U20 World Cup shows: National League teams should trust youngsters rather than foreigners

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U20 World Cup proves Swiss hockey bosses are working on wrong construction site

The Swiss U-20 team is ashamed and without a victory in the Junior World Cup. It shows the big problem that the planned league reform would only intensify.

The Swiss U20 team woke up too late. After a 0: 4 against Germany, there was a 4-5 defeat in the deciding match, in which Switzerland needed a victory in the 60th minute. A disappointing World Junior Championship ended prematurely. After all, the national team doesn’t have to play relegation in this particular year.

4 games, 0 points, 5 goals and 20 against. How do you explain the poor performance? On the one hand with the usual fluctuations in talent. While Switzerland had the nominally weakest team at the start in recent years, Canada, Finland and Germany were very well represented. On the other hand, many of the best performing Swiss were the so-called “minors.” Delémont (18), Meier (18), Biasca (17), Canonica (17), Fust (18) and Knak (18) have at least one U-20 World Cup ahead of them, where they will perform more successfully with experience of this year. .

But what was also noticed in this tournament: the Swiss were overwhelmed by the rhythm of the opponent’s game, received many penalties and often came one step too late in conceding goals. This is because most U20 players hardly have any gaming experience at such a high level. Only two players (Simon Knak and Rocco Pezzullo) regularly participated in the National League, some more in the Swiss League, but most still play in the youth elite.

That’s where the dog is buried. Young players, even the best in the country, barely make it to the ice age in the National League and therefore lag behind players from other countries in their development. It’s already so desperate for many young people to get assignments that they rush abroad (to Sweden or North America).

And what do eleven of the twelve (only the ZSC Lions oppose) clubs in the National League do? They are planning to make the situation even more difficult for young players, with an increase in the foreign limit, which will result in a change in the highest youth league from U20 to U22.

The NL chiefs are simply working on the wrong construction site. Instead of trying to limit wages with a cheat package made up of a restriction on foreigners, a closed league, and an alibi salary cap, they should ask themselves why so many young Swiss are migrating abroad. They should, in cooperation with the association, optimize the promotion of young talents and training methods and see how they can get more children excited about ice hockey. At the same time, consideration should also be given to forcing clubs to regularly use under-20 players in the National League.

A good promotion of young talent is also in the interest of National League clubs, who complain that the Swiss player market is not sufficient. With more investment in the next generation, this player market will also grow at some point.

Of course, the reward for this effort would not come immediately. In the meantime, an effective salary cap could be a good way to control labor costs. Blocking future opportunities for the young Swiss generation with more import players is definitely the wrong approach.