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***bluesfan55*** · 08-27-2022, 12:24 PM

Bern is a city known for hockey. The National League A team, SC Bern, has been the most highly attended ice hockey team in Europe for over a decade, and notable names such as Dominik Kahun, Daniel Briere, Dany (all-star) Heatley, Marc Savard, Roman Josi, Mark Streit, and Nico Hischier have played for them. So it's no surprise that the team has brought forth another young player like Josi and Hischier with the potential to be a star in North America.

Sebastien Regazzoni is the grandson of former Formula 1 driver Clay, who won 5 races over 11 years while driving for notable teams like Ferrari and Williams. He was even played by Pierfrancesco Favino in Ron Howard's 2013 movie Rush. And while Sebastien did race in karts and open wheel up to British Formula 4, his main focus has always been hockey. There's no surprise that speed is the young Swiss center's main attribute, as his family name would suggest. He won the NLA's fastest skater competition as a 16 year old, and was known by his Bern teammates as Turbo. Regazzoni is also a gifted puckhandler and can start rushes with his combo of speed and skill. This also leads to him getting open at an above-average rate, but his NLA stats (23 games played, 3 goals, 3 assists) show that he is far from the finished product when it comes to finishing the play or finding that killer pass. Flashes have been shown, but it's clear that Regazzoni will need time in the juniors to round off his offensive game.

And if his offense isn't close to being finished, then his defense is basically nonexistent. Regazzoni can use his speed to backcheck and stickcheck, with a surprising will to block shots, but the rest of his defensive game is weak. Regazzoni isn't willing to use his size (6'3", 200 lbs) to throw hits and force opponents off the puck, and he struggles to read the game in his own zone. He's prone to giving away the puck in the wrong place at the wrong time and often gets bailed out by his defensemen.

But that tantalizing speed-skill combo could see the Swiss player become a first round pick in the upcoming SMJHL Draft. His agent, Dutch-Swiss legend Mitchell van der Heijden, has close ties to the Anchorage Armada, and it's highly believed that Regazzoni wants to pull on an Armada sweater come draft day, but Regazzoni has said that he's willing to talk to other teams. No matter where he plays, the potential this Swiss pivot shows could be gamebreaking, and he could be the next Swiss star, following in the footsteps of van der Heijden, Mathias Seger, and Luukas Lilja, among others.