Ice Hockey: A resident of Aargau “Made in the USA” dreams of winning a medal

Cedric Fiedler was born in Boca Raton, Florida and soon moved with his family to Sacramento, California. When it comes to both destinations, you don’t necessarily first think of ice hockey as a sport. “It was very hot, so we went to the ice rink to calm down,” his father, Marcel Fiedler, recalls with a smile. “And so I started ice hockey very early and went to hockey school when I was three years old,” Cedric’s son adds, laughing. And it immediately became clear: this is his sport. He remembers the beginning: “I always wanted to go to training.”

This remains the case today. When kindergarten started, the Cedric family moved back to Switzerland, to Untersigen, with their younger siblings Kylian and Chantal, where his father was raised. And he wanted to continue indulging his passion for snowboarding. From high school onwards, this has meant waking up early every day, eating pasta and leaving at 5.45 am for Zug’s morning training with EV Zug. “My parents drove me every day. Really every day, ”the Son affirms, and you can hear gratitude in his voice. Then he returned to Untersiggenthal just before 10 o’clock and had to catch up: “I always had to know what I missed.”

Via Argovia Stars to Zug

The youngster from Aargau played for Argovia Stars up to Mini A and then continued his career in EV Zug. After elementary and high school at Untersiggenthal, it was all about an additional talent pathway – professionally and athletically. “If I had completed a regular apprenticeship, it wouldn’t be a competitive sport anymore,” he said. However, this was out of the question for the goal-oriented talent: he wanted to go to Hockey Academy in Zug. Fiedler completed his training as an office assistant over two years and continued serious training.

After that, it was possible for another two years to do KV. But Cedric Fiedler had other plans: He wanted to return to the United States to play hockey. “It’s always been a problem,” explains the 1.91m defender. And his parents supported him until he went solo to the US when he was only 17 years old. So he ended up with 300 other players in the camp for Fargo Force (North Dakota) in the USHL, considered one of the best undergraduate leagues. Fiddler has downgraded as one of 28 talents and was able to live his big dream and go to high school.

In the meantime the NCAA ended up

This year he followed the next step in his career and moved Argauer to Western Michigan University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, considered the best training league in North America for quality. Both on and off the ice. Additionally, head coach Andy Murray, a coaching legend with a lot of experience in the NHL and a successful Swiss past, knows exactly what Fiddler had a good training in the EVZ.

Fiedler has been an integral part of the national junior teams since U16. Two years ago he was at the U-18 World Cup in Sweden. Now he’s in Edmonton, waiting for the World Cup to start. Waiting is the right expression, because first all the players and coaches had to spend four days alone in the room. This means eating, strength training and movement units as well as sessions and sleeping without any contact with the team.

Virtual singing of the national anthem

But the team spirit was encouraging anyway: at 7.30am, the day of waking began and the “common” singing – tied digitally – was the Swiss national anthem. Although he was born in the USA and lived there for a few years and is now back again, he feels completely Swiss: “My close classmates from school and hockey all come from Aargau.” Ambitious goals: “Medal” and also seems to take this special stance with ease: “If you’re mentally strong, that works well. We’re also strong athletes in this field,” the 93-pound defense secretary confidently explains.

His goals are ambitious: “Wissam,” he says without hesitation. It will always be difficult for Switzerland. On December 25, Slovakia will be the first competitors in the preliminary round. But nothing is impossible. Especially for a fighter like Cedric Fiedler.