Controversial Mister Playoff Beat Forster

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Beat Forster had just turned 18 shortly before. In 2001 when he played his first playoff series against Bern for HC Davos. “I was overmotivated, nervous, slept badly,” the Appenzeller recalled. The quarter-final series was lost 4-0, but Forster left an impression. Also because he was not afraid of big names. As a youngster, he mowed down his current head of sports at EHC Biel, then-SCB icon Martin Steinegger.

Forster has to smile when he sees the photos from then and says: “Yet he gave me a new contract again.” Steinegger and Forster recently extended their employment relationship until 2024. Whether his 24th professional season will actually be the last or whether the quarter-century anniversary will actually be added, he leaves open: “We’ll see that in a year.”

Shopping for the playoff game is possible

22 years after the premiere, Forster is on the verge of making his 20th playoff. He only missed it three times: in 2006 he had to go to the play-outs with the ZSC Lions, in 2020 they were out due to Corona and in 2021 he failed with Biel in the pre-playoffs at the SCRJ Lakers. Forster seems deeply relaxed when we meet him for coffee in Solothurn, not far from where he lives, a few days before the high point of this year. Or is that misleading? “Yes,” says the veteran.

“When the games start, the tension will be high.” That hasn’t changed. But between games he is now much more relaxed than at the start of his career. Because he now has a different life with his family than he did back then. “I can go shopping or do something else in the afternoon before the game. The tingling is still there, but I’m not overly motivated anymore,” says the father of three.

Outsiders role “fits fine”

Hardly anyone else in this country can judge it as well as Forster: What does it really take to be successful in the playoffs? “The main thing is the head. You have to put your ego aside, play for the team, minimize the risk. And you have to be mentally ready for things to get tight and long.”

Together with Servette, his EHC Biel left the mark on the qualification. But despite second place, the Seeländer are not seriously considered a title contender in many predictions, some ultimately count on Zug or the ZSC Lions again. Forster is not offended by that, on the contrary: “It suits us so well.” But even though he doesn’t like being in the media spotlight, the title is also the ultimate goal for Biel. It would be the fourth in the club’s history and the first since 1983. By the way, is Forster’s year of birth correct.

From over 100 to 24 penalty minutes

“When I moved to Biel, I said I came to become champions. So the circle would close. And it would be the icing on the cake for the entire development of the club in recent years,” says the East Swiss , who previously won the championship cup five times with the HCD and once with the ZSC Lions.

Forster’s relaxed attitude can be very helpful. Forster was once a hotspur on the ice. He exceeded 100 penalty minutes three times (2006/07, 2007/08, 2015/16). In the last two seasons it was only a paltry 24 and 26 minutes. Is that old age? “You could say that,” says Forster with a smile. He got many of his penalties earlier because he constantly grumbled about the referees: “At a certain point you learn, you mature and you can control your emotions better. If you want to help the team, you can’t take so many penalties these days.”

NHL ambitions fail by lockout

Forster is undoubtedly one of the most successful and greatest personalities in Swiss ice hockey. However, at the same time, it repeatedly caused controversy. For example, he has been accused of never really being interested in the NHL, even though the 2001 Phoenix third round gave him everything he needed to make a career in North America.

“That’s not quite right,” argues Forster, “I wanted to go in 2004/2005, but there was a lockout and no contracts were handed out”, and three years later, when the opportunity arose again, “yes, I will Admit it, the risk was too great for me because I would have had to terminate my contract and just become a father.” But he has no regrets: “Everything is fine as it came.”

Resigned from the national team at the age of 25 and escaped from Zurich

The sheer madness is that Forster already resigned from the national team at the age of 25. “It always filled me with great pride to play for Switzerland,” he says, “but when the second child was born, family just came to the fore for me. I was no longer prepared to play 13 weeks a year with the national team on the road and missing my kids growing up at that time.” It was a purely personal decision and had nothing to do with then national coach Ralph Krueger.

There was also a fuss about Forster in 2008 when he canceled his contract with the ZSC Lions in the middle of the season without notice. First some plates were smashed, then the return to the HCD took place. “I support my decision, but it could have been different. You are always smarter in hindsight,” says Forster today. What happened then is now almost part of the daily routine: players come and go despite current contracts.

“I’m So Sorry”

An even more sensitive point in his career is the collision in 2018 with the then ZSC striker Robert Nilsson. Due to the effects of a repeated concussion, the Swede never returned to the ice and had to end his career. Forster’s action was never judged an offense by the rulers. Nevertheless, his name remains linked to Nilsson’s acrimonious departure. “I don’t really want to talk about it, the whole thing is still close to my heart,” says Forster five years later.

But then he does and it is at that point in the conversation that this strong man’s voice suddenly breaks and his happy eyes turn sad. “It still makes me sick when I think about it. If an opponent continues to do so after he had last contact with you, you are taxing it.”

Forster remembers the scene as if it were yesterday: “As so many times I just wanted to close the door and then somehow he turned into me. It was very unfortunate and I’m really sorry, but I can’t blame myself.” The fact that Nilsson said in an interview after his firing that he wasn’t mad at Forster makes it a little easier for him to deal with. : “But you just don’t want something like that to happen.”

Always only peace, joy, pancakes does not exist in such a long professional career. Not even with the very successful Mister Playoff Beat Forster.

Source : Blick