In the sixth duel of the play-off final series on Saturday evening, Lausanne temporarily leads 5-0. For Tuesday’s “Belle” the starting point is clear: the ZSC must, Lausanne can become champions.
Because Lausanne beats ZSC, there will be a decisive seventh game in the Swiss ice hockey final for the third time in the last three years.
Valentin Flauraud / Keystone
At Lausanne HC’s home games, a 1990s hit by the American punk band The Offspring is played at the end of every third break; the tradition also survived the move from the Malley to the Vaudoise Aréna five years ago. The Californians sing in it:
Chances thrown
Nothing’s free
Longing for what used to be
Still it’s hard, hard to see
Fragile lives
Shattered dreams (go!)
The song is about what it’s like growing up in a small town, about the worries of life. But for the ZSC Lions, the passages could be a dark beacon: missed opportunities, shattered dreams? That would probably sum up Zurich’s emotional world quite accurately if ZSC were to lose the championship title at the end of what has been such a convincing season so far.
In Zurich, 8,500 spectators were ready for the championship celebration at the public viewing – they were bitterly disappointed
After what happened on Saturday evening, this is a realistic scenario. The people of Zurich traveled to Lausanne with high hopes; the league had already sent out their instructions for a possible trophy presentation as a precaution. But the ZSC lost 3:5, which sounds less dramatic than it was. The guests delivered a debacle of a performance and were only able to make it a little more positive in the final section. 175 kilometers away, at the public viewing in Zurich’s Swiss Life Arena, 8,500 spectators could hardly believe their eyes.
What the hell is going on?
The cruelest dream, reality
You could actually ask yourself that, from Zurich’s perspective: what the hell is going on and how you can wake up from the nightmare called reality. ZSC was 0:5 behind after 39 minutes. He had never lost by more than three goals the entire season, through 65 games. Coach Marc Crawford had already seen enough after 35 minutes and replaced goalkeeper Simon Hrubec. Only then did his team wake up and respond with three goals. At some point, the Lausanne coach Geoff Ward was no longer comfortable with the matter and tried to break the ZSC’s enthusiasm with a time-out. In the end, his team managed to gain the lead over time without being brilliant.
The ZSC came into this game under difficult conditions and had to do without top performers Yannick Weber and Rudolfs Balcers, who were injured on Thursday. Nevertheless, it was not foreseeable that the ZSC would be able to do so little to counter the unleashed enemy for so long. In the middle third the guest was almost run over.
The question is how much this initially disastrous performance damaged the team’s self-confidence. And how quickly Crawford manages to get his team up and running. On Tuesday it’s all about everything in the Swiss Life Arena in the Belle. It is a first for the ZSC to play Game 7 in a final series at home: the Zurich team won in Lugano in 2001 and 2018, and in Bern in 2012. And in 2022 they lost in Zug.
Only five players remain from the 2018 championship team, including attacker Chris Baltisberger. The 32-year-old moved into the parade line with Denis Malgin and Sven Andrighetto instead of Balcers. Baltisberger scored Zurich’s first goal and wanted the evening to be valued so that they could build on the last section. He also said: “It’s great for Swiss ice hockey that there’s a seventh game.”
The Lausanne HC has existed since 1922 – and is still waiting for its first title
This is certainly true for neutral viewers and the industry. The interim score of 3:3 is also consistent with the performance in this entertaining series in which a surprising number of goals were scored. And the home team always won.
But in the ZSC they could have done without this thrill. There is a lot at stake for the organization on Tuesday, because the roles are actually clearly assigned: the ZSC must become champions, and Lausanne can become champions. The Zurich team started September as favorites for the title, while Lausanne’s aim was to forget the shameful fall to 11th place from the previous season. This team has long since exceeded all expectations. It seems as if the team is buoyed by the fact that the ballast of the last gloomy years has been thrown off; Several players are in the form of their lives, including national striker Damien Riat, who scored two goals on Saturday.
So far this season, the ZSC has been able to get rid of every problem; the team has always found an answer at the right time. The ultimate test awaits on Tuesday. Maybe the ZSC can draw confidence from the fact that there was already a bell in 2022 and 2023. And in each case the home team won. Or from the fact that the stadium DJ in the Swiss Life Arena does not stock The Offspring. It’s something like the unofficial anthem of Lausanne HC. A club that has never won a title in its more than century of existence.