“Antti has a sixth sense for timeouts”

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In extra time, Biel occasionally has to endure badly in Geneva. Without the excellent keeper Joren van Pottelberghe, the game could have been lost for the Seelanders long ago. “They were waves”, Oliver David (44), assistant coach at the EHCB, analyses. “They came and came and came. Geneva pressed very, very hard and we had to find a way to keep them in check. We’ve been waiting for it to stop. We were just dominated by them.”

What can be done to stop this dominance? “Often you can get scared. Then you make mistakes, especially if, like us, you are on the defensive for a long time. We got through it – mainly thanks to Joren van Pottelberghe, who saved us, especially in extra time.”

In the 74th minute, head coach Antti Törmänen (52) van Biel decides to take his time out to break the waves of Geneva. “I think he’s a coach who has a really good sense of the game,” David says of his boss. “I’d even say he has a kind of sixth sense.” Right now, the only reason not to take the break is to think about the future and believe that you will need it later. “Antti has done it several times this season and I think he’s always had the timing right.”

A simple message

And what was the message from the Finnish coach? “She was easy,” reports his American assistant, who has become the team’s mouthpiece in these playoff days as Törmänen has not given interviews since being diagnosed with cancer again. “We just told them that we would keep playing with our four lines – that we wouldn’t disrupt the normal rhythm and just keep playing. Of course, Geneva had the game in hand, but we had to be patient. In the end, it was the defense that helped us win, and not a nice offensive move.”

In the first game last Friday, Törmänen missed because he had a day off. David acted as head coach, with sports director Martin Steinegger as assistant. Would he have made the same decision if he had been in charge? “It’s funny. I asked myself the same question,” he replies with a smile. “I’ve been working with him for two years now and I’m starting to feel the moment when Antti decides whether it’s the right time or not. And then I could see that he was ready.”

The 30 seconds in which Törmänen addresses his team calm the Seelanders and stop the waves of attacks from Geneva. Biel finds his way back into the game and then Mike Künzle takes the puck from Servette defender Sami Vatanen and serves Yanick Stampfli, who shoots the EHCB to 2:1 in the game and in the series.

Source : Blick