According to Blick, Simon Schenk suffered a stroke during heart surgery and passed away last night. The report has also been confirmed to SRF. With Schenk, Swiss ice hockey loses one of its greatest personalities.
As a player, Simon Schenk celebrated with SC Langnau their first and only Swiss championship title in 1976. During the 80ies, he became head coach of the Swiss national team and led the team to the A-group only one year later. After one season as head coach of EHC Olten and four seasons with SC Langnau, he took over the national team again in 1995.
Simon Schenk is also known as one of the important persons in the ZSC Lions' history. He joined the organization on January 1, 1998 and led the Lions as team manager in 2000 to their first championship title in 39 years. As of 2006 he had been responsible for the GCK Lions until he retired and left the ZSC/GCK organization in December 2016.
