Andres Ambühl breaks games-played record in Switzerland
© Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports - Andres Ambühl breaks games-played record in SwitzerlandOn Thursday night, HC Davos lost its second regular-season game of the season, 4-2 on the road to HC Lugano. Andres Ambühl recorded two assists in the loss, which was his 1,043rd National League regular-season game, eclipsing the record held by another Swiss hockey legend, defenseman Beat Gerber.
Ambühl still trails Gerber 1,270-1,264 in overall games – regular season and playoffs. If he doesn’t miss any, Ambühl will play game number 1,270 on October 5 at Fribourg-Gottéron and number 1,271 the next day at home against the ZSC Lions from Zurich – his former club.
Ambühl, 41, was born in Davos and has played for the club almost his entire life. The only exceptions were two one-game loans to EHC Lenzerheide-Valbella in Switzerland’s second tier, one season for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack in 2009-10 and the following two seasons for the Lions from 2010 to 2012. He returned to Davos the next season and has been the team’s captain since 2014.
Ambühl was the National League’s MVP in 2014-15 and is a five-time national champion in Switzerland – five times with Davos and once with Zurich.
Ambühl is no stranger to hockey record books. He holds the IIHF record for most top-tier World Championships at 19 and most top-tier World Championship games played at 141. After Ambühl, his nearest active challengers are Frenchman Sacha Treille with 14 tournaments and Czech Roman Červenka with 97 games played.
In the National League, Ambühl’s nearest active challenger with 902 games played is 38-year-old Julien Sprunger, who currently plays for Fribourg.
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