2020–21 National League (ice hockey) season
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The 2020–21 National League season was the 83rd season of Swiss professional ice hockey and the fourth season as the National League (NL).
2020–21 National League season | |
---|---|
League | National League |
Sport | Ice hockey |
Duration | October 1, 2020 – March 22, 2021 |
Number of games | 52 |
Number of teams | 12 |
Regular season | |
Best record | EV Zug |
Runners-up | HC Lugano |
Season MVP | Jan Kovář (EV Zug) |
Top scorer | Jan Kovář (EV Zug) |
Playoffs | |
Semi-Final champions | EV Zug |
Semi-Final runners-up | SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers |
Semi-Final champions | Genève-Servette HC |
Semi-Final runners-up | ZSC Lions |
Swiss champion NL | |
Champions | EV Zug |
Runners-up | Genève-Servette HC |
National League seasons | |
ZSC Lions were the defending regular season winners. Due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in Switzerland there was no defending champion as the previous season's playoffs were cancelled.
Due to the 2019–20 league qualification series also being cancelled, the participating teams remained the same as the previous season.
The league announced changes to the format ahead of the season, meaning that 52 games rather than 50 would be played in the regular season. The playoffs would also be re-formatted, so that the top 6 teams now qualified directly for the quarter-finals, with the next four teams playing in pre-playoffs for the remaining two spots. There would also be no relegation from the season.[1] The two pre-playoffs series were played in a best-of-three, the quarter-finals in a best-of-seven and the semi-finals and final in a best-of-five. The series were shortened to allow enough time for the national team to prepare for the 2021 IIHF World Championship.
EV Zug won the regular season with 6 games remaining, having already clinched their club record points total, surpassing their previous best of 98 points from the 2011–12 season.[2] With two games remaining EV Zug broke the record for most points in a single regular season, held by HC Davos from the 2010–11 season.[3] Whilst this season was the first to be 52 games in length, EV Zug passed the milestone in the same number of games as the previous record holders.
EV Zug swept Genève-Servette HC 3-0 in the final to win its first NL title since 1998.