2022–23 National League (ice hockey) season

The 2022–23 National League season was the 85th season of Swiss professional ice hockey and the sixth season as the National League (NL).

2022–23 National League season
League	National League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September 14, 2022 – March 4, 2023
Number of games	52
Number of teams	14
Regular season
Best record	Genève-Servette HC
Runners-up	EHC Biel
Top scorer	Roman Červenka
Playoffs
Swiss champion NL
Champions	Genève-Servette HC (1st title)
Runners-up	EHC Biel

With a 52-game regular season remaining intact, 14 teams were announced to be participating in the campaign, marking the return of EHC Kloten after four years, following promotion from the Swiss League.^[1][2] The 2022–23 season begin the new league sponsorship partnership with Yuh Financial.^[3][4]

In the postseason, the quarterfinals and semifinals of the NL playoffs are split and featured on alternative days and in the NL playout finals, four foreign player licenses were allowed to participate on each team in the series against the playout loser and Swiss League champion.^[5]

Teams

HC Ambrì-Piotta

HC Ajoie

SC Bern

EHC Biel

HC Davos

Fribourg-Gottéron

Genève-Servette HC

EHC Kloten

Lausanne HC

HC Lugano

SCL Tigers

SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers

ZSC Lions

EV Zug

NL teams for the 2022–23 season

Team	City	Arena	Capacity
HC Ajoie	Porrentruy	Raiffeisen Arena	5,078
HC Ambrì-Piotta	Ambrì	Gottardo Arena	6,775
SC Bern	Bern	PostFinance Arena	17,031
EHC Biel	Biel/Bienne	Tissot Arena	6,562
HC Davos	Davos	Eisstadion Davos	6,547
Fribourg-Gottéron	Fribourg	BCF Arena	9,009
Genève-Servette HC	Geneva	Patinoire des Vernets	7,135
EHC Kloten	Kloten	Stimo Arena	7,624
Lausanne HC	Lausanne	Vaudoise Aréna	9,600
HC Lugano	Lugano	Cornér Arena	7,800
SCL Tigers	Langnau im Emmental	Ilfis Stadium	6,000
SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Rapperswil	St. Galler Kantonalbank Arena	6,100
ZSC Lions	Zürich	Swiss Life Arena	12,000
EV Zug	Zug	Bossard Arena	7,200

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Genève-Servette HC	52	27	6	8	11	185	140	+45	101	Advance to Playoffs
2	EHC Biel	52	29	5	4	14	174	132	+42	101
3	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	52	25	6	5	16	183	133	+50	92
4	ZSC Lions	52	24	6	4	18	150	123	+27	88
5	HC Davos	52	18	9	11	14	149	138	+11	83
6	EV Zug	52	21	6	7	18	165	154	+11	82
7	Fribourg-Gottéron	52	23	2	8	19	155	136	+19	81	Advance to Pre-playoffs
8	SC Bern	52	16	9	8	19	150	158	−8	74
9	EHC Kloten	52	19	5	6	22	140	173	−33	73
10	HC Lugano	52	20	5	2	25	147	163	−16	72
11	Lausanne HC	52	17	7	6	22	139	160	−21	71
12	HC Ambrì-Piotta	52	13	11	5	23	151	163	−12	66
13	SCL Tigers	52	15	4	7	26	124	167	−43	60	Advance to Playout
14	HC Ajoie	52	10	6	6	30	120	192	−72	48

Source: NL
Rules for classification: 1) points per game 2) greater number of games played 3) greater number of away games played 4) head-to-head points

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following shows the top ten players who led the league in points, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[6] If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
Roman Červenka	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	43	16	43	59	+21	60
Linus Omark	Genève-Servette HC	52	16	40	56	+3	40
Chris DiDomenico	SC Bern	46	23	30	53	+7	65
Tyler Moy	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	52	24	27	51	+10	30
Valtteri Filppula	Genève-Servette HC	46	17	34	51	+19	62
Jan Kovář	EV Zug	52	20	30	50	+4	26
Michael Špaček	HC Ambri-Piotta	50	14	36	50	-1	8
Jonathan Ang	EHC Kloten	52	20	29	49	-5	44
Miro Aaltonen	EHC Kloten	51	19	30	49	+1	20
Daniel Winnik	Genève-Servette HC	47	18	28	46	+24	32

Leading goaltenders

The following shows the top five goaltenders who led the league in goals against average, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.^[7]

Player	Team(s)	GP	TOI	GA	Sv%	GAA
Šimon Hrubec	ZSC Lions	33	1936:31	72	92.65	2.23
Melvin Nyffeler	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	42	2472:27	94	91.49	2.28
Harri Säteri	EHC Biel	35	2019:05	77	92.27	2.29
Robert Mayer	Genève-Servette HC	25	1455:33	56	91.32	2.31
Connor Hughes	HC Fribourg-Gottéron	36	1967:20	76	90.74	2.32

Playoffs

Bracket

	Pre-Playoffs (best-of-3)					Quarter-finals (best-of-7)					Semi-finals (best-of-7)					Finals (best-of-7)
						1	Genève-Servette HC	4
	7	HC Fribourg-Gottéron	0			10	HC Lugano	2
	10	HC Lugano	2								1	Genève-Servette HC	4
											6	EV Zug	1
						2	EHC Biel	4			(Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second rounds)
						8	SC Bern	2
																1	Genève-Servette HC	4
																2	EHC Biel	3
						3	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	2
	8	SC Bern	2			6	EV Zug	4
	9	EHC Kloten	1								2	EHC Biel	4
											4	ZSC Lions	0
						4	ZSC Lions	4
						5	HC Davos	1

Relegation playoffs

Playouts

SCL Tigers, who finished 13th in the regular season, and HC Ajoie, who finished 14th in the regular season, played in a best-of-seven playout series, which determined the team that would retain its place in the NL for the 2023–24 season. SCL Tigers won the series in six games (4–2).

League qualification

After losing in the playout series, HC Ajoie played in a best-of-seven league qualification series against HC La Chaux-de-Fonds, who won the Swiss League in the 2022–23 season. HC Ajoie won the series in six games (4–2).

References

1. "On the trail of the perfect schedule" (in German). National League. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
2. "NL: Still with 14 teams" (in German). National League. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
3. "Yuh becomes the new league sponsor" (in German). National League. 24 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
4. "52 rounds and more free TV then ever before!" (in German). National League. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
5. "NL starts in two week; what's new?" (in German). National League. 1 September 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
6. "Player stats". SIHF. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
7. "Goalie stats". SIHF. Retrieved 14 September 2022.

External links

• Official website (in German, French, and Italian)
• NL on eurohockey.com
• NL on eliteprospects.com