The Swiss great Lian Bichsel is in the middle of the finals with Rögle. Now the Swiss federation announces that the hard-driving back is suspended from national team games until 2026.
The reason is that he turned down two consecutive national team assignments for his country, Blick reports.
– He knew what risks he was taking by saying no, says national team manager Lars Weibel to the newspaper.
Confederation captain Patrick Fischer introduced the rule when he took over the national team in 2012 and it applies to all players.
– It would not have been correct towards the other players who accept, Fischer justifies his choice to do without one of the biggest talents in Swiss hockey in the coming years.
Lian Bichsel will thus miss the next three world championships, including the home World Cup in 2026. He will also miss the Olympics in the same year.
In recent years, Fabrice Herzog, Dean Kukan, Denis Malgin, Simon Bodenmann, Dominik Schlumpf and Théo Rochette had been suspended for the same reason.
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