksi Heponiemi and give him some time on the power play.
“Players can only develop if they are given a chance,” Filander is quoted by Klaus Zaugg of Swiss website Watson.
While some might question the safety of playing such a young player against seasoned pros, Filander obviously felt the 6-foot-3, 181-pound winger would be physically able to handle it. However, the Swedish coach did acknowledge that a player of that age playing professional hockey “is very rare in Sweden too and even a debut at 16 is highly unusual.”
Neuenschwander logged 14:39 of ice time, registered a shot on goal and was a plus-1 in Biel-Bienne’s 6-1 win.
As impressed as everybody seemed to be with Neuenschwander’s debut, the club does not plan for him to play any more professional games this season. He will return to Switzerland’s top junior league, where he has 10 goals and 13 assists in 25 games.
“It’s important for the development and self-confidence of a young player that he can dominate on the ice again,” said Filander.
The youngest player to ever suit up in a Swiss top-league game was right winger Michel Riesen, also for Biel-Bienne, back in 1994-95. Riesen played 12 National League games that season, recording two assists. He was drafted 14th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 1997 and played 12 NHL games for the Oilers in 2000-01, recording one assist. Riesen returned to Switzerland in 2001 and played professionally until 2014.
Born in March 2009, Neuenschwander will be eligible for the 2027 NHL Entry Draft.
Jonah’s older brother Elijah, 18, is a goaltender for Fribourg-Gottéron’s top junior team but has also played two games in the second-tier Swiss League this season for EHC Chur.