Genève-Servette officially loses its title of European champion this evening at the Swiss Life Arena. Faced with well-established Zurich players, the Grenat held their own and left the Swiss Life Arena without having won, but without having lost either. Indeed, the final score is 3-3 and they could even have played a bad trick on the Lions. With a defeat, Zurich would have lost more than the match, but also the final at home.
Ultimately, there was not much doubt about the final outcome of this meeting. With a deficit of five goals after the first leg at Vernets (6-1 for ZSC), the march was really very high. The coaches’ speech before the match was simple: whatever the result, we want to see a proud GSHC who plays the 60 minutes to the fullest. And despite the absence of Hartikainen, Pouliot, Lennström, Vatanen, Raanta and Chanton (ill), the Eagles fought well and fulfilled the coaches’ objectives. To compensate for all these defections, the GSHC called on its U20s from Genève Futur Hockey (GFH)! Thus, Simas Ignatavicius (17 years old), Dovydas Jukna (17 years old), Baptiste Vouardoux (20 years old) and Yoann Imesch (21 years old) all played big minutes, and with some success! They are the future of the club and showed great things in this important match.
After a first third where the Garnets dominated, it was still the locals who opened the scoring thanks to Rohrer (22nd) then Andrighetto at 5v3 (37th). Just before the second break, Vincent Praplan got his team back on track (40th, at 5v4). Zurich thought they had done the hardest part with the 3-1 by Kinnunen (44th), but that was without counting on the revanchist spirit of the GSHC. Alessio Bertaggia and Josh Jooris scored to tie the game. The end of the match was for the Genevans, who, in the event of a 4th goal and therefore victory, would not have qualified for the final anyway, but they would have prevented the Lions from having the final at home. It might not be any worse, a little bit of Swiss solidarity. Good luck to them against Färjestad on February 18 for the CHL grand final.
The GSHC must now focus on the end of the championship to secure the playoffs. An important match is coming up this Thursday with a long trip to Lugano.
Zurich – Genève-Servette 3-3 (0-0;2-1;1-2)
Swiss Life Arena 6400 spectators
-Referees: MM. Björk, Holm, Cattaneo, Altmann
Buts: 21’55 Rohrer 1-0, 36’19 Andrighetto (Kukan, Malgin à 5c3) 2-0, 39’05 Praplan (Le Coultre, Manninen) 2-1, 43’55 Kinnunen (Segafredo, Baltisberger) 3-1, 44’58 Bertaggia (Berni, Richard) 2-3, 53’46 Jooris (Manninen, Timashov à 5c4) 3-3
Penalties: 4×2′ against Genève-Servette, 4×2′ against Zurich
Geneva-Servette: Mayer, Berni, Schneller, Völlmin, Karrer, Le Coutlre, Jacquemet, Vouardoux, Granlund, Manninen, Ignatavicius, Timashov, Richard, Praplan, Miranda, Jooris, Bertaggia, Loosli, Cavalleri, Imesch, Jukna
Zurich: Zumbühl, Marti, Weber, Kukan, Geering, Lehtonen, Kinnunen, Trutmann, Baechler, Lammikko, Segafredo, Balcers, Grant, Rohrer, Zehnder, Malign, Andrighetto, Olsson, Riedi, Kärki, Baltisberger
