Women's League (Switzerland)

The Women's League, also known as the PostFinance Women's League for sponsorship reasons, is the top ice hockey league in the Swiss Women's Hockey League (SWHL) system.^[1] The league was founded in 1986 as the Leistungsklasse A, abbreviated LKA, and was also officially known as the Ligue nationale A in French and the Lega Nazionale A in Italian, both abbreviated as LNA. During 2014 to 2019, the league was called the Swiss Women's Hockey League A, abbreviated SWHL A; the abbreviation continues to be used by the league following the 2019 name change. An amateur league, it is organized by the Regio League, an organ of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation.

Women's League

Formerly	Leistungsklasse A 1986–2014 Swiss Women’s Hockey League A 2014–2019
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1986 (1986)
Founder	Swiss Ice Hockey Federation
Inaugural season	1986–87
No. of teams	7
Country	Switzerland
Most recent champion(s)	ZSC Lions Frauen (2021–22)
Most titles	ZSC Lions Frauen (10 titles)
Domestic cup(s)	Swiss Women's Hockey Cup
International cup(s)	EWHL Super Cup European Women's Champions Cup (2004–2015)
Related competitions	SWHL B SWHL C SWHL D
Official website	Official website

History

With the creation of several women's ice hockey clubs in the early 1980s, the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation chose to incorporate women's hockey within the scope of its governance in 1984. During the 1985–86 season, an unofficial club championship was played. The following season, the first official championship tournament, called Leistungsklasse A ('Performance Class A'), was organized and the victors, the Kloten Specials of EHC Kloten, became the first Swiss Champions in women's ice hockey.

With the growing interest and participation in ice hockey among Swiss women, a second tier league, called the Leistungsklasse B (LKB), was established from the 1988–89 season. Two years later, league rules were changed to allow foreign players and several big names in international women's hockey opted to play with Swiss teams, including Canadian national team forwards Andria Hunter and France Saint-Louis, and Finnish national team phenom Riikka Sallinen. The arrival of imports coincided with the rise to dominance of SC Lyss, who won four titles in five years from 1991–92 to 1996–97. The women's section had become an independent club, the DHC Lyss, when they won their fourth title in 1997. In 1995, a third level league, the Leistungsklasse C (LKC), was introduced.

From the 2001–02 season onward, a final four tournament is held to determine the Swiss Champion. SC Reinach, the 2001 champions, retained their title in the league's inaugural final four in 2002 and followed it up with a third consecutive victory in 2003. Playoffs were introduced in the 2005–06 season and the HC Lugano Ladies Team and ZSC Lions Frauen dominated in the playoff era, with one of the two teams winning the championship in all but one year since format change.^[2]

Format

Starting from the 2010–11 season, the participating teams play against each other four times in two home-and-away rounds. At the end of the first round, the each team's total of points is cut by half. Once the second round is completed, the top ranking teams qualify for the play-offs which are in a best-of-five format, excepted the third place game played on a one-off match. The finals winner is declared Swiss Champion. Meanwhile, the teams finishing in the bottom two positions dispute a best-of-five playdown. The loser then faces the second tier champions in a best-of-three games series, the winner getting to play the following season in the top tier.

Current teams

Seven teams are participating in the 2022–23 season:^[3]

 

 

ZSC Lions Frauen

 

SC Langenthal Damen

 

HC Ladies Lugano

 

HT Thurgau Ladies

 

Neuchâtel Hockey Academy

 

EV Bomo Thun

 

HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls

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Location of Women’s League teams for the 2022–23 season

Team	Location	Home venue	Head coach	Captain
HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls	Quinto	Nuova Valascia	Dmitri Tsygourov	Rebecca Roccella
EV Bomo Thun	Thun	Eissportzentrum Grabengut	Thomas Zwahlen	Andrea Schranz
SC Langenthal Damen	Langenthal	Eishalle Schoren	Rudolf Minder	Nadine Hofstetter
HC Ladies Lugano	Lugano	Cornèr Arena	Benjamin Rogger	Nicla Gianettoni
Neuchâtel Hockey Academy	Neuchâtel	Patinoire du Littoral	Yan Gigon	Inès Berset
HC Thurgau Ladies	Kreuzlingen	Bodensee Arena	Emanuel Karrer	Stefanie Wetli
ZSC Lions Frauen	Zürich	Kunsteisbahn Oerlikon	Angela Frautschi	Sinja Leemann

