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Jonas Hiller got his fourth straight start in the Anaheim Ducks goal and his team held on to defeat the visiting Buffalo Sabres 3-2 last night. Hiller turned back 18 of 20 shots in a solid if unspectacular effort for his third victory in the last four games. The Thurgau native has now started six of Anaheim’s last seven games, with the team compiling a 4-2 record in that stretch. Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle told the Associated Press the team now has “1A and 1B” goaltenders and that Jean Sebastien Giguere, who was the starter the first half of the season would play again soon. Still, there can’t really be any doubt who the man is in Orange County right now, even if it is “only” as 1A.

The Ducks are in second place in the Pacific Division, but have played five more games than the third-placed Dallas Stars (a team that has struggled with its own goaltender issues, though unlike Anaheim it has never given its backup, ironically another Swiss netminder Tobias Stephan, a chance to win the job). Fourth-placed Phoenix is even on points with Dallas, but has played 51 games to the Stars’ 48. Looking at the Western Conference as a whole, things are even tighter. Minnesota, Edmonton and Columbus have the same point total as Dallas and Phoenix, with Vancouver just one point behind the quintet. For Carlyle to trust Hiller at such a crucial stage of the season, with the standings this close, makes a statement.

The Ducks play three more times this week, all on the road. Anaheim visits Minnesota Wednesday, Nashville Thursday and Calgary Saturday. Expect Giguere to start at least one of these games, presumably Thursday’s at Nashville.

Roman Josi(right), a second-round draft pick of the Nashville Predators last year, was selected for the Swiss national team for the first time, one of 24 players called into action by national team coach (and Winnipeg-born) Ralph Krueger. Switzerland will play three friendly games in the first week of February: Feb. 4 against Belarus in Geneva and a pair against Slovakia on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7 in Sierre and Gstaad, respectively. The Gstaad game will be played outdoors, Winter Classic-style.

The 18-year old, who plays his club hockey for SC Bern, was named the best defender at the recent Under-20 Division I World Championships (whose Web site, for whatever reason, was never translated into English and does not appear to have been updated much in German either). www.slots-online.ca has Josi as the 11th-best prospect in the Preds system and fifth-best defenseman. This season, he has 22 points (seven goals) in 35 National League A games for SCB and one goal and three assists in four Champions Hockey League games.

Josi has spent his entire young career at Bern, making his debut for the first team in 2007. With his contract reportedly due to expire this spring, is a move to North America in the cards? Or will the nearly-destitute Preds offer him to the highest bidder? Either way, Josi is one for us to keep an eye on.

The complete Switzerland roster for the three games:

Goalies: Leonardo Genoni (HC Davos), Ronnie Rüeger (Kloten Flyers)
Defensemen: Goran Bezina (Genève-Servette), Félicien Du Bois (Kloten), Philippe Furrer (SC Bern), Beat Gerber (Bern), John Gobbi (Genève-Servette), Timo Helbling (HC Lugano), Roman Josi (Bern), Patrick von Gunten (Kloten).

Forwards: Andres Ambühl (Davos), Duri Camichel (EV Zug), Thomas Déruns (Genève-Servette), Peter Guggisberg (Davos), Sandy Jeannin (Fribourg-Gottéron), Romano Lemm (Lugano), Thierry Paterlini (Lugano), Emanuel Peter (Biel), Martin Plüss (Bern), Kevin Romy (Lugano), Ivo Rüthemann (Bern), Raffaele Sannitz (Lugano), Julien Sprunger (Fribourg-Gottéron), Roman Wick (Kloten).

This is one of those ideas that has probably already been thought up and (for any number of reasons) dismissed by NHL brass, but we’re going to propose it anyway. Ready? Here goes: To make the NHL All Star Game competitive, how about awarding the winning conference an extra playoff spot? That’s right! The winning conference gets to send a ninth team to the playoffs! Intrigued? Read on!

Why is this necessary?

This one should be a no-brainer so skip it if you like. The reason is simple. The All Star game sucks. There is no defense, no hitting and basically no sense that either team even cares if they lose. Which is a shame because on paper it makes for a fascinating match up. Nowhere else (not even the Olympics when they let NHL players participate) do you get this much star power facing each other in one game. It should make for fascinating theater. Instead, it’s a snooze fest. The skills competition is kinda cool and the whole carnival atmosphere of the event seems neat, but the game itself is essentially a waste of everybody’s time.

