Published5. November 2024, 07:41
Ice hockey: Samuel Asselin: “The only negative thing in Sierre? Graben»
The new Quebec striker for HC Sierre talks about his first months in Switzerland, where he discovered a more relaxed life than in North America.
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Ruben Steiger
Samuel Asselin has been in Sierre for three months, but he feels good there.
Alicia Saliba / HC Sierre
Samuel Asselin had never left North America. On August 2, a month and a day after his 26th birthday, the Quebecer decided to say goodbye to the American Hockey League. Despite a contract still valid for one season with Bridgeport, the farm team of the New York Islanders, he chose to cross the Atlantic to sign a two-year agreement with HC Sierre.
“It was a difficult decision because it meant that I was almost definitively drawing a line under my dream of playing in the NHL,” confirms the forward. The other element that made me hesitate was the distance from my family and friends.
Samuel Asselin spent the 2023-2024 season in Bridgeport in the AHL.
IMAGO/Kick USA
In Valais, he found Mario Pouliot, his coach for half a season in the Junior Maritimes Quebec Hockey League, and discovered the Graben ice rink. “I think that’s the only negative thing here,” he jokes. Fortunately I had been warned before my arrival, otherwise I would have wanted to go back to the airport with my suitcases.”
A lover of golf and good wines
Number 12 of “Rouge et Jaune” has another anecdote about the dilapidated Sierre enclosure. “The first time I returned to Graben, it was the day after the only rainy day in August, and we hadn’t been able to train because water had seeped in from the roof and the premises of our material manager was flooded. But now, the more I play there, the more I enjoy it and the more I tell myself that this rink still has a little charm.”
In just three months, Samuel Asselin has already been won over by life in Switzerland. “It’s so much quieter here,” he appreciates. The people of Valais take the time to relax. When I walk around Sierre in the afternoon, the terraces are full.”
Like many before him, he was captivated by the landscapes. “I also discovered the magnificent golf courses and the good wines of the region,” he adds. I’m really happy to be in Switzerland and I don’t regret coming there.”
The wish to stay in Switzerland for a long time
Everything is also going wonderfully for Samuel Asselin on the ice. After 17 Swiss League games, he already has 23 points (6 goals and 17 assists), which makes him the third best scorer in the championship. The line he forms with his compatriot Josh Lawrence and Leonardo Fuhrer terrorizes opposing defenses.
If he buried his NHL dream this summer, the winner of the 2018 Memorial Cup has set his sights on a new one. “Winning the title and promoting to the National League with Sierre is my new goal. The club has put together a great project and I am happy to be part of it.”
Samuel Asselin has had an excellent start to the season with Sierre. He is the 3rd best scorer in the Swiss League.
Pascal Muller/freshfocus
Between the lines, we understand that the center player imagines himself wearing the HC Sierre jersey in the long term and beyond his contract which ends in June 2026. “If the club still wants me by then, that’s the case, he laughs. I don’t want to get ahead of myself because I’ve only been here three months, but I feel very happy here.”
In the shorter term, Samuel Asselin will have the opportunity to continue his points harvest this Tuesday against Bellinzona at Graben. Under the eyes of his sister and his mother, who came to visit him, and perhaps even his friend, the Quebec singer Laurence St-Martin, who arrives in Switzerland on Tuesday.
