“I couldn’t believe it”:

He didn't hesitate for long and hammered the puck into the sky after a beautiful Madaschi pass. Mark Sever's 2-3 goal in the Cup round of 16 against Basel was merely a cosmetic result for EHC Olten, but the 19-year-old once again showed his great potential. A ray of hope in the Oltner game in the midst of a challenging sporting time.

Mark Sever is considered one of the most promising U20 talents on Swiss ice. So it's no wonder that he was considered a candidate for one of the most important roles as a left wing alongside the imports at EHC Olten right from the start. “I needed the pre-season to get used to adult hockey. “I appreciated it all the more that I was given so much trust right from the start,” says Sever and explains:

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to produce as much offensively as we had expected.” So there were always shifts in the lineup, but that’s part of it.”

He says that, apart from the imports, he doesn't feel any particularly great pressure to succeed. “No matter whether I play on the first or fourth line, it’s incredibly fun to play ice hockey with everyone on the team. I just always try to do my best and get better step by step.”

Finally, Mark Sever also knew how to impress alongside the experienced strikers Obrist and Sterchi. “I felt comfortable next to them.” “We felt in the first training together that there was harmony and we understood each other almost blindly on the ice,” says Sever after Friday’s training, which he again did alongside Faille and Asselin completed.

Mark Sever will take the fact that EHC Olten has not gotten up to speed so far and even finished the first fifth of the qualification outside of a playoff place as a valuable experience in his first professional season. “I had already experienced a difficult situation in Kloten during the season before last when we were in a line fight. Some people quickly lost interest in hockey. But that is not the case here. I haven't seen anyone on the team who doesn't like going on the ice. The captain team with Florian Schmuckli also does their job well and keeps the team together. “That helps,” says the 19-year-old.

Sever's youth with tennis, ice hockey and football

Mark Sever grew up in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana in a polysport-oriented urban region. Sport was omnipresent in the family: his father put everything on the map in his youth with tennis, became the national junior champion of what was then Yugoslavia, and became a tennis coach after his active career. “He is an avid ice hockey fan and always wanted me to play ice hockey too. The ice rink was only 50 meters from the tennis courts.”

And so, at the age of four, Mark Sever began playing ice hockey as well as tennis, and occasionally even played football. “My father also told me that at the beginning I didn’t like ice hockey at all because I couldn’t skate,” he says with a laugh.

But Mark Sever shows a lot of talent on the ice, he is being pushed around a golden Slovenian ice hockey generation born in 2005. Their talent soon exceeded the national expertise to such an extent that a move to a hockey country with professional structures became inevitable.

“Many of my colleagues went to Sweden, and I originally wanted to go there too, but my father knew that the youth work in Switzerland was particularly good, which is why we decided to go there. “I haven’t regretted the decision for a second,” says Sever, who learned fluent Swiss German in just over four years.

U20 Elite at Kloten: 66 points in 44 games

At the age of 14, Mark Sever joined EHC Kloten, completed all elite levels in the airport city before attracting the attention of top clubs in the U20 with 66 points from 44 games. He signed a three-year contract with EHC Biel, whereby it was clearly defined that a loan would be carried out in the first year – thanks to the cooperation, EHC Olten was able to kiss his hand.

“I could hardly believe that Biel offered me a three-year contract and gave me the time to develop further.” The plan is that I can approach the level here in Olten. “It’s exactly the right path for me,” says the Slovenian with a Swiss license.

As much as Mark Sever is considered a highly talented ice hockey player, his maturation process also includes the fact that he has a reputation in the scene as a teenager who is difficult to manage. Where does that come from? Separate:

“I don't know it. I just have a strong character. Whether joy or anger: I like to show my emotions and express my opinion openly and honestly.”

According to reports, there have already been one or two discussions about this at EHC Olten.

In addition to ice hockey, the 19-year-old completed an internship at e+h Services AG. Every afternoon after morning training, he works around 50 percent of the time for the EHCO sponsor. “It's fun and it's good for me that I'm not wasting time on my cell phone while I'm playing ice hockey,” says Sever and laughs.

In his last elite year in Kloten, he furthered his education with an internship at the Swiss Ice Hockey Association. “It was strong, but I really liked it.” I was able to get to know a lot of people from the business and it was interesting to see ice hockey from a different side.”

Now he doesn't want to look too far ahead in terms of sport at EHC Olten. “I like to live in ice hockey from day to day and do my best,” says Sever and adds: “My dream has always been to be able to play in the National League.” I haven’t yet achieved my goal with the Biel contract , but it is an important step towards that. I would like to make it into the Biel team next season.”

With good performances and goals like in the Cup round of 16, he is definitely getting a little closer to this step.