Point by point: 318,600 francs for the future of Swiss ice hockey

It’s a moment of pause. When the final note of a concert has faded and the curtain falls, the artists retreat backstage and catch their breath for a minute, before stepping back into the spotlight for the encore.

For the Top Scorers in Swiss ice hockey, there’s a moment like this between qualification and playoffs. They, too, take a moment to breathe. However, even during this interlude, they remain the focus of attention – at PostFinance’s Top Scorer Awards. Every year, the top point scorers come together for the occasion – though for most of them, the best is still to come. As Estelle Duvin puts it: “It’s fun to be here. But we’re not yet at the finish line. Our mission is not complete.” For the 29-year-old forward from SC Bern Women, the 2026 award ceremony is practically a home game: the event will take place in the new Bern Festhalle, right next to the PostFinance Arena, Duvin’s home stadium. Since PostFinance first honoured the Top Scorers in the highest women’s league in 2024, the French player has been a regular guest at the ceremony. “It feels good to help the team with points every season,” she says. But for Duvin and her teammates, the mission of defending their title still lies ahead.

Stalder looks ahead, Granlund’s final sprint

In the playoff final, the Bern team will meet the EV Zug women’s team, captained by Lara Stalder. The 31-year-old Swiss international player travelled to Bern as the Top Scorer in the PostFinance Women’s League. Her impressive results: 27 games, 53 points. For Stalder, it is truly a moment of pause: in February, she won the Olympic bronze with the national team, and from 21 March, she is aiming for her first championship title with Zug. “The Olympics still feels like a fairy tale,” says Stalder, “but I’m focused on living in the moment and looking ahead.”

Stalder’s counterpart in the Bern Festhalle is Markus Granlund. By scoring four points for Servette in the final qualifying match, the Finn managed to catch up with the leading Davos player, Matej Stransky, to become the best scorer in the National League. “It was only after the first third of the match that I learned from a colleague that Stransky wasn’t playing the final match for Davos. That’s when I realized it was still possible,” says Granlund.

The 32-year-old forward is referring to the fact that every goal and every assist benefits the players in the junior leagues. In the PostFinance Women’s League, a set amount of 150,000 francs is distributed between the eight clubs to ensure that all Top Scorers receive equal funding for their club’s junior section and to promote women’s ice hockey in general. In the Men’s League, on the other hand, each point is worth 300 francs. Granlund received a symbolic cheque worth 16,200 francs for his score of 54 points.

Almost 9 million francs since 2002

PostFinance has been supporting Swiss ice hockey since the 2002/03 season. With their yellow helmets and flame-emblazoned jerseys, the Top Scorers have long since become a brand – and a role model for generations to come. ZSC forward Sven Andrighetto recalls looking up to the Top Scorers as a child: “I’m thinking of Randy Robitaille from ZSC or Simon Gamache from SCB with their yellow helmets. I loved watching them, it was pretty cool.”

The younger generation has long been looking up to Andrighetto. At the award ceremony, the 32-year-old and the other Top Scorers will for once not only be admired by the children, but also interviewed. The questions will be put to the athletes via video message and prompt them to reveal all sorts of personal details. Davos forward Lucia Haluskova shows off her good luck charm: a bracelet with the engraving “one of four”, which represents the bond with her three siblings. They all have one of their own.

It’s only fitting that the children and the stars should feature at the award ceremony side by side – after all, talented young players are the real winners of the Top Scorer concept. The 22 Top Scorers in the PostFinance Women’s League and National League scored a total of 812 points in the 2025/26 regular season, representing a subsidy amount of 318,600 francs. All the money will go to the clubs’ junior divisions. Since 2002, almost 9 million francs have been raised in this way. The clubs are held accountable annually for the use made of the prizes. A look at a selection of implemented projects shows the extent to which ice hockey is being promoted in the regions.

More transport in Ambri, lower costs in Lausanne and Bienne

Recruiting and transporting up-and-coming ice hockey talent is a major challenge in Ambrí. HC Ambrí-Piotta’s catchment area is full of winding roads and stretches on both sides of the Gotthard, from the Maggia Valley to Central Switzerland. This makes logistics time-consuming. Thanks to the goals and assists of that year’s Top Scorer Michael Spacek, HCAP was able to finance a minibus in the summer of 2024. Since then, ice hockey-loving girls and boys from the surrounding area have been chauffeured to the Gottardo Arena for training sessions.

In the same year, HC Davos Ladies invested the Top Scorer funds in Girls Projekt Ost: this is a support programme that supports girls in the age brackets U9 to U19 throughout Eastern Switzerland in their development on and off the ice.

In recent years, EV Zug has used its Top Scorer funds to provide even broader support and cover the salary costs of skating coaches, mental coaches and physiotherapists for its junior teams.

Before it is possible to promote children in ice hockey, they must come into contact with the sport in the first place. One obstacle to entry is the high cost of the equipment. Thanks to support from Finland, children in Vaud and Seeland can try out ice hockey without their parents having to shoulder high expenses: Lausanne invested the bonus from 2023/24 Top Scorer Antti Suomela in the equipment of the ice hockey school and the 2024/25 bonus (Top Scorer Toni Rajala) in EHC Biel. Meanwhile, the goals and assists of Rapperswil’s Malte Strömwall ensured that the Lakers’ junior goalies were properly equipped.

The clubs decide at the end of the season how the contributions earned from Stalder, Granlund and their counterparts will be used. For the time being, the Top Scorers are focusing on more pressing sporting issues – leaving the stage free for the play-ins, playoffs and playouts.