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How it would work

The conference whose all star team wins the game gets a ninth team into the playoff pool. The team that finishes ninth in that conference gets a “play-in game” where they are matched with the team that finishes eighth in the “losing” conference (that is, the conference whose all star team lost the game). The winner of that game then enters the “losing” conference’s playoff bracket as the eight seed.

For example’s sake, take this season’s standings as presently constituted. Let’s assume the Eastern Conference wins the All Star Game in Montreal later this month. Let’s also assume the standings finish in the exact order they are now. The Florida Panthers (ninth-placed in the Eastern Conference) becomes the beneficiary of this new rule. The Panthers play the Minnesota Wild (eighth-placed team in the Western Conference) with the winner advancing to face the San Jose Sharks (top seed in the Western Conference) in the first round of the playoffs. The “play-in” game could be held at a neutral site. Or outdoors. Or in Europe. Or the team with the better record could host it. Or the “losing” conference hosts it so at least that team gets some revenue even if they lose the play-in game. Or…some other scenario. Those are details that can be worked out later.

Why it would make the All Star Game competitive

This too should be obvious. The winning conference gets an extra team with a chance at postseason glory (and postseason dollars). Most teams are close enough to eighth place for that additional spot to make their lives more interesting (and better). It is true that a few elite teams which are on a roll and in no realistic danger of missing the playoffs (the Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings this year) and their players might still not be terribly motivated to win the game–except for one other caveat that this idea brings into the mix: geography. Take our previous example (the Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers facing each other in the play-in game) and imagine the Panthers win the game and face the Sharks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. This suddenly turns the first round playoff series into a cross country trek for the Sharks. Even if they win the series in four games, the extra 3,000 mile trip (and time and climate changes) is sure to take its toll at least a little. Of course, the Wild might win the game and all teams would go to the playoffs as they normally would. But having an Eastern Conference team in their midst is sure to make the other Western teams at least a little uncomfortable. What if the Panthers upset the Sharks in the first round? And what if they are then drawn with the Anaheim Ducks in the conference semifinal? Another nightmarish travel scenario would ensue. These possibilities, though remote, should motivate players from teams like the Sharks and Bruins to play hard in the All Star Game.

Additional Benefits

You mean having an All Star Game that actually matters and where the players go all out isn’t enough? Well let’s talk economics: you think advertisers would be attracted to this idea much? How about fans buying tickets and souvenirs? Suddenly the All Star Game becomes a can’t miss event (like the Winter Classic, but even better. An Olympic final on steroids). A rivalry would develop between the conferences, which would make the Stanley Cup final, and all inter-conference games more interesting. The NHL would get mad credit for its innovation and guile. Other leagues could quickly follow its example. Finally, all star events would become what they were intended to be all along: a showcase for the league’s best players to engage each other in a competitive setting.

Drawbacks and Pitfalls

As with our other brilliant idea, to widen the ice surface at the Winter Classic, there are sure to be no shortage of legal obstacles, chief among them labor issues with the NHL Players Association. Obviously the league’s owners would need to sign off on this too, which some of them could be loathe to do. Injuries are a realistic concern as well. Some players might be afraid of getting hurt and could refuse to play or feign injuries or illness to get out of the event. Others could go about it half-arsed, though hopefully they too would find the competitive spirit infectious. There are sure to be other logistical matters we aren’t thinking of yet.

Back to you, the fans

Here is where we solicit our readers’ advice, with the idea that they as a collective whole are far more intelligent than we are as individual vigilantes. So tell us, what do you think about this? Do you deem this idea worth exploring? Or half-baked and unrealistic? Either way, we think the time has come to engineer some kind of plan to make the All Star Game an event worth watching. And on that, we aren’t yielding.

The Swiss National League A completed its 50-game regular season over the weekend, leaving eight teams to battle for the championship via best-of-seven game playoff series. The four teams that did not qualify for the playoffs will play a so-called “play-out” to determine who has to play the National League B champion for the final spot in next season’s top flight.

