Congratulations are in order for former Buffalo Sabres Derek Roy and Cory Conacher, who helped Bern SC win the Swiss League hockey championship, defeating Lugano 4-1 in the best-of-seven final.
Bern SC entered the playoffs a huge underdog as they finished seventh in the regular season, but got hot at the right time.
Remember Guy Boucher?
The Bond villain started the season as the head coach at Bern SC, however, was let go after he expressed a desire to pursue a job in the NHL.
The Ottawa Senators fired Dave Cameron earlier this week. The Sens are said to be interested in hiring Boucher to teach and install a more responsible defensive system.
SC Bern was staring at a berth in the relegation round when former SC Bern player Lars Leuenberger replaced Boucher. Bern hit it's stride in January however, and nailed down their playoff berth on the second-to-last-day of the regular season.
Coming in as lowest-seeded team, SC Bern was forced to battle aaginst some household names.
In the quarter-finals, SC Bern faced off against Swiss League regular-season studs ZSC Lions Zurich. Former NHL head coach Marc Crawford and #1 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft NHL Draft Auston Matthews made ZSC Lions a formidable foe. Crawford is also back in North America now looking for another full time head coaching gig in the NHL. Look for Ottawa to interview Crawford in the near future.
Despite a strong regular season in Zurich, Matthews wasn’t able to produce at the same level during his first playoff experience. Matthews was shadowed and trailed everywhere he skated on the ice. Roy and SC Bern won four straight games to advance to the semis.
In the semi-finals Bern faced defending champion HC Davos and beat them four games to one.
SC Bern won the championship game by winning four out of five games in the best of seven series.
Game 5 in Lugano brought the decision and the trophy to SC Bern.
Derek Roy scored the shorthanded goal that ended up as the championship-clinching goal in a 3-2 win for SC Bern.
Fast forward to the 1:43 mark to see Roy's strip sack at the blue line that he took straight to the house for the eventual championship GWG.
“We fought through a lot of adversity this year. We had a lot of injuries, a coaching change. But everybody played their part whether you play one shift or 20 minutes a game and in the playoffs everybody stepped up,” Roy said after the championship trophy was handed to his SC Bern team.
Roy, who will turn 33 in May, scored 189 goals and added 335 helpers for 524 points in 738 career NHL games. Roy was drafted 32nd overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2001 and played 8 seasons with the Sabres. Roy also made stops in Dallas, Vancouver, St. Louis, Nashville, and Edmonton.
In 36 games with SC Bern this season, Roy potted 9 goals and added 21 assists in 36 games. He scored 3 goals and added 9 assists in 13 playoff games this season.
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