Absent from Yorick Treille’s list for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, French hockey team forward Tim Bozon expressed his disappointment following his non-selection to the Swiss media Blick.
This Tuesday, the French Hockey Federation unveiled the list of 25 players who will be part of the Olympic adventure next February at Milan-Cortina. If indestructible executives like Pierre-Edouard Bellemare or Stéphane da Costa will be present, one absence is still worth noting: that of Tim Bozon.
The 31-year-old winger, who plays for the very competitive Swiss championship at Genève-Servette, has been a regular member of the French team’s meetings since his first selection against Slovakia in May 2013. Present in the ranks of the Blues during seven editions of the elite World Championship, he is in the columns of the Swiss media Click that the native of Saint-Louis in the United States made out of his disappointment at not being on the trip, explaining that this announcement had been experienced “like a hammer blow, because I was supposed to go. »
“I feel like I was lied to”
Despite a good season for Geneva, Tim Bozon has not worn the French team jersey since last May and the World Championships. He also scored a goal in his final match against Slovenia. “Over the last five World Championships since the comeback (in 2022), I am the best scorer on the team. I play in a big championship, I’ve been averaging half a point per match for three years, I score around fifteen goals per season,” he declares in particular.
While in his eyes, the problem does not seem to be on the ice, Tim Bozon sees it as “a personal matter”, and believes that coach Yorick Treille is “making him pay something”, adding that an “attitude problem” would have been mentioned. In its article published this Tuesday, the specialized site Hockey Archives
also mentions a possible “difficult character” of the player and also specifies that he was not even included in the pre-list. A situation whose beginnings could date back a few months ago. Then coach of Tim Bozon’s Genève-Servette, Yorick Treille was fired following poor results. The winger, then returning from injury, did not have the expected performances and defended himself regarding this period: “When he was coach in Geneva, I did not play my best hockey. That, I readily admit. Except it was a coincidence. I had a complicated summer, disrupted preparation, injuries, a huge physical delay. (…) This is also why I find what is happening unfair. The last two meetings before his dismissal, I started to gain momentum. And just after he left, I had my two best matches, that’s factual. I think he felt betrayed. But for my part, there was never the slightest intention of playing against him. » Before adding: “But after his dismissal in Geneva, I suddenly disappeared (from the French team lists). For me, it’s clear. In the way he spoke to me, in his tone, I felt a lot of hatred. »
Author of three precious points during the Olympic qualifying tournament, Tim Bozon denies being a difficult player and affirms that there is no problem within the group: “I called executives from the French team. Everyone confirmed to me that there had never been any problem with me. (…) I have the feeling that I have been lied to, that I have been given reasons that do not hold water. I accept my character, I assume my faults. But what I’m being accused of here is not reality.”