Swiss Champions

1986–87 – EHC Kloten Specials 1987–88 – EHC Kloten Specials 1988–89 – Grasshopper Club Zürich 1989–90 – Grasshopper Club Zürich 1990–91 – Grasshopper Club Zürich 1991–92 – EHC Bülach 1992–93 – SC Lyss 1993–94 – DHC Langenthal 1994–95 – SC Lyss 1995–96 – SC Lyss 1996–97 – DHC Lyss 1997–98 – EV Zug Damen 1998–99 – EV Zug Damen 1999–2000 – DSC St. Gallen

2000–01 – SC Reinach 2001–02 – SC Reinach 2002–03 – SC Reinach 2003–04 – EV Zug 2004–05 – EV Zug 2005–06 – Ladies Team Lugano 2006–07 – Ladies Team Lugano 2007–08 – DHC Langenthal 2008–09 – Ladies Team Lugano 2009–10 – Ladies Team Lugano 2010–11 – ZSC Lions Frauen^[4] 2011–12 – ZSC Lions Frauen 2012–13 – ZSC Lions Frauen 2013–14 – Ladies Team Lugano

2014–15 – Ladies Team Lugano 2015–16 – ZSC Lions Frauen 2016–17 – ZSC Lions Frauen 2017–18 – ZSC Lions Frauen 2018–19 – Ladies Team Lugano 2019–20 – not finished 2020–21 – Ladies Team Lugano 2021–22 – ZSC Lions Frauen

Titles by teams

	Team	Titles	Last title
1	ZSC Lions Frauen (prev. Grasshopper Club Zürich)	10	2022
2	HC Ladies Lugano	8	2021
3	EV Zug	4	2005
–	DHC Lyss (earlier known as SC Lyss)	4	1997
5	SC Reinach	3	2003
6	DHC Langenthal	2	2008
–	EHC Kloten Specials	2	1988
8	DSC St. Gallen	1	2000
–	EHC Bülach	1	1992

Awards

 

Jessica Müller, one of the 2009–10 MVPs

Woman of the Year

The Woman of the Year award honours the best active Swiss player, whether she plays in the Swiss league or elsewhere.^[5][6] First awarded by the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation in the 2005–06 season.^[7]

• 2005–06: Nicole Bullo, Ladies Team Lugano
• 2006–07: Florence Schelling, ZSC Lions
• 2007–08: Christine Meier, AIK Hockey (Riksserien)
• 2008–09: Christine Meier, ZSC Lions
• 2009–10: Claudia Riechsteiner, SC Reinach
• 2010–11: Nicole Bullo, Ladies Team Lugano
• 2011–12: Nicole Bullo, Ladies Team Lugano
• 2013–14: Florence Schelling, ZSC Lions
• 2014–15: Julia Marty, SC Reinach
• 2015–16: Christine Meier, ZSC Lions
• 2016–17: Lara Stalder, Linköping HC (SDHL)
• 2017–18: Alina Müller, ZSC Lions
• 2018–19: Alina Müller, Northeastern Huskies
• 2019–20: Not awarded
• 2020–21: Lara Stalder, Brynäs IF (SDHL) – runners up: Andrea Brändli (Ohio State Buckeyes), Alina Müller (Northeastern Huskies)^[8]
• 2021–22: Alina Müller, Northeastern Huskies – runners up: Andrea Brändli (Ohio State Buckeyes), Lara Stalder (Brynäs IF)^[9]

Most Valuable Player

First awarded in the 2009–10 season to the most valuable player of each team in the Swiss Championship playoff final.^[6][10]

• 2009–10: Jessica Müller (Ladies Lugano), Jaclyn Hawkins (ZSC Lions)
• 2010–11: Christine Meier (ZSC Lions), Iveta Koka (Ladies Lugano)

