Head coach Scott Owens recently spent some time with former Tigers Peter Sejna, Marty Sertich and Eric Walsky on a trip through Switzerland in August. All three are playing professionally and have settled in to their “ new homes” rather well.

Here is a quick snapshot of the trio:

After playing four years in the American Hockey League with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche organizations, Marty Sertich decided to take his skills to Olten, Switzerland, and the Swiss B National League. The teams in the B league are allowed two “imported” players and Marty fills one of those spots.

Interestingly enough, Marty is teamed up with Canadian Carsen Germyn – a former AHL player who is engaged to Jeneca Fredheim (Kris' sister). Now all four of them – Marty, his wife Becky, Carsen and Jeneca – are living in Olten.

The regular season opened on Sept. 10 and Marty began his Swiss career with a goal and an assist in his team's 7-5 victory. Marty's skill set, plus the size of the ice sheets in Europe, fit him perfectly.  He's excited about this opportunity and the next phase of his hockey career.

Eric Walsky joins Geneva of the Swiss A National League this season. Geneva lost to Bern in Game 7 of the national championship best-of-seven series in 2009-10.

Eric spent last season in the Vancouver Canucks organization and decided to take his skills overseas – for this year and likely beyond. His mom hails from Switzerland, so Eric is considered a “Swiss” player. His skating ability and overall skill make him a great fit there.

Geneva is in the French speaking part of the country, so Eric is adjusting to that aspect of daily life as well as the hockey. His coach is Chris McSorley, brother of former NHL standout Marty McSorley.

Already a veteran of the Swiss A League after playing three years in Zurich, Peter Sejna made the switch over to Davos of the Swiss A National League late last spring. Davos is a beautiful ski resort town on the eastern side of the country.

Peter is in Switzerland with his wife Amanda (Amanda Wilkens, who attended CC in 2000-01) and their son, Owen. He recently (Aug. 30) underwent a second operation on his ankle to correct a problem he had from last season, and will need four months to recover. The Swiss A League teams are allowed four imports and Davos has three Czech Republic players in addition to Peter. Here's to wishing him a speedy and healthy recovery!

And one final note – although unrelated to the visit to Switzerland, it nonetheless is interesting information about Tom Preissing.

After entertaining some discussions of a return to the NHL and hockey in North America, Tom will take his talents overseas to Russia and Europe. He left last week for Kazakhstan, where he will play on the country's KHL (Russian Elite League) entry, Barys Astana.

Then, on Oct. 24th, he'll head to the Finnish Elite League and play in Oulu for the remainder of the season. His wife Danielle and son Ellis will join him there in November. They are expecting their second child in February and plan on having that baby in Finland. The 2010-11 season for Tom will be an adventure that any CC alum would be proud of!