Time for spring cleaning at the ZSC Lions

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Once again, the Lions collapsed like a house of cards as an opponent took control of a playoff series. Like last year in the final against Zug and in 2021 in the semifinal against Servette.

These falls into the abyss show that there is too much wrong with the citizens of Zurich. The sixth coach in six seasons under sports director Sven Leuenberger (53) did not bring success. Under Marc Crawford (62) only one thing went better than under his predecessor Rikard Grönborg (54): finally his own talents were allowed to play again.

That the Swede was watched for over three years while ignoring the promotion of his own brood, who nevertheless won U17 titles in 2021 and 2022 and that of the U20 elite this season, shows weak leadership.

Too often ridden a zigzag course

It is time that after the failure, the ZSC not only spend weeks every year worrying about analysis, but act. Lions need a fresh start, a real identity and a clear strategy. Too often the biggest names on the market such as Denis Hollenstein (33), Simon Bodenmann (35), Sven Andrighetto (30), Denis Malgin (26), Yannick Weber (34) and Dean Kukan (29) have been brought to Zurich. Too often a zigzag course has been taken, as was recently the case with the contract extension of Bodenmann, who had already been sacked in view of the squad’s planned rejuvenation.

In its second year at the Swiss Life Arena, the new stadium and a giant video cube will no longer be enough. The fans want to see attractive, passionate and successful hockey, but also their own talents, otherwise they will leave as quickly as they came. That calls for a breath of fresh air in the club.

Sven Leuenberger, as head of sports, is responsible for the failure. The East Swiss never managed to form a clear-faced team and never found the right coach. The Lions rarely appeared as a collective in recent years, never found the balance between offense and defense and often owed victories to the individual class of individual players. The 2022/23 edition also had fundamental shortcomings: it lacked a number 1 center and a real goalscorer type.

Rappi and Biel do more with less

Considering the resources Leuenberger has at his disposal, five years without a title is a travesty. The fact that Rappi and Biel left the ZSC with much less money should make the generous boss Walter Frey (79) think.

It was not surprising that after the extremely pale qualification with fourth place in the play-offs there was no explosion of performance. The cool and powerful EHC Biel rarely gave gifts like Davos earlier in the semis.

Bringing Crawford back was unimaginative and far from progressive. The Canadian hurt himself and the club with his unacceptable “sucksucker” outburst and was only a “Crawford Zero” in the playoffs. He was now demonstratively buttoned up on the gang and whispered in the interviews. No one said they couldn’t show emotions anymore. Provided that he is not completely mistaken in his choice of words.

“Savior or Discontinued Model?” Blick asked when Crawford signed after Christmas. He was not a savior. So much can be said.

The change of coach made it too easy for the team that used Grönborg as an alibi for the historic turnaround in the final against Zug a year ago and poor performance this season. As so often since Leuenberger has been head of sport.

Source : Blick