We’ll explain the play-out concept in a bit. First, the playoff pairings:
SC Bern (First place finish in regular season) vs. EV Zug (eighth place)
ZSC Lions (second place) vs. Fribourg (seventh place)
Kloten Flyers (third place) vs. Servette Geneva (sixth place)
HC Davos (fourth place) vs. HC Lugano (fifth place)

Obviously, the Davos-Lugano pairing is the biggest of the quarterfinal match-ups, but Davos will be heavily favored. In the regular season, Davos had a decent 25-14-11 regulation time record while Lugano was a more pedestrian 19-16-15. In the other three pairings, the higher-seeded teams should advance without too much difficulty, though Servette presents the most compelling case for an upset pick in our view. The Geneva side have played some of the elite teams, particularly Zurich, tough in the regular season.

The play-out is actually a pretty cool concept. The four teams are seeded according to their place in the regular season, with the ninth-placed finisher playing the 12th-placed team. Unlike a playoff, where you “win or go home”, the object in the playout is to win and go home–winners of the best-of-seven game series get to hit the golf course while the losers play each other until there is just one team left. That team then plays the second-division champion for the final place in next season’s National League A. It’s a novel way of determining relegation/promotion that clearly rewards teams in the top flight (something to look at should U.S. leagues ever decide to go this route. Are you reading this Major League Soccer?) The playout pairings are Langnau Tigers vs. EHC Biel and Rapperswil Lakers vs. Ambri-Piotta. The NLB representative is still to be determined, with four semifinal teams set to begin their playoffs. Those pairings are EHC Visp vs. La Chaux de Fonds and Lausanne vs. Ajoie.

After the ZSC Lions shocking exit in one quarterfinal, comes this, even bigger upset. Regular season champions SC Bern lost the sixth game of their playoff series with EV Zug on Monday night and are eliminated from the Swiss National League A playoffs. Incredibly, this is the second year in a row Bern has won the regular season crown only to exit in the first round of the playoffs (Fribourg pulled the upset last year). With Davos and Lugano due for a deciding seventh game Thursday, we could conceivably have three lower-seeded teams in the semifinals (third-seeded Kloten Flyers is so far the only favorite to advance. They swept Servette Geneva).

But back to the EVZ-SCB series. The Swiss league does not appear to award MVPs of individual series, so we’re going to do it for them. Our choice here: Corsin Camichel, a 28 year-old Swiss forward who came out of nowhere to net four goals and three assists in the series. When we say “came out of nowhere” this is not literally true of course, though Camichel has only been with Zug since mid-season. But his seven point tally from these six games is equal to his entire output from 27 regular season games with Zug this year. Camichel scored the game-tying goal in Game 5 and the game-winner in Game 2.

Zug face Kloten in the semifinals, with Game 1 scheduled for Saturday night at Kloten’s Schluefweg. Suffice it to say that right now the script has been thrown out on the Swiss hockey postseason. There will be no repeat glory for Champions Hockey League winners ZSC and no triumph for the regular season winners from the nation’s capital. Kloten could conceivably be seen as favorites to get their first championship this decade, though with the way things have been going who knows?

A major (and unexpected, at least from us) upset in the first round of the 2009 Swiss National League A playoffs: second-seed and defending champion ZSC Lions were swept by seventh-seeded Fribourg-Gotteron. These are the same ZSC Lions who won the inaugural edition of the Champions Hockey League in January, which made them (at least until this) the defacto best ice hockey club in Europe.

The end came Thursday night in Fribourg and was largely the work of one man: Julien Sprunger, a 2004 NHL Entry Draft pick of the Minnesota Wild, who scored all three goals, including the match-winner in overtime. If Switzerland gave out MVP awards for individual series, Sprunger would be the logical candidate: Besides last night’s hat trick, the 23-year old right wing scored twice in Game 2 and had the game-winning assist in Game 1. Hockeysfuture.com has a comprehensive summary of Sprunger’s qualifications.

Not having seen any of the games, it is difficult for us to put a finger on the cause of this. The obvious one is hangover/overconfidence stemming from the aforementioned CHL triumph. If so, Zurich’s head coach Sean Simpson has to be held at least partially responsible. Especially because Fribourg pulled a similar upset in last year’s playoffs. As the then-eighth seed they beat top seed SC Bern in the quarterfinals. Judging by score sheet from yesterday’s game, Fribourg may very well have simply wanted this more than Zurich. The French-Swiss club rallied to tie the game less than a minute before the end of regulation. In fact, in the three games that were close (Game 2 was a 3-0 shutout) Fribourg came through in the final minute each time, holding off late surges (and overcoming third period goals) by the Lions. In close games, events like those speak to a more passionate approach to the matter at hand. But again, we didn’t see the games so this is just speculation.

