[SPORT] NHL star who returned to Switzerland to perform military service: "It's the perfect solution"

[YaKuZa--BoSs]

"I can prepare very well for next season," says Nico Hischier, striker for the New Jersey Devils.

 

 

Nico Hischier, number 1 of the NHL draft in 2017, knew that this season he could not play anymore with the New Jersey Devils, who had not managed to enter the list of 24 teams that will play the Stanley Cup playoffs The 21-year-old forward, with no clear horizon to return, decided to take advantage of the hiatus to fulfill his military service in Switzerland, his native country.

"He had to explain to my team that in my country it is mandatory and also that it is a unit for athletes, so I will have the opportunity to train during this time," he revealed in an interview to BZ Sport. "I can prepare very well for next season. It is the perfect solution," said Hischier, who last January had played his first All-Star in St. Louis.

Nico started on April 14, in full confinement, with an online course that lasted four weeks. After moving on May 11 to the town of Macolin, headquarters of the Federal Office of Sport, he continued with two daily training sessions, where in addition to the physical sessions, he received theoretical instruction. "We have not yet started with anything to do with combat," he clarified.

"WE MUST CONTINUE TOGETHER"
Military service in the Swiss country includes compulsory initial training of 18 weeks and other periods of three weeks over the next six or seven years. The instruction, with five days a week, will allow Hischier to return to his home during the weekend.

"I am positive, because otherwise I could not go ahead. I tell myself that the pandemic affects us all equally and that we must continue to be united," he clarified during his meeting with the press through Zoom.

Hischier, the author of this course with 14 goals and 22 assists in 58 games with the Devils, plans to finish this stage in mid-August. After the bad campaign with the New Jersey franchise, which in December and January dispensed with its coach, John Hynes and its general manager, Ray Shero, the Swiss looks with some hope for the short-term future. One of his next goals is to relieve Andy Greene, transferred in February to the New York Islanders.