This is how Davos fair play hero Enzo Guebey works: “I don’t want to cheat”

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There are players who use swallows to provoke a penalty from their opponent. But there are also players like Enzo Guebey (24). The HC Davos defender intervened with the referee in the match against Bern (2:4) to ensure that his opponent Thierry Schild had not fouled him. But he fell through his own fault – and so the penalty against the SCB attacker was withdrawn.

The Frenchman, who plays with a Swiss license, caused a stir last week with this heroic fair play action. “I’m proud that I did this, even though it wasn’t my goal for everyone to talk about it. But it makes me feel like I did the right thing,” he says with some distance. Everyone at the HCD also responded positively: “No one was angry with me.”

The values ​​from the parental home

Guebey would do it again, ‘because I don’t want to screw it up. I believe in karma and that if you behave right, you will get it back.” He is obsessed with winning, “but I don’t want to go home at the end of the day feeling like I only won because I was bad .” He was raised with these values ​​by his parents.

These are remarkable words. Especially because Guebey is not actually someone who treats his opponents with kid gloves. On the contrary, the thirty-time French national player certainly gets under the skin and can occasionally be found in the penalty area. “I try to play as hard as I can because I’m not as talented as others and can do crazy things on the ice,” he says with disarming honesty.

Ice hockey instead of skiing

To what extent this fair play heroic act suits Guebey, you can find out from his biography and by asking his companions. He grew up in Saint-Gervais-les Bains, which is located at the foot of Mont Blanc, between Chamonix and Geneva. He also started playing ice hockey at the local hockey club in the community of approximately 5,600 residents. “At the same time I was also skiing, but when I had to decide, I chose ice hockey because I enjoyed playing in a team with other people.”

At the age of twelve he moved to the juniors of Servette. This requires an enormous effort not only for him, but also for his parents Patrick and Sonia. Enzo is driven to Geneva and back four times a week after school. This takes about an hour each way. “I’ve been very lucky; they sacrificed a lot for me,” Guebey says gratefully. How much his family means to him is also evident from the choice of jersey numbers. At Servette and later at the ZSC Lions he wore the number 5 in honor of his grandfather’s birthday. In Davos it is the 12th: his father’s birthday.

No ZSC place under Crawford

But back to Guebey’s career. When hockey started getting serious, he stayed with a host family in Geneva. At the age of 18, the defender made his debut with Servette in the National League, but in the following years he could not really establish himself in the team and was repeatedly loaned out to the Swiss League.

In 2021, Guebey will sign a two-way contract with the ZSC Lions organization. “The structure with the fan team and the farm team was perfect for me to get a lot of ice time.” In just over two years he played 58 games for ZSC and 82 for GCK. But the ZSC coaching change from Rikard Grönborg to Marc Crawford a year ago is not ideal for him. Crawford relies on others; the 184 centimeter tall and 90 kilogram heavy defender must remain at the back.

“Enzo would never cause a stink”

Looking back, he doesn’t feel frustrated: “Crawford played his cards close to his chest and told me I had no role in his plans.” Guebey’s agent Georges Müller also confirms this: “Enzo had to eat a lot of hard bread in Zurich, but he never complained, but remained positive and waited patiently for his opportunity.” This comes when the state of emergency for the defenders broke out at HC Davos in October. With the permission of the ZSC, Müller offers his protégé to the record champion, who initially borrows Guebey for two games. He was then hired until the end of the season and ten days ago the Frenchman signed a contract until 2026. “I am extremely grateful and happy to have been given this opportunity. My example shows how quickly things can sometimes go one way or the other in ice hockey.”

You can also treat him to this in Zurich. “I really appreciated Enzo as a player, but especially as a person. He has a strong personality and fair skin, works extremely hard and would never worry about improving his own position in this way,” says ZSC sports director Sven Leuenberger enthusiastically. The transfer to Davos was logical for everyone, “and we wanted Don’t get in his way. Especially because he’s such a good guy.” All of Switzerland found out last week that this is the case.

Source : Blick