Battered reputation polished: at the ZSC Lions the boys get the most ice time

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Encourage young people. Give guys a chance. Bet on boy. These are sentences that every club official likes to say. Because he knows they sound good and are well received in the club environment. But who not only talks about it, but also implements it? Blick conducted the test and checked with the 14 National League clubs how much ice time players born in 2003 or younger received this season.

At the top, the ZSC Lions, Kloten and Zug have a hot three-way battle, which the Lions ultimately win, with 460 minutes and 22 seconds of ice time for the young players. That is almost five minutes ahead of Kloten and six minutes ahead of Zug.

The fact that the ZSC and Zug are represented at the top proves that great ambitions and the advancement of young talent go well together. When it comes to Kloten, which makes smaller sandwiches, part of the strategy is relying on young people. Also for financial reasons: for example, a seventh foreigner is not included in the budget.

The youngest is Ustinkov

With more than 400 minutes of playing time for Junge, Lausanne also comes in fourth place, as the Vauders recently had the courage to rely on 20-year-old goalkeeper Kevin Pasche, who leads the sector with 305 minutes and one lead. second playing time.

Among the field players, Kloten’s young star Mischa Ramel (20) gets the most ice time (277:44), ahead of ZSC hope Vinzenz Rohrer (19/240:15) and Langnau defender Brian Zanetti (20/204:17). The youngest player used is the ZSC defender gem Daniil Ustinkov (67:59), who only turned 17 in August.

In terms of the total number of players born in 2003 or younger, the ZSC is also top with four talents: in addition to Rohrer and Ustinkov, this also applies to Nicolas Baechler and Joel Henry. Zug (Leon and Tim Muggli, Attilio Biasca, Robin Louis), Kloten (Ramel, David Reinbacher, Joel Marchon, Rafael Meier) and Lugano (Lorenzo Canonica, Leandro Hausheer, Roberts Cjunskis, Arno Snellman) also have four each.

The hope of ZSC sports director Leuenberger

On the one hand, it makes sense that the ZSC Lions occupy so many top positions, as they have the largest youth department in the country and continue to have a farm team in the Swiss League with the GCK Lions. Yet the boys had a very difficult time in Zurich until a year ago; the then coach Rikard Grönborg hardly used them. Only with his successor Marc Crawford did things change and his own talents became a factor again. The damaged reputation has now been polished again.

“It is certainly true that Crawford has more confidence in them than Grönborg previously did,” says sports director Sven Leuenberger. But the new young wave at the ZSC Lions is not the only reason for this. «Previously we had some weaker years, but recently we introduced players like Baechler and Henry to the GCK Lions. “In addition, Ustinkov and Rohrer are two absolutely exceptional talents,” says Leuenberger. He is happy that they are at the forefront of such youth statistics. “I hope this shows the young players that they are in the right place with us and have the opportunity.”

The bottom line is that Servette promises to improve

On the other hand, champion Servette is currently a zero for young talent. They are the only NL team to date that has not seen a single second of ice time for any of its 2003-born players. Gian-Carlo Chanton and Christophe Cavalleri, born in 2002, are the youngest leading actors currently working there. This puts the team from Geneva in last place behind the SCRJ Lakers (40:48) and Ajoie (58:58).

“We had the very good years of 1999 and 2000, but at the moment there is a small gap and there are fewer players in the national junior team than before,” says Servette sports director Marc Gautschi. But for him this is a snapshot. Better vintages will return, he emphasizes and makes it clear: “The goal must be to bring in our own young people!”

Source : Blick