And Then There Were Seven

Swiss hockey league fans will likely recognize the smiling face to the left as long-time Swedish star Fanny Rask who played with HC Ambrì-Piotta women's team in the PostFinance women's league in Switzerland. Fask had a solid season last year as she finished eleventh in Swiss League scoring, but the HC Ambrì-Piotta won't benefit from her presence on their roster or anyone else's presence on that roster after they decided to withdraw from the PostFinance Women's League for the 2026-27 season. As a result of that decision, the league will operate with seven teams this season after last season's fourth-place team cited a lack of prospects as the reason they would be unable to field a team.

As you may recall, SC Langenthal already shut down its program at the end of the 2025-26 season, and the SWHL-A league decided to promote Lausanne HC Féminin from the SWHL-B league to take Langenthal's spot. The eight-team schedule was released on July 3, 2026 with HC Ambrì-Piotta slotted in for the full season, but it seems things changed dramatically over the last month in Ambri.

On July 30, 2026, the team released the following statement:

"In recent weeks, the club has made every possible effort to complete the squad and create the necessary conditions to approach the season in a serious, sustainable manner that meets sporting expectations. Despite these efforts, it has not been possible to find a sufficient number of players to assemble a suitable squad."

I'm not saying that the growth of the PWHL is hurting European leagues, but seeing one of the better SWHL teams close the doors on this season isn't good. HC Ambrì-Piotta did note in their statement that this isn't the end for the Swiss women's club, stating,

"The club will immediately begin work to examine the sporting, organizational, and financial prerequisites necessary for a potential return to the National League B starting the following season. The goal will be to develop a solid and sustainable project that promotes the players and creates concrete prospects for the future of women's ice hockey in the blue and white."

Um, yay? The Ambrì-Piotta will voluntarily join the SWHL-B as they rebuild, but how do they attract talent to do that if they couldn't attract talent to play in Switzerland's top women's league? I'll let the powers-that-be who run HC Ambrì-Piotta answer that question, but I would guess that there are a pile of Canadian and American university graduates who would have jumped at the opportunity to join HC Ambrì-Piotta if given the chance. But we'll never know now.

As it stands, Lausanne HC's debut in the SWHL-A will be pushed back to September 13 thanks to HC Ambrì-Piotta's absence while the ZSC Lions will have their home-opener postponed until September 20 for the same reason. The full schedule can be found here, but it looks like two teams will have a bye every weekend this season with the empty slots once occupied by the HC Ambrì-Piotta squad.

Losing two teams in the span of four months doesn't make the SWHL-A stronger, and it appears that the SWHL-A will look to backfill these absences in their league by eliminating the relegation playoff between the PostFinance Women's League and the SWHL-B. It seems the top SWHL-B will only be promoted to bring the SWHL-A back to eight teams. Whether or not that relegation playoff is resumed in 2027-28 will have to be seen, but it feels like the SWHL-A is on shaky ground right now when it comes to the health of the league.

Here's hoping that HC Ambrì-Piotta can get their situation sorted out because the SWHL at all levels needs stable teams. Swiss hockey is good hockey and it shouldn't be overlooked, but eliminating teams makes finding roster spots that much harder. HC Ambrì-Piotta should have a full roster, but they'll reset and start over next season.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!