…

• 2013–14: Sophie Anthamatten (Ladies Lugano), Christine Meier (ZSC Lions)
• 2014–15: Céline Abgottspon (Ladies Lugano), Livia Altmann (ZSC Lions)
• 2015–16: Sasha Ronchi (Ladies Lugano), Isabel Waidacher (ZSC Lions)
• 2016–17: Evelina Raselli (Ladies Lugano), Caroline Baldin (ZSC Lions)

Others women's competitions in Switzerland

Second division (SWHL B)

The SWHL B, previously called the Leistungsklasse B (LKB) and also previously known as the Ligue nationale B (LNB) in French and as the Lega Nazionale B in Italian, is the second tier of the Swiss Women's Hockey League system.

The team finishing first is declared SWHL B champion and qualifies for a best-of-three playoff against the loser of the top league playdown. The team finishing last is relegated in the lower division.

The ten teams that took part in the 2020–21 season were:^[11]

• HC Ambrì-Piotta (HCAP) Giovani (aka HCAP Girls)
• EHC Bassersdorf Ladies
• Brandis Ladies
• HC Fribourg Ladies
• GCK Lions Frauen
• SC Langenthal Damen
• EHC Sursee Damen
• HC Tramelan Ladies
• EC Wil Ladies
• EHC Zunzgen-Sissach Damen

Third division (SWHL C)

The SWHL C, previously called the Leistungsklasse C (LKC) and also previously known as the Ligue nationale C (LNC) in French and as the Lega Nazionale C in Italian, is the third tier of the Swiss Women's Hockey League system.

The team finishing first is declared SWHL C champion and is promoted to SWHL B.

For the 2020–21 season, there were eleven participating teams:^[12]

• EHC Basel Hockey Ladies/KLH
• CdH Engiadina Damen
• HC Eisbären Queens
• Lausanne HC Féminin
• Neuchâtel Hockey Academy 1999
• SC Rapperswil-Jona Lady Lakers
• Sf. Imier-Sonceboz Femmes
• HC Sierre Féminin
• EHC Wallisellen Lions Frauen
• SC Weinfelden Ladies
• HC Wisle Damen

Swiss Women's Cup

It is also called Ochsner Hockey Swiss Women Cup for sponsorship reasons.

• 2005–06 – Ladies Team Lugano
• 2006–07 – No cup
• 2007–08 – DHC Langenthal
• 2008–09 – ZSC Lions Frauen
• 2009–10 – DHC Langenthal
• 2010–11 – ZSC Lions Frauen^[4]
• 2011–12 – ZSC Lions Frauen
• 2012–13 – ZSC Lions Frauen
• 2013–14 – ZSC Lions Frauen
• 2014–15 – No cup
• 2015–16 – ZSC Lions Frauen
• 2016–17 – Ladies Team Lugano / ZSC Lions Frauen
• 2017–18 – ZSC Lions Frauen

See also

• Switzerland women's national ice hockey team

References

1. "News". Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (Press release) (in German). 13 December 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
2. Müller, Barbara. (PDF). sport.winterthur.ch (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2011.^{[dead link]}
3. "Women's League – Clubs". Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). Retrieved 9 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
4. Patton, Kelly (10 April 2011). . Women's Hockey Life. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012.
5. . Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
6. . Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
7. "Awards - Swiss Ice Hockey Woman of the Year". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
8. "Swiss Ice Hockey Awards 2021". Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). 4 September 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
9. "Swiss Ice Hockey Awards 2022". Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). 29 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
10. . Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
11. "Regio League – Frauenligen – SWHL B". Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). Retrieved 15 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
12. "Regio League – Frauenligen – SWHL C". Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (in German). Retrieved 15 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

• Official website (in German)
• Official website (in French)
• on European Women's Hockey Journal (in German, French, and Italian)
• Women's ice hockey in Switzerland August 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine by Nick Heim (in German)
• History of women's ice hockey in Switzerland^{[dead link]} by Barbara Müller (in German)