Nino Niederreiter grew up with his two sisters on Churer Weststrasse in a typical Swiss canton of Grisons middle-class family. Father Rene earned his money as a steelworker, and mother Ruth works at this time as a midwife. In the Swiss small town Idyll with a view of Fürhörnli and Calanda, Nino started dreaming of the big world of hockey through a Latvian. Nino’s sports inspiration is Harijs Vitolins. The center of Latvia’s national team switches from the Winnipeg Jets to Switzerland in the mid-90s. After a season with Rapperswil-Jona, the 6′ 4″ man ended up at EHC Chur.

Nino was five years old when he saw Vitolins perform for the first time in the indoor stadium. From that point on, little Niederreiter tried to follow in “Big Harijs’s” footsteps. Although he consistently delivered impressive samples of his talent, his dream of a great hockey career seemed to be shattered shortly before his tenth birthday – Nino was hit by a motorist while crossing a pedestrian crossing on a scooter. On the way to the hospital, the extraordinary boy told his shocked mother his last will: “If I die, I want you to bury me in hockey gear…” But it didn’t take long before Nino made an impressive comeback on the ice. The talent scouts from HC Davos lured him to the Landwassertal organization, the record Swiss champion, at the age of 14, where Arno Del Curto is the head coach at the time. In case the professional sports career doesn’t work out, Niederreiter starts an apprenticeship as a heating technician. However, only halfheartedly. “On my first day at vocational school, I had to write an essay about my expectations and goals for my apprenticeship.

I got pretty nasty looks from the teacher because I wrote that I probably wouldn’t finish the training so I could focus on hockey full-time.” And then? “On the second day of school, I was absent because of a U20 tournament in Slovakia. And on the third day of school, I gave the textbooks to the director and said ‘goodbye’.” At this point, Niederreiter is already playing a leading role in Del Curto’s future plans. However, “El Nino” duped HCD General in the same way as the vocational school teacher. Niederreiter still gets a chill down his spine when he tells this anecdote: “I was 16 and played in the first playoff semifinal game with HCD against Fribourg. We led 4:1, the fans were going crazy with joy. Arno pulled me aside on the bench and said, “Isn’t this amazing, right?!” I couldn’t really enjoy the fantastic atmosphere because I still had to deliver some unpleasant news to Del Curto. I didn’t really know how to do it.”

Actually, he wanted to tell the big Arno after this game what was going on. But he did it four minutes before the final siren: “That’s when I made it clear to Arno that I wouldn’t be available for the next playoff match because I’ll be traveling to the U-18 World Championship in the USA instead and playing for Portland in the Western Hockey League next season. Arno, who relied on me so heavily at the time, threw up his hands and assured me that I’ll regret this decision one day.”

Indeed, in the first few months in Portland, the sensitive guy from the canton of Grisons mountains often thought of Del Curto’s warning words. “I almost couldn’t speak a single English word at the beginning. I was very shy and had a lot of homesickness.”

But then Niederreiter started to make his way in the “wild hockey west.” – Thanks in part to the support of his Canadian forward colleague, Ryan Johansen. “Ryan was a rookie on the team, just like me. When we traveled 30 hours by bus to an away game, we both had to sit in the very back. That brought us closer together. Suddenly we understood each other on and off the ice almost blindly.”

The Swiss-Canadian connection harmonizes greatly in Portland, so that the ultimate childhood dream comes true for both in 2010. Johansen is drafted in the first round, fourth overall, by the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the New York Islanders secure Niederreiter’s rights at fifth overall. With the Islanders, Niederreiter has the good fortune of having the first Swiss NHL All-Star, Mark Streit, as captain. “Streit took care of me like a big brother. I was allowed to stay with him.” On the ice, however, the left wing doesn’t really get going with the Islanders. In two years, he scored only two goals, and is therefore repeatedly sent down to the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, however 2013 was a spectacular turning point for Niederreiter.

After winning the silver medal with the Swiss national team at the World Championship in Sweden, Nino was transferred to the Minnesota Wild, where he became a regular player. In 2014/15, he scored over 20 goals for the first time in an NHL season. His career best so far was achieved in the 16/17 season with 25 goals and 32 assists. As a reward, the “Wild” offer him a five-year contract that paid him $5.25 million per season. In January 2019, the passionate fisherman was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he scored 69 goals in four years. In the fall of 2022, a new chapter has begun for Nino. Since his move to the Nashville Predators, Nino has been playing with thee acquaintances – his Swiss National Team buddy Roman Josi, Minnesota teammate Mikael Granlund and his friends from Portland Ryan Johansen. “When I first entered the locker room in Nashville, it was like coming home after a long journey for me. I feel really at home here.” That’s why Arno Del Curto has also come to realize that Nino Niederreiter made the right decision back then to choose the adventure in North America over HCD.