Ahead of the start of the upcoming Champions Hockey League season, we asked the Head Coaches of Genève-Servette's six Regular Season opponents what their thoughts are on the Swiss team - here's what they had to say!
HC Innsbruck Head Coach Mitch O'Keefe: “The top team last season in the National League and a lot of players are staying on. They will be very structured and are very strong along the boards. We will have to play compact and do our best to control the neutral zone. If we transition well and are solid in our house it will give us our best chance.”
HC Košice Head Coach Dan Ceman: “Genève are a team with an extremely high skill level along with a very detailed cohesive style. They were the highest-scoring team in the NL last year so we’ll have to be at our very best defensively. We’ll need to contain their high-end offensive players like Filppula, Winnik, and Vatanen among others. Structure and defensive play will be huge for us. Unfortunately, we’ll be flying back from our game on our off day so this will be challenging for us physically as well.”
Lukko Rauma Head Coach Tomi Lämsä: “It’s going to be great to face the Swiss champions and have Finnish players such as Sami Vatanen, Valtteri Filppula, Sakari Manninen and Teemu Hartikainen visiting Rauma. They have some of the very best players in Europe on their roster!”
HC Bolzano Head Coach Niklas Sundblad: “We’re talking about the Swiss champions! I watched the finals last year, I know their coach and I know they have very talented players and very good imports. Swiss hockey is very fast, so I expect a game with great pace.”
Rouen Dragons Head Coach Fabrice Lhenry: “Genève have just had a very good season, finishing first in the National League and winning their very first Swiss championship. They have a well-balanced team, fast with very experienced foreign players. It will be very interesting to go and confront them on their ice.”
Dynamo Pardubice Head Coach Václav Varaďa: “Genève-Servette are one of the best Swiss teams and have a really nice ambience to their home arena. They have a strong squad with many good Swiss players who are supported by some foreigners as well. They will be great skaters, very technical and generally tough. We are looking forward to this confrontation, I think Genève are one of the favourites to win the CHL.”
Find out more about Genève-Servette in the video below!