Ice hockey: David Aebischer does not make the cut

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Published on 06.05.2024

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Three Friborgs appear in Patrick Fischer’s selection, unveiled this Monday. Accustomed to such honors, Christoph Bertschy, Tristan Scherwey and Andrea Glauser will be traveling to Prague, to compete in the world championship on Friday. Reto Berra, the Zurich goalkeeper from Fribourg-Gottéron, also passed the pitfall. But the name of David Aebischer was drawn up, like that of nine other players, to make room for newcomers.

“I didn’t create enough offensively”
David Aebischer

“Obviously, disappointment dominates, after being “cut” in the final straight,” testifies the 23-year-old from Friborg, who was entitled to his private meeting with the coach. “He explained to me the reasons for his choice. It didn’t come down to much: I didn’t create enough offensively, and I didn’t know how to adapt sufficiently to my position. On my line, we were two right-handers (either Fora or Baragano, editor’s note) and I was moved to the left, which is not a natural position for me. But that’s not an excuse: I still have to improve my game to go all the way next year.” Constantly improving, the future HC Lugano defender completed four weeks of preparation, compared to two last year. “This is the very positive aspect that I want to remember. I have reached a new level.”

And lived, for a month, in the locker room of the national selection. “We were a good group, we had a lot of fun while working hard. Afterwards, it remains a special feeling. On the one hand, you make friends with super cool guys by creating a team spirit and on the other hand, you compete with them for your place.

Waiting for Josi

Place that four other defenders (Baragano, Egli, Geisser and Kreis) as well as five attackers (Kessler, Künzle, Lehmann, Moy and Richard) also lost, while six players complete the squad: Nino Niederreiter, the best Swiss scorer in NHL, was able to join the group after its elimination in the play-off with Winnipeg. A significant reinforcement, also in the locker room: the 31-year-old Grison took on the role of captain last year. In addition toEl NinoFischer retained Zurich’s Kukan, Marti and Andrighetto, as well as Glauser and Jäger from the LHC.

For now, however, no trace of Roman Josi. But a place seems promised to him, since only seven defenders were officially summoned this Monday. A few details should still be worked out with Nashville. At 33, the Bernese has just scored 85 points (23 goals) in 82 matches with the Predators. He has not played in a World Cup since 2019.

There should therefore be six NHL players in the selection with Hischier, Siegenthaler, Kurashev and Schmid. Soon to be a father for the first time with a baby announced for May 21, Kevin Fiala will not be there. As for the three other NHL players, Timo Meier preferred to have shoulder surgery and Janis Moser has not yet obtained a contract extension with the Arizona Coyotes. As for Pius Suter, he is the last Swiss involved in the NHL play-off with the Vancouver Canucks. Finally, Zurich’s Denis Malgin, of NHL caliber, must give up due to injury.

Eternal Ambühl

Akira Schmid, Ken Jäger, Thierry Bader and Sven Jung will experience their first ever major in the IIHF. Patrick Fischer has decided to do without Dominik Egli and Tanner Richard. He retained, on the other hand, the indestructible Andres Ambühl, for a… 19^e World Championship. Already a record holder for the number of games played (131), the 40-year-old Grison will further increase his total.