Swisshockey.net caught up with Mark Streit in the New York Islanders locker room after the team’s game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, Feb. 18. Streit’s Islander’s lost a hard-fought encounter to the New York Rangers, 3-1, their fourth loss in five “New York derby” games this season. Despite the loss, Streit had reason to be upbeat: playing in just his second game since returning from an upper body injury that sidelined him for five games, the Englisberg (BE) native scored the Islanders’ lone goal of the encounter, his 10th on the season. More importantly, he said there was no lingering discomfort from the injury. In an interview conducted in English (when other reporters were present) and Swiss-German (when they were not), Streit spoke of his fondness for New York and some of the differences between the Swiss game and the North American one, among other things.

swisshockey.net: First of all, congratulations on your goal (click for video, courtesy of nhl.com), which temporarily tied the game 1-1 in the first period. You had a lot of room to come in there and take the pass.

Streit: Looked like that. They collapsed somehow [defensively] and I was wide open. Still it was tough to see and he [Blake Comeau] made a great play. It was a nice backdoor pass and a good goal.

Did you make any eye contact with him?

I thought as soon as he had the puck he peeked over his shoulder and saw me coming in and then he just passed it. It worked out perfectly.

How is your injury? Do you feel okay?

It’s all right. I feel good. I don’t feel any [discomfort] out there. I feel good.

The team has struggled this year, your first in New York. What do you make of your own season thus far?

It wasn’t a big adjustment for me. I got the opportunity to play as a defenseman and I play a lot. I play a ton and I love that. So I can take a lot of responsibilities out there and be a leader on the ice and off the ice. That’s very exciting. It’s been great so far. Obviously it’s tough [because] we’re pretty much out of the playoffs but you see the young guys improving and you know, we’re still a team. We have great character in this locker room. We try to win every game. Unfortunately tonight we came up short.

What about the All Star Game? (Streit this season became the first Swiss player to make the NHL All Star Game). Was that a highlight for you so far?

Obviously it’s a highlight in the season and a highlight in my career so far. Being an all star is an incredible honor for me. I never thought that was going to happen in my career. It was a great weekend and I enjoyed it a lot. I’m never going to forget it. It was really a highlight and a dream come true.

You’ve played five games now, Rangers-Islanders. What’s your impression of this rivalry compared to others you’ve played in your career? Montreal – Toronto, ZSC – Kloten?

A rivalry is a rivalry. Obviously Toronto – Montreal is a big one in Canada. It’s huge. But I love playing against the Rangers. It’s always physical, it’s very emotional. Playing at the Garden is great. When they come to Long Island it’s a great atmosphere. The building is usually sold out and it’s great. That’s why we play hockey games like that. It’s a thrill to play.

As for the Swiss rivalries, it’s a tough comparison. It’s a different league, obviously. But we had some good rivalries. Pretty much Zurich against Lugano is probably the best one I played back home. It’s just a different level of hockey. But a rivalry is a rivalry it doesn’t matter on which level.

How do you like Madison Square Garden specifically and New York?

It’s always special. Like playing in Montreal. There’s certain buildings where it’s even nicer to play–even more exciting. New York as a city is “mega” [Swiss slang term perhaps best translated as "intense" in U.S. slang] I’ve really gotten used to it. I really enjoy it.

Do you live here in town?

I live on Long Island. It’s nice and quiet there. You can sort of take some distance from the intensity, which makes coming to the city even more exciting. I really thing it’s the coolest city I’ve seen.

In all of North America?

It just offers so much. You can live here five years and experience something new every day–culturally and so. I really treasure this time.

What are your theories for why more Swiss skaters haven’t established themselves in the NHL? So far it’s mainly been goalies.

Difficult to say. I think that as a goalie you’re more of an individualist. The game is still different, of course. There’s more pressure on the goal in the NHL but ultimately you’re a goalie, you stop shots. But the North American hockey game is just completely different from what is played in Switzerland. The lifestyle is different. The talent is definitely there though.

