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EHC Kloten
2017-18 NL season
City	Kloten, Switzerland
League	Swiss League NL 1962-2018 SL 1947-1962 1. Liga 1946-1947 Serie B 1941-1946
Founded	1934
Home arena	Swiss Arena
General manager	Matthias Berner
Head coach	Felix Hollenstein
Captain	Steve Kellenberger
Website	www.ehc-kloten.ch
Franchise history
1934–2000 2016–present	EHC Kloten
2000–2016	Kloten Flyers

EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team plays in the Swiss League, the second tier of Swiss ice hockey. It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss ice hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 years.

The team was called the Kloten Flyers between 2000 and 2016.^[1]

EHC Kloten won four consecutive Swiss championships from 1993 to 1996. They had never been relegated until the 2017/18 season.

The team had one of the worst attendances of the National League for the 2016-17 season, averaging only 5,229 spectators over their 25 regular season home games. It was also the only team which failed to sell out at least one game during the regular season.^[2]

History

EHC Kloten was founded by a group seven members, led by Emil Hegner, on December 3, 1934. During the first few years, only exhibition matches were played. The home matches were played on the frozen Nägelimoos-Weiher.

When EHC Kloten began to participate in the championship, they had to start in the lowest league, as usual. In 1941, they were promoted into the Serie B and five years later into the Serie A. One year later, in the year 1947, the EHC Kloten was promoted into the Swiss League. In 1962, they joined the National League when the league expanded to 10 teams.

In 1967, they became the champions for the first time, headed by their Czech coach Vladimir Kobera.

The team has remained in the highest Swiss league since their promotion and are the longest-serving team in the NL.

For the 1998-99 season the former Russian ice hockey player Vladimir Yurzinov was asked to become the new coach. He introduced a new playing style and encouraged the development and promotion of young players. Even though many people liked this philosophy, the team remained unsuccessful. During the 2003-2004 season, the team had to play the playoffs for the first time in their history. A year later, in the 2004-2005 playoffs, they again managed to remain in the highest league. However, this strategy is paying off today.

In October 2004, Yurzinov was released as their coach. He took on a new role as a youth promoter until the end of the season. Yurzinov's successor was former EHC Kloten defenseman Anders Eldebrink and assistant Felix Hollenstein. The new coaching duo managed to get the team back to success and are still in charge of the team.

During the 2008-2009 season, the Flyers swept both HC Geneve-Servette and EV Zug in the playoffs before losing the playoff final against HC Davos in seven games. They finished the regular season in 3rd place.

The club has a well known junior program. There’s a partnership between the Kloten Flyers and the teams of Bülach, Dielsdorf-Niederhasli and Winterthur. Since the founding of the elite-junior league, the teams have won 19 titles. The latest being in the season 2005-06.

The team's name was changed back from Kloten Flyers to EHC Kloten for the 2016–17 NLA season^[3] after the club had been taken over by businessman Hans-Ulrich Lehmann and Rene Burger who bought the organization from the owner group Avenir Sports Entertainment.^[4]Pekka Tirkkonen from Finland was appointed new head coach^[5] for the 2016-17 season after Sean Simpson had parted company with the club.

On February 1, 2017, the team won the first Swiss Cup of its history against Geneve-Servette HC in a packed Swiss Arena.

Honors

Champions

• 
  NL Championship (5): 1967, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996


• 
  Swiss Cup (1): 2017

Runners-up

• 
  NL Championship (6): 1972, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2011, 2014

Players

Current roster

Updated July 20, 2017.^[6][7][8]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
9		Niclas Andersén	D	L	30	2017	Grums, Sweden
34		Rene Back	D	L	36	2014	Konstanz, Germany
5		Mattias Bäckman	D	L	26	2017	Linköping, Sweden
		Thierry Bader	LW	L	21	2016	Winterthur, Switzerland
86		Alain Bircher	D	L	22		Stansstad, Switzerland
39		Luca Boltshauser	G	L	25	2015	Zürich, Switzerland
94		Tim Bozon	LW	L	25	2017	St. Louis, United States
44		Matthias Bieber	LW	L	33	2010	Zürich, Switzerland
16		Daniele Grassi	W	R	26	2016	Bellinzona, Switzerland
96		Edson Harlacher	D	L	23	2014	Zürich, Switzerland
91		Denis Hollenstein	RW	L	29	2009	Zürich, Switzerland
19		Steve Kellenberger	W	L	32	2014	Bülach, Switzerland
67		Romano Lemm	C	L	34	2010	Dielsdorf, Switzerland
81		Robin Leone	RW	R	25	2009	Winterthur, Switzerland
87		Marc Marchon		L	23	2017	Vuisternens-en-Ogoz, Switzerland
13		Patrick Obrist	C	L	26	2015	Dornbirn, Austria
29		Vincent Praplan	W	R	24	2014	Sierre, Switzerland
6		Tim Ramholt	D	L	34	2016	Zürich, Switzerland
59		Dennis Saikkonen	G	L	26	2017	Bern, Switzerland
8		Roman Schlagenhauf	C	L	30	2016	Zürich, Switzerland
57		Lukas Stoop	D	R	29	2012	Zürich, Switzerland
53		Morris Trachsler	LW	L	34	2017	Zürich, Switzerland
72		Patrick von Gunten	D	L	34	2012	Biel, Switzerland
62		Serge Weber	D	L	21
		Patrick Zahner	C	L	22	2016

Honored members

• 
  4 Marco Klöti, defenceman 1992-2007


• 
  7 Peter Schlagenhauf, winger 1969-1994


• 
  13 Rene Burger, center 1973-1975


• 
  20 Reto Pavoni, goaltender 1989-2002


• 
  21 Roman Wäger, winger 1971-1998


• 
  24 Felix Hollenstein, winger 1985-2002, assistant coach since 2006


• 
  26 Mikael Johansson, center 1992-1997


• 
  32 Anders Eldebrink, defenceman 1990-1995, head coach since 2006

NHL alumni

Notable coaches

• 
  Vladimir Kobera, champion 1967


• 
  Conny Evensson, champion 1993, 1994


• 
  Alpo Suhonen, champion 1995, 1996

References

External links

• 
  (in German) Official Website of the Kloten Flyers
  


• Unity Kloten