Gil Montandon

Gil Montandon
Gil Montandon
Born	April 28, 1965 (age 59); Neuchâtel, SUI
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	199 lb (90 kg; 14 st 3 lb)
Position	Centre
Shot	Right
Played for	SC Bern; HC Fribourg-Gottéron
National team	Switzerland
Playing career	1984–2009

Gil Montandon (born April 28, 1965 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland) is a Swiss former professional ice hockey centre. He played in the National League (NL) for HC Fribourg-Gottéron and SC Bern.

Montandon is currently working as a hockey analyst for the Francophone Swiss television station, RTS. He also works as a hockey expert for MySports, the official broadcaster of the Swiss National League. He is also a regular guest on hockey talk show, Les Puckalistes, on the Francophone Swiss television station, La Télé.

Playing career[edit]

Montandon made his professional debut during the 1984-85 National League season, playing for HC Fribourg-Gottéron. He went on to play 5 seasons with the team before joining SC Bern in the summer of 1989. He played 11 seasons with Bern, winning 3 Swiss championships. In the summer of 2000, Montandon returned to his former team, HC Fribourg-Gottéron, to play 9 more seasons in the National League. He eventually retired from professional hockey at age 43. He played a total of 1,069 games in the National League, tallying 416 goals and 444 assists.

Achievements[edit]

1991 - NL Champion with SC Bern
1992 - NL Champion with SC Bern
1997 - NL Champion with SC Bern

He is the first player to have played 1000 games in the Swiss National League.

International play[edit]

Gil Montandon played a total of 156 games for the Swiss national team.

He participated in the following tournaments:

3 A-World Championships: 1991, 1992, 1993
3 B-World Championships: 1989, 1990, 1994
2 Olympic Games: 1988 in Calgary and 1992 in Albertville

Coaching career[edit]

Prior to the 2011-12 MySports League season, Montandon was named head coach of HC Université Neuchâtel. He stayed at the helm of the team for 4 seasons before being named general manager of Swiss League (SL) team, EHC Visp at the beginning of the 2015/16 SL season. He was then named head coach of the team ad interim, before being replaced by Scott Beattie on December 28, 2015.

Personal life[edit]

Montandon is the father of Arnaud and Maxime Montandon who both play for HC Sierre of the Swiss League (SL), as a center and a defenseman respectively.

External links[edit]

Montandon on hockeyfans.ch
Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com