Four defeats in a row –
GSHC must clear doubts before international break
The Geneva club hopes to bounce back after four consecutive losses. The Eagles face Lugano in Ticino on Friday and host HC Bienne on Saturday in Les Vernets.
Published today at 09:00
Sami Vatanen and Genève-Servette have lost their last four matches. A reaction is expected for the last two matches before the international break in early November.
BASTIEN GALLAY/GALLAYPHOTO
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- The GSHC has lost its last four matches, including three on its Vernets ice rink.
- The offensive performance is insufficient and uncertainties hover around the goalkeepers. Robert Mayer, announced as doubtful for the next matches, has not yet played again since his injury suffered a week ago against Davos.
- The Eagles face Lugano on Friday in Ticino and welcome HC Bienne on Saturday for a final match before the international break at the start of November.
This is perhaps not such bad news: the players of coach Jan Cadieux will take a little distance from the Vernets, where they have just lost three times in a row, and will face HC Lugano on Friday evening at Ticino.
Once a fortress, the Geneva ice rink has not brought good luck to the GSHC since it was renovated. The Eagles have lost three times in their last four performances.
Four defeats in a row. The bill is starting to become steep for a team which is still struggling to put together a winning series. Difficult to move forward in these conditions. The GSHC has only won two matches in a row on two occasions: in Bienne and Friborg between the end of September and the beginning of October, then more recently against Rapperswil in Les Vernets then in Porrentruy against HC Ajoie, two years ago weeks.
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With two to three games less than the competition, Genève-Servette still has a few jokers up its sleeve. But the Garnet are playing big this Friday in Lugano, just before hosting HC Bienne the next day. With two matches remaining before the international break at the beginning of November, the GSHC suffers from insufficient offensive performance given its potential and the uncertainties surrounding its goalkeepers.
Untapped offensive potential
It’s difficult to win when you score barely more than one goal on average per match. In their last four outings, the Eagles have only exceeded the goal mark once. It was October 23 against Lausanne, two days after the electrical incident at Vernets which caused the match against Langnau to be postponed. That evening, GSHC scored twice.
The three other defeats – in Zug, against Davos and Zurich at home – were all consumed with a single success on the GSHC counter. An observation which challenges the sports director, Marc Gautschi. “Scoring so few goals is abnormal if we take into consideration our offensive potential,” notes the Bernese leader of the Garnet.
This low performance demonstrates above all to what extent the Eagles currently do not have confidence. “We need a team reaction,” continues Gautschi. It is now a question of showing our potential, the players must take their responsibilities. The GSHC will have to considerably raise its level of play over the next two days.
Sluggish power-play and very discreet Swiss
Another anomaly, the power play does not yield much: after four consecutive matches without scoring a goal in the power play, Sakari Manninen at least allowed the GSHC to break the ice last Tuesday during the visit of the Zurich Lions. Still, for a team that has so many power play specialists (the Finns first and foremost, but also Tanner Richard), power play should be an absolute weapon.
The performance of the majority of Swiss players is even more compelling. None of them reached the ten personal points mark. With seven units in fourteen outings, Tanner Richard was the happiest on the offensive level. Vincent Praplan follows with six points while the statistical sheet of the other Swiss offensive players is so meager that it almost becomes anecdotal. An example: Swiss international Marco Miranda, already disappointing last season with two goals in 44 outings, has only three assists (no goals) to show for it after his first eleven league matches.
Uncertainties around goalkeepers
The situation at the goalkeeper position remains a headache. Robert Mayer, author of a very high level start to the season, is unfortunately never safe from a physical problem. The goalkeeper of Czech origin was injured at the start of the second period last Saturday against Davos, the evening of the third of four consecutive defeats. After having passed additional medical examinations at the start of the week, Mayer is announced “day by day” by the Geneva club, among whom we can guess above all the desire not to reveal his cards before the two matches of the weekend. end.
The Finn Antti Raanta, who launched his Geneva career by getting injured in his first start at Kloten, has won only one match since his arrival in Geneva: it was against the red lantern, HC Ajoie, on the 19th. last October. Both in Zug (5-1 defeat) and against Zurich on Tuesday at Les Vernets (1-3), the Finnish goalkeeper failed to make a real difference in favor of the Eagles. In his defense, the former NHL goalie still suffers from a lack of competition.
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