The season of last year’s finalist Geneva/Servette ends abruptly and early. National player Joël Vermin then criticized the mode. But Sunday provided strong arguments that introducing the pre-playoffs was the right thing to do.
Scenes from a Sunday night: Lugano celebrates, Servette quarrels.
It is around 11 p.m. when the catacombs of the Resega tremble. International striker Noah Road, the captain of Geneva/Servette, hits the interior with his cane on his way to the dressing room until his playground equipment breaks. Minutes earlier, his team’s season had ended, with the second loss in the second pre-play-off game. This is undoubtedly bitter for Servette: If we were still writing the year 2020, the team would now be preparing for a quarter-final rendezvous with the qualification winner Zug: In the qualification, Servette collected twelve points more than Lugano and finished eighth. But with the new mode introduced for the 2020/21 season, the old laws no longer apply. A year ago, this was EHC Biel’s undoing, now it hit Servette. And possibly seventh-placed Lausanne, which will face Ambri-Piotta in a decider on Tuesday.
Joël Vermin’s cancellation of the World Cup
Servette striker Joël Vermin is one who doesn’t know what to do with the new events. He says: “This mode is just not fair. We have to change it again. If you want the pre-playoffs, it should be at least a best-of-five series. So all you have to do is beat three teams and two good games in March and you’re in the playoffs. That can not be. We busted our butts for 52 games for something.”
Frustration spoke out of Vermin; From his point of view, the argument is understandable. The anger was also so great because Servette had planned a lot for the spring. After a miserable start to the season with recent excellent performances, the club had turned into something of a secret favourite. Vermin says: “In the second half of the season we were probably even better than last year.” As 2020/21, the season in which the team advanced to the final. At that time, Vermin’s season lasted until mid-May, he has been part of the national team for some time and played at the World Cup in Riga. But now he is saying goodbye to the holidays: In May he will be a father and the national coach Patrick Fischer will be canceled for the World Cup in Finland.
Vermin will soon be history in Geneva, he is moving to SC Bern. And the question is how much different the face of this team will look next autumn: the contracts of the two Finnish Olympic champions Valtteri Filppula and Sami Vatanen are ending. Vatanen, 30, one of the discoveries of the season with more than a scorer point per game, said his goal is to return to the NHL, where he has played more than 500 games. But if nothing comes of it, a contract extension with Servette is conceivable.
The mood at HC Lugano was diametrically opposed, with two victories at the right time saving another disappointing season. Coach Chris McSorley said he couldn’t do long interviews because he had to go and search his heart. It probably slipped under the players’ bench somewhere, the game won in extra time was so nerve-wracking for him. For McSorley, who turns 62 on Tuesday, getting through must have felt particularly good. With Servette, his long-time employer, he argues in court about a severance payment of 7.6 million francs. “These were very emotional games for me and my whole family,” said the Canadian.
McSorley was presented in Lugano in May 2021 as a great hope. After qualifying, the club had fewer illusions – the team often played poorly, struggled with ongoing injury problems and had to use five different goalkeepers. The injured defender Mirco Müller was missing twice against Servette. But that’s exactly where the magic of the pre-play-offs lies: in just three days, Lugano managed to banish their worries. The atmosphere in the Resega was fiery and hopeful. McSorley said: “It is not pleasant for any opponent to have to play here.” It sounded like a first threat addressed to Master Zug.
Lugano like the Lakers in 2021?
Lugano may be able to draw as much strength from the success against Servette as the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers did a year ago, who surprisingly fought their way to the semi-finals via the pre-play-off and were able to carry this vigor into the new season .
Not only the Lakers and Lugano benefit from the mode change, but also Ambri-Piotta. The perennial outsider made the leap thanks to a remarkable final sprint at the expense of SC Bern and is now demanding everything from the clear favorite Lausanne. The Gottardo Arena was sold out on Sunday, and the atmosphere was the best advertisement for Swiss ice hockey. The pre-play-offs are therefore so far: A success story. They made qualifying more interesting and kept the tension high until the last matchday. In Geneva you may see things differently today and tomorrow, that’s in the nature of things. Whereby: The defender Vatanen said he didn’t understand the question about the mode: “It’s played that way all over Europe. In Finland, for example, for many years. It’s not the mode’s fault that we’re eliminated. Lugano was just better.”