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The new Kloten trainer Stephan Mair starts with a tough task.
There would be easier opponents for a baptism of fire than the current Champions Hockey League finalists. But fate wasn’t necessarily kind to Stephan Mair, who only led his first training session as the new Kloten coach on Monday: he’ll face Geneva in the Tuesday round of the National League.
«It’s not for nothing that Geneva is in the CHL final. We want to go into the game with the right respect, but without fear,” is the South Tyrolean’s motto. Specifically, Mair demands that his team stand “close to the man” and thus “take away space and time” from the opponent. Exactly what you would expect from someone who is labeled as a “tough dog” because he demands disciplined behavior from his teams.
If Mair’s plan works, his team could celebrate their 5th win in a row on Tuesday. After all, things recently had a real run under sports director Larry Mitchell, who stepped in as interim coach. No wonder, then, that the new coach “doesn’t want to throw everything overboard. It’s important to improve little things and coordinate things better.”
Before his first training session, he watched a lot of videos and identified potential for optimization. Michael Loosli, who already played under Mair at Thurgau, is convinced that they will be successful: “He loves ice hockey and is a tactical fox. He will give us a leg up on the ice. He’s also an honest person.”
So it’s only logical that Mair also wants to pick up his players and find out from them what they need. He knows exactly what he wants: “Modern ice hockey, 5 players in attack, 5 players in defense. A lot of support, a lot of skating. Closing the center and taking speed out of the neutral zone.”
Behind the board, the 56-year-old will drive his team as emotionally as always: “I try to bring energy into the team,” he explains his approach. Will the tactic work for Kloten? There will be an initial answer on Tuesday in the David versus Goliath game against Geneva.