Wild swinging and pucks disappearing: Showtime with Friborg goalkeeper Reto Berra

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

It was a strange sight when Reto Berra (37) suddenly became an entertainer and waved his arms wildly in the closing stages of the seventh play-off quarter-final against Lugano (4:2). With this unusual action, he made it clear to those before him that they had to take action and not become too passive against the team from Ticino, who once again risked everything.

The Friborg and Nati goalkeeper aroused the following curiosity in the first semi-final against Lausanne. When he made the puck disappear after Lausanne’s Miikka Salömäki supposedly made it 2-1, as if he were David Copperfield. Berra covered the black hard rubber disk with his grasping hand so magically that it was simply no longer visible. And therefore not whether she was in the goal. The referees could then only look at each other in amazement as they studied the video and had to stay on the ice with their decision due to Berra’s magic (no goal).

The man for great desire

Reto Berra provides showtime. Also with spectacular parades. In the 2-1 win against Lausanne on Monday, he held on to victory in the final phase. “Reto played another great match,” Friborg coach Christian Dubé emphasized afterwards. With a defense percentage of 93.58 percent, a goals against average of 1.73 per game and 204 pucks saved, the veteran also sits at the top of all playoff statistics.

The player from Zurich has great hopes that the desire for the first championship title in Fribourg’s club history will still be satisfied. In previous attempts, this beacon of hope was usually not found in the goalkeeper position. When three play-off finals were lost in a row in the 1990s, the then goalkeeper Dino Stecher had to serve as a scapegoat. The last final appearance in 2013 (2:4 defeat against Bern) also lacked a goalkeeper of Berra’s stature – Benjamin Conz, then only 21 years old, was in goal. Berra, who already became champion with Davos in 2009, was able to immortalize himself in Fribourg.

Source : Blick