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Beim EV Zug gelang Tobias Geisser in der Saison 2017/18 der Durchbruch in der NLA (Foto: Felix Klaus). While playing for EV Zug, Tobias Geisser made it into the Swiss A league in the 2017/18 season. (Photo: Felix Klaus)

Tobias Geisser im Dress der Washington Capitals während des Development Camps im Sommer 2018 (Foto: Patrick McDermott/Washington Capitals Photography). Tobias Geisser in his Washington Capitals uniform at a development camp in summer 2018 (Photo: Patrick McDermott / Washington Capitals Photography)

Tobias Geisser was the first Engelberg native to make it into the top flight of Swiss ice hockey. Now, the six-foot-four 19-year-old is aiming even higher. Earlier this year he signed a contract with the Washington Capitals – a team in the NHL, the world’s premiere ice hockey league. At the age of just 19, Tobias Geisser a lready has quite a career behind him. The Engelberg native star ted out at EHC Engelberg- Titlis, switching to EV Zug at the age of 13. As a member of the team’s EVZ Academy, he played in the Swiss B league f rom a young age and

a stroll with my family, I rea lly noticed how f resh the air is up here.” He used to enjoy hit- ting the slopes on skis, but as a professiona l ice hockey player he is now contrac tua lly forbidden to do that. Ice hockey was a lways Tobias’ favourite spor t of the many he prac- tised growing up. His father is the “Eismeister” (ice rink maintenance manager) at the Spor t- ing Park and used to play ice hockey himself. That ’s how Tobias got into the spor t. His father wou ld take the lit tle boy a long with him, and back then he loved the gear and equipment

even had severa l oppor tuni- ties to show of f his skills in the A league. Last season, he signed an A league profes- siona l contrac t and went on to per form conv incingly. As an U20 nationa l player,

even more than the spor t itself. Young Tobias’ ta lent quick ly began to stand out and so he was of ten a llowed to play with the older boys. At the age of 14 he switched schools, mov ing f rom

Tobias Geisser is working hard to establish himself in the NHL.

he was of fered a place in the senior nationa l team – and then a lso signed a three-year entr y- level contrac t with 2018 Stan ley Cup cham- pions, the Washing ton Capita ls. And that is no mean feat – since 1987 fewer than 50 Swiss nationa ls have made it into an NHL team. Shor tly before set ting of f for America, however, Tobias pointed out that he is likely to spend much of his time play ing in the AHL , the primar y developmenta l league for the NHL . His contrac t incorporates him into the Wash- ing ton Capita ls organisation, meaning that he can be deployed in the NHL team or in its AHL af f iliate, the Hershey Bears, as the coach decides. “I will just tr y to play well wherever I am,” Tobias says ca lmly. Tobias is ver y modest despite his high level of success so far, but his chance to shine is sure to come sooner or later. Over in the US, Tobias doesn’ t just miss his family, he a lso misses the mountain air of Engelberg. “When I was in Zug and wou ld come back to Engelberg on Sundays and take

the Stif tsschu le to the Spor tmit telschu le, which was able to f ur ther promote his ath- letic abilities. With its f lex ible schedu le, the spor ts academy made his life much easier, as at that time he was still at tending school in Engelberg but play ing his spor t over in Zug. Tobias never believed he wou ld make it this far, despite his steady upward climb to date. “For a long time, my primar y objec- tive was to be able to f inance my studies through hockey.” As a player in Switzerland ’s A league he wou ld have earned enough to avoid hav ing to take on a student job. In the meantime, he has far outstripped those career aims. It will be fascinating to see what he achieves nex t. His u ltimate goa l is to play in the team that wins the Stan ley Cup – and with his move to Washing ton he has taken a giant stride towards rea lising that dream.

www.washing toncaps.com www.hersheybears.com

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