Zurich Lions bite back
The Zurich Lions kept their hopes of defending the Swiss ice hockey league title alive on Tuesday with a staggering 6-3 away win over their arch-rivals Lugano.
Needing just one more win to wrap up the championships, Lugano were stunned in the opening minute of the match when Michel Zeiter fired the Lions ahead after just 16 seconds. Less than six more minutes had been played when Laurent Müller doubled the visitors’ lead, ending all hopes of a comfortable title win for Lugano.
“I don’t think it was naivety or over-confidence,” Lugano manager Jim Koleff told swissinfo when asked about his side’s disastrous start. “I don’t think any of our players are that naive to think Zurich would come here and just quit. We expected them to play their best game yet, because it was their last chance. And that’s exactly what happened.
Koleff was made to feel even more uncomfortable as the match wore into the second period, with Zurich stretching their lead to a seemingly unassailable 4-0.
Only then did Lugano appear to wake up. A 37th minute strike from Christian Dubé followed by a Jan Cadieux goal in the very last second of the period saw the home side head into the final break 4-2 down.
But Zurich came out the stronger once again in the third period, with additional goals from Martin Kout and Dan Hodgson rendering Joel Savage’s reply for Lugano academic.
“For sure it’s a reaction from the team,” Zurich manager Larry Huras told swissinfo when asked about the change in fortunes since Saturday’s 4-0 home defeat.
“It’s a sign that the leaders in the team have stepped up and pulled everybody together,” he continued. “It’s my job to give the outline of how we’re going to play, but the motivation, the passion and the emotion – that can only come from the players themselves.”
Zurich’s passionate display has certainly reignited a final series that had threatened to descend into a glory parade for Lugano.
Apparently heading out of contention before Tuesday’s turnaround, the Lions will now be looking to level the series when they welcome Lugano to Zurich on Thursday. If Larry Huras’s men can then pull off their second win in a row, the stage would be set for a dramatic decider back in Lugano on Saturday.
by Mark Ledsom
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.