“But I will keep the dialect”

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These were eventful days for Mike Künzle. On Sunday in Bern, he scored this crazy goal 1.5 seconds from time to win 4:3. Brings the EHC Biel and its fans into ecstasy with the participation in the semi-finals. When the shocking news came two days later, coach Antti Törmänen told the team that he had cancer again. At the same time, there are the ZSC Lions, the club where he grew up, as opponents in the semifinals. Game 1, which was turbulent due to the special circumstances, was won 1-0 by the Bielers with another goal at the very end.

He no longer wants to talk about the terrible Tuesday, the players had agreed that. To be able to get back to their playoff routine in this dire situation. Probably also because so much has happened in the meantime, the 29-year-old striker says: “The quarter-finals are over, you don’t think about that anymore. The only thing we can get out of it is self-confidence.”

return to the national team

After five years in Biel, it is no longer so special for him to play against ZSC: “I have been with Biel almost longer than before with Zurich and there are not so many players there with whom I played together.” Strictly speaking, that is Patrick Geering, Chris and Phil Baltisberger, Christian Marti, Jérôme Bachofner and Reto Schäppi.

Since his departure from the Lions, with whom he won the national championship in 2014 and 2018, Künzle has developed enormously. His persistent style of play has seen him become a top performer for the Seeländer and has seen him return to the national team after a five-year break. But what is still reminiscent of his roots is his unmistakable Zürcher dialect. “And I will keep it,” says Künzle with a smile.

‘Rather a 1-0 than an 8-7’

He thinks it will remain the case in this semi-final series that not many goals will be scored: “I expect another 1-0 or 2-1 rather than an 8-7.” It is all the more important to keep the error rate as low as possible. It will also be key for Biel to get revenge for their 4-3 defeat to ZSC Lions in the quarterfinals of last year’s playoffs. And whether Kunzle and Co. be able to make history and reach the final for the first time. In Biel’s major championship years (1978, 1981 and 1983) there were no play-offs.

Source : Blick