SC Bern

History

The ice hockey section of the Bern Sports Club, which was established on 3 November 1930, officially began playing on 1 January 1931.

Today, SC Bern is a highly popular team and regularly fills its home stadium, the PostFinance Arena, one of the largest ice hockey stadiums in Europe. In 2006, they set a new record among European clubs for average attendance, with an average of 15,994 in 22 home games. They have won the Swiss Championship thirteen times, with the most famous victory coming in 1989 over HC Lugano

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Daniel Brière, Dany Heatley, J. P. Dumont, Marc Savard, Henrik Tallinder, and Chris Clark played for SC Bern. Although, league rules allow only four players without Swiss passports to suit up in a single game.

After a disappointing run in the 2006 playoffs, the club replaced head coach Alpo Suhonen with John Van Boxmeer and general manager Roberto Triulzi with Sven Leuenberger. Leuenberger had previously played thirteen seasons of defence with the club, totaling 67 goals, 145 assists, and four national championships. His jersey number 16 is one of many that has been retired by SC Bern.

On 30 September 2008, SC Bern faced off against the National Hockey League's New York Rangers to celebrate one hundred years of ice hockey in Switzerland. Forty-nine years since the Rangers' last visit to Switzerland, the blueshirts beat the home team 8–1 in front of a sellout crowd. Despite the slanted score, SC Bern played a close game with a 2–0 score at the end of the second. Former Phoenix Coyotes' Canadian-born defenceman Travis Roche scored SC Bern's goal early in the third period, bringing the game to 2–1. SC Bern only allowed two even-strength goals, but could not withstand the Rangers' potent power play in the final frame (6-for-9). "We played for our pride tonight," said center Sébastien Bordeleau after the exhibition game. Christian Dubé wore the captain's "C" because Ivo Rüthemann was injured.

During the 2012 NHL lockout, Roman Josi, Mark Streit and John Tavares played for the SC Bern. Tavares quickly became the PostFinance Top Scorer tallying 42 points (17G, 25A) in 28 games.

During the 2013–14 season, Guy Boucher signed a contract as coach of the SC Bern for the current year and two more seasons. He has since been relieved from his duties, moving on to coach the Ottawa Senators, being replaced by former assistant and SC Bern player Lars Leuenberger, who guided the team to the championship in 2016. Leuenberger was then replaced by former Finnish national team coach Kari Jalonen prior to the 2016–17 season. Jalonen went on to win the NL title in his first year at the helm of the team.

On 1 October 2018, SC Bern played a friendly game against the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), which featured their former player Nico Hischier who in 2017 became the first Swiss player to be drafted first overall in an NHL Entry Draft.

On January 28, 2020, Jalonen was relieved of his duties following terrible results. Hans Kossmann stepped in to replace him as head coach for the remainder of the 2019/20 season.

Honors

Champions

• NL Championship (16): 1959, 1965, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019
• SL Championship (3): 1958, 1969, 1972
• Swiss Cup (3): 1965, 2015, 2021
• European Cup appearances (10): 1965, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997

Players

Current roster

Updated 30 September 2024.

Honored members

• 0 René Kiener
• 6 Peter Stammbach, number retired on 1 December 2009
• 7 Martin Rauch
• 12 Roland Dellsberger
• 16 Sven Leuenberger
• 18 Renzo Holzer, number retired on 1 December 2009
• 22 Patrick Howald, number retired on 1 December 2009
• 31 Renato Tosio
• 32 Ivo Rüthemann, number retired 15 November 2014

