Like Czechia and Finland, Switzerland has chosen a relatively inexperienced roster to compete in this weekend’s Beijer Hockey Games – the third leg of the 2024-25 Euro Hockey Tour. While most of the tournament will be played in Stockholm, Sweden, the Swiss will host Finland in Langnau on Thursday night to kick things off.
Halfway through the competition, Switzerland sits third out of four teams with six points in six games – two ahead of the Swedes, who have selected a strong roster for this weekend compared to the other teams.
The entire roster consists of players from the domestic National League, with the exception of defenseman Dominik Egli, who plays in Sweden for Frölunda. The only players with NHL experience are 24-year-old defenseman Tim Berni, who played 59 games in 2022-23 for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who retain his rights, and 27-year-old forward Calvin Thürkauf, who played three games with Columbus in 2019-20.
Not available to this team due to injury or illness are goalies Stéphane Charlin and Ludovic Waeber, defensemen Tobias Geisser and Romain Loeffel and forwards Enzo Corvi, Tyler Moy, Théo Rochette and Tristan Scherwey. For Fabian Ritzmann, Yanick Sablatnig and 20-year-old Jonas Taibel, this is their first call-up for the senior national team.
Goaltenders (3): Sandro Aeschlimann (HC Davos), Kevin Pasche (Lausanne HC), Gilles Senn (HC Ambri-Piotta).
Defensemen (8): David Aebischer (HC Lugano), Iñaki Baragano (SCRJ Lakers), Tim Berni (Genève-Servette HC), Giancarlo Chanton (Genève-Servette HC), Dominik Egli (Frölunda HC / SHL), Michael Fora (HC Davos), Lukas Frick (Lausanne HC), Sven Jung (HC Davos).
Forwards (15): Nicolas Baechler (ZSC Lions), Christoph Bertschy (HC Fribourg-Gottéron), Luca Fazzini (HC Lugano), Ken Jäger (Lausanne HC), Simon Knak (HC Davos), Mike Künzle (EV Zug), Marc Marchon (SC Bern), Marco Müller (HC Lugano), Fabian Ritzmann (SC Bern), Dario Rohrbach (SCL Tigers), Yanick Sablatnig (EHC Biel-Bienne), Sandro Schmid (HC Fribourg-Gottéron), Justin Sigrist (ZSC Lions), Jonas Taibel (SCRJ Lakers), Calvin Thürkauf (HC Lugano).