SCL Tigers

SC Langnau Tigers are a professional ice hockey team from Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL). The team plays its home games in the 6,000-seat Ilfis Stadium, which is currently one of the smallest arenas in the NL.

SCL Tigers
CityLangnau im Emmental, Switzerland
LeagueNational League
Founded1946
Home arenaIlfis Stadium
Colours     
Owner(s)Peter Jakob
General managerSimon Laager
Head coachThierry Paterlini
CaptainHarri Pesonen
WebsiteOfficial website
Franchise history
1946–1999Schlittschuh Club Langnau
1999–presentSCL Tigers
Current season

History

Originally formed as the Ice skating club Langnau, the team was founded on 30 January 1946. The 1948–49 season started in the summer due to the planing on the grounds of the Napro, where the ice rink was to be built. The ice rink began operation on 26 December 1948. SC Langnau, who had not yet completed any championship games, secured the "Begert Cup". Nine out of 16 games were won. The game against Rotblau Bern was attended by over 1000 spectators.

SC Langnau participated for the first time within the Swiss Championship, starting in the lowest league stage of the Swiss ice hockey. Opponents in the 1949–50 season were Roggwil, Olten, Münsingen and the second team of Red Blue Bern of the Serie B. In the season 1950–51, SC Langnau took part in the league operation of Serie B, Group 6 Central Switzerland. Langnau was group winner for the first time, but lost in the final against Bern. Langnau won the Cantonal Cup of the Serie B. In that season, the team completed a total of 23 games, including 16 at home.

The SCL Tigers, promoted to the NLA in 1998, are the successor club of the Schlittschuh-Club Langnau (SCL), which was outsourced to SCL Tigers AG in 1999 under the direction of President René Zeh. Zeh became the first chairman of the board. The club's club logo comes from the long-standing main sponsor, the long-established traditional company "Tiger Käse AG" (since 2004 " Emmi Fondue AG"), which has been sponsoring the club with its "Tiger" brand since the 1970s.

SCL Tigers versus SC Bern in an outdoor game on January 14, 2007

In October 2001, businessman Ruedi Soltermann took over Zeh's Presidency to lead SCL.[1] In the summer of 2002, the club confirmed to have a debt amount of more than one million francs with the financial difficulties plaguing the club in the following years.[2]

At the beginning of February 2005, Armin Müller was removed from the Board of Directors. According to the SCL, Müller, who was responsible for sponsorship, promised advertising revenues of nearly 1.3 million francs for the 2004–05 season, of which only a fraction arrived. The SCL Tigers announced that they would file charges for document forgery and misleading management.[3] With SCL's long standing economical trouble's, an initiative "Save the Tigers" was founded in July 2009 with entrepreneur, Peter Jakob.[4] In September 2009, Jakob became the President to the board of directors of SCL Tigers AG, and over the following years added financial stability to the Tigers and erasing their debts.[5]

After their initial promotion in 1998, they played in Switzerland's top hockey level for 15 years. At the end of the 2012–2013 NLA season, they were defeated in the promotion/relegation games by Lausanne HC and were relegated to the National League B. SCL Tigers became the champions of the 2014–15 NLB season and gained the right to play against the worst team of 2014–15 NLA season in the promotion/relegation round. They returned to National League A for the 2015–2016 season after they defeated the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in four games. Langnau was the eighth most attended team in the NLA for the 2015–16 season, averaging 5,868 (98%).[6]

Honors

Champions

Runners-up

Players

Current roster

Updated 8 February 2023.[7]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
15 Switzerland Cedric Aeschbach D L 21 2020 Switzerland
89 Switzerland Marc Aeschlimann C L 28 2022 Lugano, Switzerland
19 Switzerland Pascal Berger RW R 34 2016 Burgdorf, Switzerland
39 Switzerland Luca Boltshauser G L 30 2022 Zürich, Switzerland
43 Switzerland Claudio Cadonau (A) D R 35 2022 Zürich, Switzerland
38 Switzerland Stéphane Charlin G L 23 2022 Geneva, Switzerland
93 Switzerland Nolan Diem C R 30 2018 Herisau, Switzerland
81 France Floran Douay LW L 28 2022 Sallanches, France
9 Canada Cody Eakin C L 32 2022 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
72 Switzerland Samuel Erni D L 32 2017 Frauenfeld, Switzerland
66 Switzerland Tim Grossniklaus D L 28 2019 Beatenberg, Switzerland
21 Switzerland Bastian Guggenheim D L 21 2020 Bern, Switzerland
13 Latvia Oskars Lapinskis F L 21 2021 Riga, Latvia
18 Finland Sami Lepisto D L 39 2022 Espoo, Finland
65 Germany Marc Michaelis LW L 28 2022 Mannheim, Germany
10 Switzerland Jan Neuenschwander C L 30 2022 Davos, Switzerland
82 Finland Harri Pesonen (C) LW L 35 2021 Muurame, Finland
35 Sweden David Rautio G L 38 2023 Luleå, Sweden
63 Switzerland Dario Rohrbach RW L 25 2022 Langenthal, Switzerland
91 Switzerland Matthias Rossi RW R 32 2023 Menziken, Switzerland
25 Finland Aleksi Saarela C L 26 2021 Helsinki, Finland
46 Finland Vili Saarijärvi D R 26 2022 Rovaniemi, Finland
22 Switzerland Joel Salzgeber C L 22 2020 Switzerland
77 Switzerland Sebastian Schilt D L 36 2019 Rüegsau, Switzerland
40 Switzerland Flavio Schmutz (A) C L 29 2020 Andwil, Switzerland
33 Switzerland Keijo Weibel LW L 22 2020 Bern, Switzerland
34 Switzerland Miro Zryd D L 28 2021 Adelboden, Switzerland

Honored members

SCL Tigers retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
12Todd ElikC1998–2000, 2002–2009
17Daniel AegerterD1992–2008
26Martin GerberG1994–2001, 2004–2005
44Walter Gerber[8]F1990–1991, 1994–1998

References

  1. "SCL Tigers record 700,000 francs loss". eishockey.ch (in French). 2017-04-01. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  2. "Unrealistic Budget". nzz.ch (in German). 2002-07-30. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  3. "Acute liquidity bottlenecks at SCL Tigers". nzz.ch (in German). 2005-02-22. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  4. "Save the Tigers founded". eishockey.ch (in French). 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  5. "A healthy jubilee". derbund.ch (in German). 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  6. "Hockey attendances released". hockeyfans.ch (in French). 2016-05-06. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  7. "SCL Tigers team roster" (in German). www.scltigers.ch. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  8. "Retired numbers" (in German). SCL Tigers. July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
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