In the sixth duel of the play-off final series, Lausanne is currently leading 5-0. The starting position for Tuesday’s playoff is clear: ZSC must become champions and 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 90s hit by the American punk band The Offspring has been played at the end of every third break for decades; the tradition also survived the move from the Malley to the Vaudvoise Aréna five years ago. The Californians sing in it:
Chances thrown
Nothing’s free
Longing for, 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 emotions quite accurately if the ZSC were to lose the championship title at the end of this so far convincing season.
In Zurich, 8,500 spectators were ready for the championship celebration at the public viewing – and were bitterly disappointed
After what happened on Saturday evening, this is a realistic scenario. The people of Zurich had traveled to Lausanne with high hopes, and 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 shade it a little more favorably 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 seen enough after just 35 minutes and replaced his goalkeeper Simon Hrubec. Only then did his collective wake up and respond with three hits. At some point, the Lausanne coach Geoff Ward was no longer comfortable with the matter. tried to break ZSC’s momentum with a time-out. Ultimately, his team gained the lead without excelling over time.
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 the team back on its feet. The ZSC has three days, 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. Baltisberger, 32, moved into the parade line with Denis Malgin and Sven Andrighetto instead of Balcers. He scored Zurich’s first goal and wanted the evening afterwards 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.”
This is certainly true for neutral viewers and the industry as a whole. The interim score of 3:3 is also in line with the performance in this entertaining series, in which a surprising number of goals have been scored so far. And the home team always won.
The Lausanne HC has existed since 1922 – and is still waiting for its first title
But in the ZSC they could definitely 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 in September as favorites for the title, while Lausanne’s aim was to forget the shameful fall to 11th place from the 2022/23 season. This team has long since exceeded all expectations. It seems as if the team is being 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 international striker Damien Riat, who scored twice 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 the home team always 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 anything in its more than 100 years of existence.
Lausanne – ZSC Lions 5:3 (1:0, 4:1, 0:2). 9600 spectators. – SR Lemelin (USA)/Hebeisen, Fuchs/Obwegeser. – Goals: 5. Suomela (power play goal) 1:0. 27. Riat (Fox) 2:0. 33. Almond (Holden) 3:0. 35. Fuchs (Kovacs, Riat) 4:0. 39. (38:59) Riat (Kovacs) 5:0. 40. (39:38) Chris Baltisberger (Schäppi) 5:1. 43. Kukan (Andrighetto) 5:2. 49. Malgin (Grant/Powerplaytor) 5:3. – Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Lausanne, 1 time 2 minutes against ZSC Lions. – PostFinance top scorer: Pilut; Andrighetto.