EHC_Biel Knowpia

EHC Biel
EHC Biel
City	Biel, Switzerland
League	National League
Founded	1939
Home arena	Tissot Arena
Colors
General manager	Ueli Schwarz
Head coach	Petri Matikainen
Captain	Gaëtan Haas
Website	www.ehcb.ch
Franchise history
1939–47	EHC Biel/Bienne
1947–48	EHC Tornado Biel
1948–present	EHC Biel
	Current season

EHC Biel-Bienne is a professional ice hockey club based in the bilingual city of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland and plays in the National League (NL). Since the city of Biel is completely bilingual, alongside the German name EHC Biel (Abbr: EHCB) the team also has a French name, HC Bienne (Abbr: HCB). The team plays its home games in the 6,521-seat Tissot Arena.

History edit

EHC Biel played in lower Swiss ice hockey leagues until they got promoted in the second-tier Swiss League in 1960. In 1975 EHC Biel won the Swiss League-title and got promoted to the first level, the National League. During the 20 years between 1975 and 1995 the club won three national championships in 1978, 1981 and 1983 under three coaches (František Vanek, Ed Reigle, Kent Ruhnke). After the relegation in 1995 EHC Biel had to wait 13 years until their return to the NL. After three consecutive championship victories in the second-tier Swiss League, EHC Biel was reinstated into the NL, winning the promotion/relegation best of 7 series against EHC Basel 4-0 in 2008.

A strong local rivalry exists with the SCL Tigers, SC Bern, EHC Olten, and HC Ajoie. Games between these teams often attract sell-out crowds.

During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Biel were strengthen by the acquisitions of NHL All-Stars Tyler Seguin and Patrick Kane. They were joined by future NHL players, goalkeeper Reto Berra and winger Nikolaj Ehlers.

Honors edit

Champions edit

NL Championship (3): 1978, 1981, 1983
SL Championship (5): 1975, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008

Players edit

Current roster edit

Updated 11 January 2023.^[1]


No.	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
43	Jérôme Bachofner	LW	L	27	2023	Dübendorf, Switzerland
14	Jérémie Bärtschi	RW	L	21	2019	Switzerland
96	Damien Brunner (A)	RW	R	38	2018	Kloten, Switzerland
71	Yanik Burren	D	R	27	2024	Bern, Switzerland
98	Luca Christen	D	R	25	2021	Langenthal, Switzerland
10	Luca Cunti	C	L	34	2019	Zürich, Switzerland
9	Noah Delémont	D	L	22	2020	Biel, Switzerland
47	Ian Derungs	W	L	24	2023	Frauenfeld, Switzerland
29	Beat Forster (A)	D	L	41	2017	Bütschwil-Ganterschwil, Switzerland
77	Robin Grossmann	D	L	36	2021	Dintikon, Switzerland
92	Gaëtan Haas (C)	C	R	32	2021	Biel, Switzerland
20	Aleksi Heponiemi	C	L	25	2023	Tampere, Finland
13	Luca Hischier	C	L	29	2021	Naters, Switzerland
16	Fabio Hofer	RW	R	33	2020	Lustenau, Austria
89	Tino Kessler	C	R	27	2019	Weesen, Switzerland
73	Mike Künzle	LW	R	30	2018	Zürich, Switzerland
50	Viktor Lööv	D	L	31	2021	Södertälje, Sweden
19	Jesper Olofsson	LW	L	32	2022	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
22	Ville Pokka	D	R	29	2023	Tornio, Finland
25	Toni Rajala (A)	LW	L	33	2016	Parkano, Finland
27	Yannick Rathgeb	D	R	28	2019	Langenthal, Switzerland
57	Liekit Reichle	C	L	21	2023	Zürich, Switzerland
37	Mattheo Reinhard	C	L	19	2022	Worben, Switzerland
76	Jere Sallinen	LW	L	33	2021	Espoo, Finland
35	Harri Säteri	G	L	34	2022	Toijala, Finland
28	Elvis Schläpfer	C	L	23	2019	Basel, Switzerland
18	Yanick Stampfil	D	L	24	2020	Zuchwil, Switzerland
7	Ramon Tanner	C	L	24	2018	Appenzell, Switzerland
36	Joren van Pottelberghe	G	L	26	2020	Zug, Switzerland
75	Alexander Yakovenko	D	L	26	2021	Karaganda, Kazakhstan