Swiss players key in Wings, Ducks battle
DETROIT— The land of chocolate and precision timing is suddenly exporting another quality product — high-end NHLers.
“Obviously, the Swiss program is working,” noted Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau. “They’re developing some really good players.”
Boudreau, whose team will take to home ice Wednesday at the Honda Center deadlocked 2-2 with the Wings in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series, suits up two players from Switzerland — goaltender Jonas Hiller and defenceman Luca Sbisa.
Across the way, first-year Red Wing Damien Brunner makes it a hat trick of Swiss players involved in the series.
“It’s definitely exciting for the fans back home,” Brunner said.
It’s not the first time in Stanley Cup history that a series has listed three Swiss players. In their 2006 opening-round series, the Carolina Hurricanes utilized goaltender Martin Gerber in two games, while defenceman Mark Streit played one game for the rival Montreal Canadiens. David Aebischer dressed for all six games as Montreal’s backup netminder, but saw no action.
All three Swiss players in this series are filling key roles.
Brunner leads the Red Wings with 2-2-4 totals.
“He just knows how to play,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “He’s a competitive guy, he’s smart. He’s getting better.
“He turns the puck over once in a while but he wants to score.”
Hiller shares the playoff lead in shutouts and owns a .929 save percentage.
“Hilly is one of the best goalies in the league, which would probably make him one of the best goalies in the world,” Boudreau said.
Sbisa doesn’t show out- standing numbers next to his name on the stats sheet, but is a quietly effective all-around defender.
“Sbisa is a really good young defenceman that nobody knows about,” Boudreau said. “He can skate, he can hit, he can fight and he can move pucks.”
Across the Atlantic Ocean, the Swiss national team has been making noise, beating Sweden, Canada and the Czech Republic at the world championship in Stockholm.
“It makes you feel proud,” Sbisa said.
“Imagine how bad they would have beat Canada if those guys were there,” Boudreau joked, of the three Swiss stars in this series.
Brunner put forth an interesting theory as to the growth in Swiss hockey, citing the last two NHL lockouts as a driving force.
“(Swiss) fans identify with the NHL players who played over there (during the lockout),” Brunner said. “They follow the players who played for their teams.
“We had a lot of superstars over there the last two lockouts and that helps. The attention for the NHL in Switzerland grows day by day.”
NHL games are now broadcast live in Switzerland and Sbisa knows that people are watching.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” Sbisa said. “You’ve got to stay up late, but a lot of my buddies do it. I get texts from them all the time, commenting on plays that you can’t see from the highlights, so I know they’re watching the games.”
Hiller remembered idolizing Gerber and Aebischer as a youngster.
“For me that was something like, ‘Wow, if they can do it, I want to do it. I’m going to do it,’” Hiller said.
“There are more and more Swiss guys finding their way into the league. It’s definitely great for Swiss hockey.”
The Swiss certainly have been front and centre as the Wings and Ducks continue to battle.