2024–25 National League (ice hockey) season

The 2024–25 National League season is the 87th season of Swiss professional ice hockey and the eighth season as the National League (NL).

2024–25 National League season
League	National League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September 17, 2024 – April, 2025
Number of games	52
Number of teams	14
Regular season
Playoffs
Swiss champion NL

The ZSC Lions are the defending champion. 4 teams from the NL are also playing in the Champions Hockey League (CHL), those teams being the ZSC lions, HC Fribourg-Gottéron, Lausanne HC and Genève-Servette HC.

The teams did not change from the 2023-24 season as no relegation match was played because HC La Chaux-de-Fonds, the winner of the Swiss League, does not meet the requirements to play in the NL.

Teams

HC Ambrì-Piotta

HC Ajoie

SC Bern

EHC Biel

HC Davos

Fribourg-Gottéron

Genève-Servette HC

EHC Kloten

Lausanne HC

HC Lugano

SCL Tigers

SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers

ZSC Lions

EV Zug

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NL teams for the 2024–25 season

Team	City	Arena	Capacity
HC Ajoie	Porrentruy	Raiffeisen Arena	5,078
HC Ambrì-Piotta	Ambrì	Gottardo Arena	6,775
SC Bern	Bern	PostFinance Arena	17,031
EHC Biel	Biel/Bienne	Tissot Arena	6,562
HC Davos	Davos	Eisstadion Davos	6,547
Fribourg-Gottéron	Fribourg	BCF Arena	9,075
Genève-Servette HC	Geneva	Patinoire des Vernets	7,135
EHC Kloten	Kloten	Stimo Arena	7,624
Lausanne HC	Lausanne	Vaudoise Aréna	9,600
HC Lugano	Lugano	Cornèr Arena	7,800
SCL Tigers	Langnau im Emmental	Ilfis Stadium	6,000
SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Rapperswil	St. Galler Kantonalbank Arena	6,100
ZSC Lions	Zürich	Swiss Life Arena	12,000
EV Zug	Zug	Bossard Arena	7,200

Regular season

During the regular season, teams gain 3 points for a win in regulation time, 2 for a win in overtime, 1 for a loss in overtime, and none for a loss in regulation.

Standings

The standings of the National League as of December 2, 2024. Playoff / Play-In / Playout qualifications are not final.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	HC Davos	26	14	4	3	5	88	58	+30	53	Advance to Playoffs
2	ZSC Lions	24	12	7	2	3	78	47	+31	52
3	SC Bern	27	12	2	8	5	89	70	+19	48
4	Lausanne HC	26	12	4	2	8	81	79	+2	46
5	EV Zug	26	12	2	1	11	86	70	+16	41
6	EHC Kloten	26	10	5	1	10	66	68	−2	41
7	EHC Biel	26	9	3	4	10	57	57	0	37	Advance to Play-In
8	HC Fribourg-Gottéron	26	9	1	5	11	64	73	−9	34
9	Genève-Servette HC	23	7	4	4	8	68	66	+2	33
10	SCL Tigers	24	8	3	2	11	55	58	−3	32
11	HC Ambrì-Piotta	25	4	7	6	8	69	83	−14	32
12	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	26	7	3	5	11	66	80	−14	32
13	HC Lugano	24	9	0	2	13	62	82	−20	29	Advance to Playout
14	HC Ajoie	25	5	2	2	16	60	98	−38	21

Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points per game 2) greater number of games played 3) greater number of away games played 4) head-to-head points

Postseason

At the end of the regular season, the 6 teams with the most points advance to the playoffs, the next 4 advance to the play-ins for a chance to qualify to the playoffs. The 2 teams with the least point go to the playouts. The loser of the series has to face the winner of the Swiss League and are relegated to the Swiss League if they lose (the winning team being promoted).

Play-in stage

Each round of the play-ins is played in 2 matches, one at each team's home arena, using aggregate scoring (the winner is defined by the total score of the 2 matches). The games are only played on regulation time (no overtime). If the total score at the end of regulation of the second match is even, endless overtime is played. The first game is played at the home arena of the team with the lowest regular season ranking.

In the first round, the 7th seed faces the 8th and the 9th faces the 10th. The winner of the match between the 7th and 8th qualifies for the playoffs and faces the 2nd in the general ranking. The loser faces the winner of the match between 9th and 10th in the second round. The winner of the second round qualifies for the playoffs and faces the 1st in the general ranking.

	Round 1						Round 2						Final Seeds
	7														No. 7 Seed
	8														No. 8 Seed
	9
	10

Playoffs

The playoffs are played in a single elimination bracket, each round being a best of seven. The seeding is decided based on the regular season for the 6 first teams, the 7th and 8th coming from the play-ins. The teams play every other game at their home arena, the team with the higher regular season ranking getting the advantage for the first game.