You already lost 2:5 in Třinec, but you reduced it to 4:5 in a two-minute power play of five against three. Do you agree that the new rule, which says that a sent off player does not return to the ice after a goal, has helped you a lot?
Definitely yes. Today it helped us to turn around. For a team playing on the power play, it’s certainly nice to score a goal and have a chance to score another, as we did.
Can hockey with new rules (the expelled player does not return when the goal is scored, on the contrary, if the team scores a goal in weakness, the opponent’s power play ends) can be more fun for the viewer? Can more goals be scored?
Of course, more goals can be scored if the power play does not end in a goal. And when the power play is specifically five on three, as we had, then they can attack those goals there. But overall it doesn’t matter. Next time it can help our opponent. But of course we are glad that we turned it around thanks to that.
You were losing by three goals at the beginning of the third period, was it difficult not to break down?
Not at all. We simply wanted to try to turn it around and, above all, we wanted to play better than in the second period, when Třinec got away from us. Even if we didn’t have the power play, we wanted to do something with that match.
Did you enjoy the match against the best Czech team in recent years?
They played well, compactly, probably what they have experienced, what they are used to and what brings them success. The first period was decent, then we made unnecessary mistakes and let them get away from us a bit. We managed to turn it around, we could have won normally, but unfortunately. It’s the beginning of the season, we’re more focused on preparing well for the league and improving.
How seriously do you take the Champions League?
We want to win every game. The Champions League is good preparation, Třinec was a quality opponent. Playing against the best hockey players in Europe will prepare us better than playing games for nothing. But everything is still settling down, we have some broken players from the summer, so I hope they will recover soon and we can all start the league. The main thing is for us to be better this season than last season. First of all, we want to get to the playoffs and then win something there.
Are you pleased that you will now play twice in the Czech Republic?
It’s more pleasant than being somewhere I don’t know, in Finland or Sweden. But we don’t have much time off. Next week we play at home again, so the schedule before the Swiss league starts is packed. But yeah, it’s not bad to be in the Czech Republic for a while.
Can you meet someone?
I’ll see, probably not much. We have some kind of team dinner and as I say, the schedule is pretty busy.
Did you text anyone before the match in Třinec?
I spoke with Tomáš Kundrátek, I needed to arrange a restaurant. By the way, he deserved a ten for that crap on the referee today… (laughs)
Andrej Nestrašil released the information before the match that you will not be coming to the Czech Republic. Did it have any real basis?
I don’t know that at all. I wasn’t even planning on not coming.
Approximately three hundred fans came with you and supported you loudly throughout the match, do they regularly travel with you in such large numbers?
(thinking) … I don’t even know, I guess. We have good fans. But they were used to something completely different. Rapperswil has made a lot of progress in the last few years and I think they have a lot of respect for the kind of hockey we play and where we finish in the Swiss league table. We’ve been playing in the playoffs regularly for the last few years, so they enjoy it and help us a lot. And we in turn enjoy their support.
You extended your contract in Rapperswil until the end of the 2024/2025 season, are you very happy there?
Yeah, everything works there, I’m satisfied. There is progress and there is always room to push it, and I enjoy that. We will want to play as well as possible and move it somewhere again. Last time we were eliminated in the quarter-finals, the league will be balanced again and we’ll see.
The highlight of the season is the World Championship in the Czech Republic, you will be 38 years old at that time. Is the domestic championship a big attraction for you?
We have to take it as it comes. I can’t look too far ahead. Now the season starts, so I’m preparing for it. We’ll see how it goes during the year, whether I’ll be invited to birthday parties, how I’ll be recharged and, of course, it will also depend on how interested the coaches will be. But that will be at the end. First I have to focus on the club and go step by step.