He had to go through the rock bottom for a long time: Ex-Zuger Zehnder finally gets to work at ZSC

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For the appointment with Blick, Yannick Zehnder (26) races to the Swiss Life Arena on his bike. With a smile on your face. The ZSC attacker has had difficult months. Last season at EV Zug, coach Tangnes shortened his role after two championship titles: more defensive duties, hardly any more power play appearances.

This may have contributed to the original Zug native, whose father Hardy also played for Zug, as well as GC, and whose grandfather Robert was EVZ president, switching to the Lions. Only the starting position at ZSC changed after the signing: Bodenmann and Chris Baltisberger, who had already parted ways, received new contracts and Malgin returned from the NHL in the summer. “When you sign with ZSC, you know the competition is fierce,” says Zehnder. “You have to deal with that. That’s part of the business. Mentally it is a nice challenge. And I think it made me stronger.”

The seven-time national player, who was called up by Patrick Fischer for the Beijer Hockey Games in Sweden next week, was redundant seven times. The leader always won – until the first defeat without him against Kloten almost two weeks ago.

“What you like most is scoring goals”

Zehnder tried not to take it personally or be put off by just being a spectator. The fact that he works with a mental trainer may have helped him. “I told myself it was a rotation principle,” he says. Finally, Schäppi, Baltisberger, Bodenmann, Hollenstein and Sigrist sometimes had a surplus.

What made matters worse was that Zehnder only averages just under 10 minutes of ice time and coach Crawford keeps changing the lines.

Ultimately, Zehnder found his footing. In the last four games he has recorded three goals and one assist. “You can’t concentrate too much on the goalscorers. The focus should be on how the points are made. It is important that you can add value to the team in other ways,” he says, adding: “You always have high expectations of yourself. And what you love most is scoring goals. I’m very happy that it worked out.”

With 6 goals (and 5 assists), Zehnder, who set a personal record with 17 goals in 2020/2021, is still below expectations. But the trend is right now.

Source : Blick