EV Zug has little to counter the irresistible ZSC Lions and fails in the play-off semi-finals without a single win. Will the club now realize that it is saving money in the wrong place?
A season to forget: EVZ captain Jan Kovar, who was so strong in previous years, achieved very little in 2023/24.
Urs Flueeler / KEYSTONE
When EV Zug became champions for the second time in a row in spring 2022, the experts and the media agreed: This carefully managed and skilfully coached club has what it takes to become a dynasty. The NZZ wrote that, Watson, the local media.
Two years later, things are different. As was the case a year ago, Zug failed in the play-off semi-finals with almost no chance. On Monday evening, the EVZ said goodbye to the summer break with a 0-2 defeat against the ZSC Lions – it was their fourth defeat in a row. The team never actually gave the impression of being a serious championship contender this winter.
Certainly mitigating circumstances can be claimed: bad luck with injuries. Missing Fortune. Normal signs of wear and tear after years spent enjoying the sweet nectar of success. And there are clubs that would sell themselves to Red Bull or another devil in order to swap worries with the EVZ. The fallen former heavyweights Bern and Lugano, for example.
The Oym athletic center costs the EVZ more than one million francs per season
Zug’s fall may have been gentler. But it is no less painful. Because it could have easily been prevented. In a way, the people of Zug are becoming victims of their own success. Because the most important personality in the EVZ construct is caught up in a romantic fallacy: President Hans-Peter Strebel, who is blessed with a billion-dollar fortune, would like to follow up his first two triumphs with another title in probably the most fulfilling way: in the club he supports simply works a little better than the competition instead of hoarding it in a checkbook.
Strebel, 75, laid the foundations for this. Since he took over the management in 2015, Zug has made enormous progress in every respect, the club has received several awards for its youth work and was able to celebrate the title at U20 level. And Strebel donated the “Oym” center for top athletics in Cham, which cost over 100 million francs, from his private assets. The EVZ has been training there under the supervision of ETH scientists since 2020; there is no off-ice team in Europe that leaves as little to chance as Zug. This reportedly costs between 30,000 and 40,000 francs per actor. Plus sum X for the offspring. That is a lot of money and there is no alternative because there is a relationship of dependency between the Oym and the EVZ. It doesn’t matter whether you think the amount is justified or not. The fact is: These are resources that the EVZ lacks elsewhere.
Which wouldn’t be a problem if the National League worked like the NHL. With a salary cap that ensures that titles cannot be bought. But they have to be developed with clever management. If the talent level were identical across all 14 NL teams, the Oym would represent a gigantic advantage. Only: That’s not the case. And the last two seasons have been proof that a player like Andreas Wingerli does not become a wonder striker who can score at will even if he completes the most sophisticated training program in the world for a year and eats healthier.
The Swede Wingerli, 26, was signed in the summer of 2023. It is a reliable source of energy with high speeds and fast legs. But he only produced 20 points in 49 games. Since the introduction of the play-offs in 1985/86, no foreign EVZ striker who played at least 35 games has had such a low points average. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that he didn’t have the caliber to step into the breach for the actual number 1 center Jan Kovar. Kovar, 34, had a terrible season and also struggled with himself off the ice.
Zug’s foreign staff scored 54 goals in qualifying, the fourth worst in the league. And it is simply good enough to meet the demands of master craftsmen. You don’t offend Wingerli if you characterize him as a “budget foreigner”. The sports director Reto Kläy has often had to make compromises on talent when making purchases in the recent past because the scope in the budget was exhausted. Last but not least, it is the Oym money that is missing to sign foreigners of the class that the all-powerful ZSC currently has in six versions.
It is an honor for Strebel that he is sticking firmly to the rule he formulated almost a decade ago that he is not available to cover a structural deficit. He doesn’t think that’s sustainable, which is of course true. Especially since a championship title, that is a bitter truth, is not particularly financially lucrative. The additional income from a long play-off is usually enough to pay the success bonuses to the players. And unlike in football, there are no gushing European Cup millions.
Firing coach Dan Tangnes would make no sense – and is unthinkable
It is a policy of common sense that the EVZ pursues, and the club can be praised for it. But it’s astonishing that it shouldn’t be possible to find half a million or a whole million francs somewhere to add the quality to the squad that it needs for the really big shots. Especially in Zug, this canton, which has an almost inexhaustible reservoir of remarkably solvent people. Glencore is one of the club sponsors; Before every home game, he is symbolically transported to the center circle by a mascot who goes by the name “Mister Money”.
There was a lot of frustration in Zug’s instant analyzes from Monday evening. The sports director Reto Kläy said that the club had “lost its shine”. And he categorically refused to rule anything out, even leaving open the possibility of a change of coach. A manager spoke who didn’t want to prejudge any analysis. Play-off disappointments have always been a harbinger of cleansing storms in Zug, but it is completely out of the question that coach Dan Tangnes will be fired. Tangnes, 45, may have lost some of his magic of late but he remains one of Europe’s most respected coaches. And is contractually bound until 2026. A club with such a strong cost-consciousness as the EVZ will not fire a coach that it would have to pay for another two years, especially without any necessity. On Monday, Tangnes said: “It’s true that we couldn’t build on the two championship seasons. But if our bad years consist of reaching the semi-finals, then I’m happy to sign that.”
It is worth not forgetting this reality. Even if this doesn’t seem to be so easy for the Zug audience – on Monday whistles could be heard after the first third when the score was 0-0. But the ZSC’s attrition may have the effect of making people in Zug realize that, at least among foreigners, a qualitative upgrade is essential. The EVZ still has at least two licenses available for 2024/25. After this dismal season, surprises in this regard cannot be ruled out.