Romain Loeffel (born 10 March 1991) is a Swiss professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

who is currently playing with

SC Bern Schlittschuh Club Bern (''Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English language, English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (ice hockey), National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL). He previously played for

HC Fribourg-Gottéron HC Fribourg-Gottéron is a professional ice hockey team based in Fribourg, Switzerland, which competes in the National League (NL). The team is the sixth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015/16 season with 6,156 spectators. History The ...

Genève-Servette HC The Genève-Servette HC (also called Servette or GSHC) is a professional ice hockey club based in Geneva, Switzerland and competing in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. The team plays their home games at the ...

and

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

Playing career

Loeffel made his professional debut with

in the 2008-09

(NL) season. He appeared in 3 games this season and spent most of the year playing in the

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, th ...

(SL) with Young-Sprinters HC. He played 36 games in the SL and put up 14 points, including 5 goals. In the 2009-10 NL season, Loeffel became a regular on Fribourg's team, appearing in 37 NL contests that year. He went on to play 4 years with the team in the NL before being traded to

on 31 January 2014 for John Fritsche and Jérémie Kamerzin. Loeffel then appeared in only 2 games with Geneva that season, scoring 1 goal. On 2 October 2014 Loeffel was suspended for 7 games and fined CHF 10,000 for shoving a linesman in a game against

Lausanne HC , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

on 26 September 2014. Loeffel was trying to catch up Simon Fischer after a faceoff but bumped into Roger Bürgi, the linesman, and rose his stick to push him out of his way. Bürgi didn't report the incident at the end of the game, considering it as an accident. It was only Reto Steinmann, who was at the head of the referees supervision for the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation at the time, who watched the incident on tape and decided to open a procedure in order to suspend Loeffel. The case was highly mediatized in Switzerland. On 2 December 2014 Loeffel was signed to a one-year contract extension by Geneva. He went on to score 4 points in 4

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

games en route to the title with Geneva. On 2 December 2015 Loeffel agreed to a two-year contract extension with Genève-Servette. At the end of the 2015–16 NL season, he was named to the NL Media Swiss All-Star Team. On 16 October 2017

signed Loeffel to a four-year contract worth CHF 4.8 million. The contract will start for the 2018/19 season and run through the 2021/22 season.

International play

Loeffel was named to Switzerland's national under-18 team for the

2008 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships were held in Kazan, Russia. The championships began on April 13, 2008, and finished on April 23, 2008. Games were played at TatNeft Arena and Arena Kazan in Kazan. Canada defeated Russia 8–0 in the final to c ...

in Russia. He tallied 1 assist in 6 games, with Switzerland finishing 8th in the tournament. Loeffel was again named to the team for the

2009 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2009 IIHF World U18 Championships were held in Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota, United States. The championships ran from April 9 to April 19, 2009. Games were played at the Urban Plains Center in Fargo and the Moorhead Sports Cen ...

in the United States where he put up 4 assists in 6 games, finishing again 8th in the tournament with Switzerland. That same year he was also named to Switzerland's under-20 team for the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division I in Switzerland. He played 5 games to help Switzerland win the tournament and earn a promotion for the

2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships (''2010 WJHC''), was the 34th edition of Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. The tournament was hosted by Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, from December 26, 2009, to January 5, 2010. Saskat ...

in which he did not participate, but was selected to take part in the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

edition in the United States. Loeffel scored 1 goal, helping Switzerland finishing 5th in that tournament. Loeffel made his debut with Switzerland men's team in 2011 but only made his

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

debut in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

in the Czech Republic. He was originally cut after the exhibition games but was re-called as an injury replacement when he was on holiday in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. He eventually played 2 games in the tournament as Switzerland finished 8th. Loeffel was then named to the team for the

2017 IIHF World Championship The 2017 IIHF World Championship, the 2017 edition of the annual Ice Hockey World Championships, was held from 5 to 21 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France. The official tournament mascots were Asterix and Obelix, the main characters f ...

in France and played all 8 games, putting up 5 points, including 1 goal. Switzerland eventually finished 6th in the tournament, falling to Sweden in the quarter finals. Loeffel represented Switzerland at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. He appeared in 3 games, tallying 1 assist as Switzerland unexpectedly fell to Germany in the qualification game for the 1/4 finals.

Personal life

Loeffel was born and grew up in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

where he started playing hockey as a kid with youth local team,

HC La Chaux-de-Fonds HC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss professional ice hockey team who currently play in the Swiss League (SL). Founded in 1919, La Chaux-de-Fonds play at the Patinoire des Mélèzes in front of a capacity 7,200. History Hockey Club La Chaux-de-Fonds ...

. At 15 years old, he moved to

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

to pursue his dream of becoming a professional hockey player.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loeffel, Romain 1991 births Living people Swiss ice hockey defencemen People from La Chaux-de-Fonds Neuchâtel Young Sprinters HC players HC Fribourg-Gottéron players Genève-Servette HC players SC Langenthal players HC Lugano players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Switzerland Sportspeople from the canton of Neuchâtel