Who are the other up and coming Swiss skaters, particularly defenders, in your opinion, who might make the leap to the NHL?

The ones here, Luca Sbisa and Yannick Weber are on the right path. They’re definitely promising young players. Nobody knew Sbisa over here. But he came over and gave it a try. There are certainly one or two players who can make it here but they have to take the leap. If you stay in Switzerland waiting for them to roll out the red carpet nothing will ever happen. What’s the name of that guy at Bern? The defender?

Roman Josi, drafted by the Nashville Predators? [Josi was recently called to the Swiss national team for the first time]

Yeah he’s a promising player. There are a few but you need to maintain the goal–the dream–of playing here yourself.

Well that was quick! Less than a week after sending him to the minor leagues to get playing time, the Dallas Stars plan to recall Tobias Stephan from Bridgeport, Conn., of the American Hockey League. The 25-year old Zurich native will be recalled Feb. 23, Stars co-GM Les Jackson told the Dallas Morning News. Does this mean Stephan, who has started only three games for the Stars, will actually get playing time in Big D?

Stephan started only one game so far for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, recording 30 saves in a 3-2 victory over the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday, Feb. 7. He’ll have several chances to get more playing time before returning to Dallas. The Sound Tigers play eight times over the next 12 days, starting tonight against San Antonio.

The ZSC Lions of Zurich defeated defending European champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk 5-0 on Wednesday night to capture the inaugural Champions Hockey League. It marks the first time a Swiss club has won an official European club championship in the sport and is arguably the greatest moment in the 69-year history of the club. Zurich takes the Silver Stone Trophy as the official best team in Europe and is awarded €1 million for their troubles. The team also earns the right to represent Europe in the 2009 Victoria Cup against a to-be-determined challenger team from the National Hockey League. Zurich goaltender Ari Sulander (at left holding a different trophy) was named tournament MVP, thanks in part to his 25 save performance in Wednesday’s deciding game.

The 5-0 margin of victory is a bit misleading seeing as the score after two periods was only 2-0. But Zurich was clearly the better team on the ice in both legs of the final. Last week’s first game at Magnitogorskended 2-2 after ZSC relinquished a late 2-0 lead. It became clear the Lions would not suffer a repeat performance Wednesday after Mathias Seger and Jan Alston scored early third period goals for the home team. Their goals clearly settled the matter; Magnitogorsk was out of ideas and out of energy. The capacity crowd at Rapperswil’s Eishalle (Zurich’s home arena, the Hallenstadion, was not available for the occasion) was left to celebrate in style.

Ontario-born Blaine Down opened the scoring late in the first period. Until that point the teams had been evenly matched, though ZSC hit the post a few minutes earlier. Peter Sejna, a Slovak national who played parts of four seasons for the St. Louis Blues before signing for Zurich at the start of last season, doubled the Lions’ lead on a powerplay goal around the midpoint of the game. The Russian club had their best chances to get on the scoreboard late in the second period, when they briefly had a two man advantage. But Zurich’s penalty killing unit held firm, clearly frustrating the visitors.

ZSC’s triumph is significant on many levels. Not only does it officially establish the club as the best in Europe, but by default gives Switzerland’s league the same bragging right. This not only contradicts conventional wisdom–the Russian league was, until today at least, widely viewed as the best outside the NHL–it also makes Switzerland an attractive destination for player and managerial talent. It puts Switzerland, today seen as little more than an outpost by the average North American hockey fan, on the map as a hockey country. Eventually, should the NHL expand to Europe (little more than a pipedream at this point, but still) it puts the country at the top of a shortlist of candidate countries.

Next season, the CHL will expand to 29 teams from 22 countries and include two qualification stages. The champions of the top seven European domestic leagues (Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and German) will qualify automatically for the group stage. The regular season winners of the top four leagues (Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden) qualify automatically for the second qualification stage with Swiss, Slovak and German regular season champs being drawn with the champions of leagues placed eight through 22.

This first edition of the tournament began last Oct. 8 with 12 teams from seven countries. In qualifying for the final, ZSC beat Finland’s Espoo Blues in the semifinal after previously defeating Slavia Prague and Sweden’s Linkoping, among others.