NHL alumni

• CAN Bryan Lefley (1980–1982)
• CAN Claude Noël (1981–1982)
• CAN Peter Sullivan (1983–1984)
• CAN Gaston Therrien (1984–1986)
• CAN Kirk Bowman (1984–1988)
• FIN Reijo Ruotsalainen (1986–1987, 1988–1989, 1990–1992)
• FIN Risto Siltanen (1987–1988)
• CAN Alan Haworth (1988–1992)
• CAN Paul Boutilier (1989–1990)
• CAN Kevin LaVallee (1989–1990)
• CAN Marc Habscheid (1992–1993)
• CAN Dan Quinn (1993–1994)
• FIN Raimo Summanen (1993–1994)
• ITA Gaetano Orlando (1994–1998)
• FIN Ville Sirén (1995–1998)
• FIN Timo Jutila (1996–1997)
• CAN Daniel Marois (1996–1999)
• USA Mike Donnelly (1997–1998)
• USA David Sacco (1997–1998)
• UKR Alexander Godynyuk (1998–1999)
• CAN Dave McLlwain (1998–2000)
• SWE Patrik Juhlin (1999–2005)
• SWE Andreas Johansson (2000–2001)
• SWE Fredrik Olausson (2000–2001)
• CAN Ryan Savoia (2000–2001)
• CAN Derek Armstrong (2001–2002)
• CAN Claude Vilgrain (2001–2002)
• CHE Thomas Ziegler (2001–2010)
• CAN Yves Sarault (2002–2005)
• FRA Sébastien Bordeleau (2002–2009)
• CAN Christian Dubé (2002–2011)
• CAN Sylvain Lefebvre (2003–2004)
• USA Rich Brennan (2004–2005)
• CAN Daniel Brière (2004–2005)
• USA Chris Clark (2004–2005)
• CAN Dany Heatley (2004–2005)
• CAN Marc Savard (2004–2005)
• SWE Henrik Tallinder (2004–2005)
• CAN J. P. Dumont (2004–2005, 2011–2012)
• CAN Éric Perrin (2005–2006)
• CAN Pascal Trépanier (2005–2006)
• CAN Éric Landry (2006–2007)
• CAN Claude Lapointe (2006–2007)
• SWE Christian Berglund (2006–2008)
• CAN Simon Gamache (2006–2011)
• CHE Roman Josi (2006–2010, 2012–2013)
• CZE Patrik Štefan (2007)
• CAN Nathan Dempsey (2007–2008)
• USA Mark Mowers (2007–2008)
• CAN Ramzi Abid (2007–2009)
• USA Keith Carney (2008–2009)
• CAN Martin Gélinas (2008–2009)
• CAN Travis Roche (2008–2014)
• SVK Ľuboš Bartečko (2009–2010)
• CAN Lee Goren (2009–2011)
• CAN Brett McLean (2009–2011)
• CAN Jean-Pierre Vigier (2009–2012)
• CHE Joël Vermin (2009–2014)
• CAN Joel Kwiatkowski (2010–2012)
• CAN Geoff Kinrade (2011–2014)
• CHE Christoph Bertschy (2011–2015)
• CAN Byron Ritchie (2011–2017)
• CZE Jaroslav Bednář (2012–2013)
• CHE Mark Streit (2012–2013)
• CZE Petr Sýkora (2012–2013)
• CAN John Tavares (2012–2013)
• CHE Hnat Domenichelli (2013–2014)
• FIN Mikko Lehtonen (2013–2014)
• CAN Glen Metropolit (2013–2014)
• CZE Rostislav Olesz (2013–2014)
• CAN Marc-André Gragnani (2014–2015)
• CAN Bud Holloway (2014–2015)
• FIN Jesse Joensuu (2014–2015)
• CAN Nolan Schaefer (2014–2015)
• CAN Chuck Kobasew (2014–2016)
• CHE Simon Moser (2014–present)
• FIN Sean Bergenheim (2015–2016)
• CAN Cory Conacher (2015–2016)
• CHE Timo Helbling (2015–2016)
• CHE Nico Hischier (2015–2016)
• CAN Derek Roy (2015–2016)
• CAN Trevor Smith (2015–2016)
• CAN Andrew Ebbett (2015–2020)
• CAN Aaron Gagnon (2016–2017)
• CAN Maxime Macenauer (2016–2017)
• CAN Maxim Noreau (2016–2018)
• USA Mark Arcobello (2016–2020)
• USA Jeremy Morin (2017–2018)
• FIN Mika Pyörälä (2017–2018)
• CAN Mason Raymond (2017–2018)
• SUI Gaëtan Haas (2017–2020)
• SWE Adam Almquist (2018–2019)
• SVN Jan Muršak (2018–2020)
• CAN Christian Thomas (2020–2020)
• CAN Dustin Jeffrey (2020–present)

References

References

1. "European attendance ranking". www.iihf.com.
2. "Iihf - News".
3. (14 March 2008). "Bear season over in Switzerland". www.iihf.com.
4. (1 October 2018). "Hall scores in overtime to give Devils victory against SC Bern".
5. (1 October 2018). "Hischier gives fans night to remember in Switzerland".
6. "SC Bern current roster".