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The National League is a veterans league. And that is not meant to be disrespectful. Experienced players have been shaping the fate of their teams for years. Especially on the foreign positions.
The best example is last season. Lakers-Czechian Roman Cervenka, who celebrated his 38th birthday last week, became NL top scorer for the second time in a row, Biel’s Toni Rajala (32) was play-off top scorer and Servette won the hockey age champion title with six foreigners from advanced players: Valtteri Filppula (now 39), Daniel Winnik (38), Linus Omark (36), Teemu Hartikainen (33), Henrik Tömmernes (33) and Sami Vatanen (32).
Now the aging process does not stop with hockey professionals and excellent scorers. For some, production has plummeted this season (see chart).
Cervenka, who has always scored more than one point per game over the past four seasons, is only averaging 0.6 points per game this season. The attacking output of the masterful Servette duo Filppula/Winnik and Langnau Finn Harri Pesonen (35) was more or less halved.
The NL top scorer is a 26-year-old
The production of 40-year-old HCD captain Andres Ambühl, who was long thought to be tireless and incorruptible, has also steadily declined in recent seasons. The same goes for two other Swiss (almost) evergreens: Julien Sprunger (37, Fribourg) and Damien Brunner (37, Biel).
Meanwhile, Lugano’s Nati striker Calvin Thürkauf, a 26-year-old, has reached the top of the scorers list. However, there are still six players in the top ten who are over 30 years old. The oldest? Chris DiDomenico (34). The production of the Fribourg Canadian, like Zug’s Canadian Jan Kovar (33), has fallen moderately. This season he is averaging 0.86 points per game, compared to 1.15 last season in Bern.
|
team
|
SP
|
T.D
|
PT
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
 ZSC Lions
|
29
|
37
|
64
|
|
|
2
|
 EV train
|
29
|
40
|
59
|
|
|
3
|
 HC Fribourg-Gotteron
|
30
|
20
|
57
|
|
|
4
|
 Lausanne HC
|
31
|
17
|
54
|
|
|
5
|
 SC Bern
|
30
|
-4
|
50
|
|
|
6
|
 HC Lugano
|
30
|
11
|
47
|
|
|
7
|
 Geneva-Servette HC
|
29
|
-4
|
43
|
|
|
8th
|
 HC Ambri-Piotta
|
29
|
-1
|
42
|
|
|
9
|
 HC Davos
|
30
|
7
|
42
|
|
|
10
|
 SCL Tigers
|
30
|
-26
|
41
|
|
|
11
|
 EHC Biel
|
29
|
-10
|
35
|
|
|
12
|
 EHC Kloten
|
30
|
-24
|
34
|
|
|
13
|
 SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
|
29
|
-25
|
30
|
|
|
14
|
 HC Ajoie
|
27
|
-38
|
20
|
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
