Sakari Manninen (yellow helmet) pushed a referee.
freshfocus
Infuriating and avoidable setback conceded by Genève-Servette in the National League. Beaten on Wednesday evening in Zug (7-3), the Eagles dug their own grave around mid-match, conceding three goals in less than four minutes. Worse, they may have lost their top scorer Sakari Manninen for several matches, excluded for a butt hit on a referee (49th).
However, nothing had suggested such a scenario. Authors of an excellent start to the match on the ice of the Bossard Arena, the Grenat logically took the lead thanks to Alessio Bertaggia (3rd, 0-1), who was able to deceive Leonardo Genoni without real opposition.
But the visitors’ domination was halted when Zug managed to get back together, shortly after the tenth minute of the match. Andreas Wingerli (11th, 1-1) concluded a great collective action from the Bulls, which put the Geneva rearguard out of position.
207 seconds of horror
The debates were then largely rebalanced between two teams in need of points. Until these 207 seconds of horror experienced by the 2023 Swiss champion shortly before mid-match, during which Grégory Hofmann (27th, 2-1) and Lino Martschini (27th, 3-1; 30th, 4-1) , author of a double, deceived the vigilance of the unfortunate Antti Raanta three times.
The match then seemed to be over, especially when Vincent Praplan was sent to the bench of infamy for four minutes (31st). But the Eagles initially held back, before coming back almost from nowhere in the game. Marc-Antoine Pouliot (36th, 4-2), in power play, then Simon Le Coultre (38th, 4-3) completely relaunched the debates.
Genève-Servette, despite its good will, ultimately never came back to the level of the Central Switzerland team, which was able to give itself some breathing space in the third third thanks, in particular, to Mike Künzle (45th, 5- 3). A final stretch marked by the inexcusable gesture of Sakari Manninen, who hit official Georges Huguet in the back with his stick. The garnet top scorer was then logically sent back to the locker room (49th).
The Eagles, already beaten the day before by Berne and deprived of Sami Vatanen (injured), will absolutely have to recover at Ambri (Friday) then against Fribourg-Gottéron (Saturday) if they do not intend to let the train slip away.
Zug – Geneva 7-4 (1-1 3-2 3-1)
Bossard Arena, 6969 spectators. Referees: MM. Lemelin, Gerber; Gnemmi, Huguet.
Buts: 3e Bertaggia (Pouliot) 0-1, 11e Wingerli (Olofsson, Hofmann) 1-1, 27e Hofmann (Wingerli) 2-1, 27e Martschini (Kovar, Hansson) 3-1, 30e Martschini (Johnson, Hofmann) 4-1, 36e Pouliot (Granlund, Manninen / 5c4) 4-2, 38e Le Coultre (Bertaggia) 4-3, 45e Künzle (Simion) 5-3, 48e Simion (Martschini / 5c4) 6-3, 56e Künzle (Wingerli, Hansson / 5c4) 7-3, 57e Praplan (Pouliot / 5c4) 7-4.
Zoug: Genoni; Bengtsson, Muggli; Schlumpf, Carlsson; Hansson, T. Geisser; Johnson; Martschini, Kovar, Duke; Wingerli, Olofsson, Hofmann; Simion, Senteler, Künzle; Eggenberger, Leuenberger, Biasca. Entrepreneur: Dan Tangnes.
Geneva: Raanta; Karrer, Lennström; Jacquemet, Le Coultre; Chanton, Bern; Schneller; Granlund, Manninen, Hartikainen; Praplan, Jooris, Timashov; Bertaggia, Pouliot, Miranda; Völlmin, Cavalleri, Loosli. Entraîneur: Yorick Treille.
Penalties: 3 x 2′ against Zug; 8 x 2′ + match penalty (Manninen) against Geneva.
Notes: Youg without Stadler, Riva (injured), Balestra (ill), M. Geisser, Wey, Antenen, Vozenilek (overnumbered), Simmchen, or Lindemann (Swiss League). Geneva without Descloux, Hischier, Richard, Rod (injured), Mayer (overtime), and Guignard (Swiss League).
