HC Ajoie: Reviving Undesirables in a Northern Ice Hockey League

2023-07-04 07:42:58

Ice Hockey

An HC Ajoie once morest the current in a very northern league

The HC Ajoie transfer campaign was marked by the arrival of a new Swiss coach and the consolidation of an exclusively North American foreign faction.

PostedJuly 4, 2023, 9:42 AM

Jonathan Hazen is one of seven North American additions to the Ajoulote team.

freshfocus

Overview: Reviving “Undesirables”

HC Ajoie can, at this stage, be considered one of the “winners” of the transfer window with some well-targeted commitments and a reinforced defense. The Jura club has improved. For lack of financial means and attractiveness, the sporting director Julien Vauclair however had no other choice but to seek out some undesirables from other clubs to improve his line-up, above all at the level of his foreign fraction. : the versatile striker Daniel Audette, who is a good offensive bet, arrives from Lausanne (which supports a good part of his salary). Robust defender Eric Gelinas from Bern. The solid routine Jannik Fischer (Ambri) will give weight to the Ajoulote defense.

Foreigners: 100% North American fraction

In terms of foreigners, the HCA is going it alone in a very “Nordic” league – all clubs, except Rapperswil, have at least three Finns and/or Swedes – relying exclusively on North American reinforcements: an American (TJ Brennan ), an Ontarian (Eric Gelinas) and five Quebecers (Audette, Asselin, Devos, Gauthier and Hazen) will fill the workforce ajoulot to the recovery. The HCA will have the luxury of starting the season with seven foreign players.

The coach: following Pesan and Vauclair, here is Wohlwend

The volcanic Christian Wohlwend is the new coach of HC Ajoie.

Claudio Thoma/freshfocus

A few months following the failed experience with the Czech Filip Pesan, considered too hard and too cold with his players, the sporting director Julien Vauclair is betting this time on another “special character” in the person of Christian “Wolvo” Wohlwend. It now remains to be seen whether the mayonnaise will take between the explosive ex-coach of HC Davos and certain key Swiss and foreign players of the team, for some quite sensitive and / or susceptible, as demonstrated last season when Pesan was still in command… We can therefore, at this stage, express some doubts. Still, the bet taken by Vauclair is not completely meaningless: if the current passes with Wohlwend, then the final result might exceed expectations.

Intermediate report: good

On paper and in view of the means available, the HC Ajoie transfer campaign is successful, even if a gain in quality might certainly have been achieved at the level of foreigners by avoiding hasty renewal of certain contracts (such as that of Guillaume Asselin during the promotion/relegation barrage once morest La Chaux-de-Fonds). The track of a foreign goalkeeper, on the model of several other National League clubs, might also have solved many problems if the HCA had not already had three under contract (Wolf, Ciaccio and Patenaude).

Arrivals:

Daniel Audette (Can/forward, Lausanne), Eric Gelinas (Can/defender, Bern), Jannik Fischer (defender, Ambri), Noah Patenaude (goalkeeper, Saint John Sea Dogs), Joel Scheidegger (defender, Fribourg-Gottéron), Adam Rundquist (defender, Thurgau).

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