The ZSC Lions will face HC Davos in the playoff semi-finals
Image: Keystone
Lausanne against Fribourg-Gottéron, this duel already took place a year ago in the semi-finals
Image: Keystone
Fribourg's head coach Lars Leuenberger has a good laugh. The native of eastern Switzerland turns 50 on Saturday
Image: Keystone
Showing outstanding playoffs so far: HCD goalie Sandro Aeschlimann
Image: Keystone
With Simon Hrubec, the ZSC Lions also have an absolute top goalie between the posts
Image: Keystone
The ZSC Lions will face HC Davos in the playoff semi-finals
Image: Keystone
Lausanne against Fribourg-Gottéron, this duel already took place a year ago in the semi-finals
Image: Keystone
Fribourg's head coach Lars Leuenberger has a good laugh. The native of eastern Switzerland turns 50 on Saturday
Image: Keystone
Showing outstanding playoffs so far: HCD goalie Sandro Aeschlimann
Image: Keystone
With Simon Hrubec, the ZSC Lions also have an absolute top goalie between the posts
Image: Keystone
The next phase of the ice hockey playoffs begins on Saturday with the semi-finals between Lausanne (1st in qualifying) and Fribourg-Gottéron (6th) and ZSC Lions (2nd) and Davos (5th). They are two unequal duels.
29.03.2025, 04:31
29.03.2025, 08:05
SDA
Lausanne against Fribourg-Gottéron is a clash between two clubs from western Switzerland that already took place a year ago in the semi-finals. On that occasion, Lausanne prevailed in five games, despite starting the series with a defeat away from home.
As winners of the qualifiers, the Vaud team will start with a home game this time. Even though coach Geoff Ward's team had to go the full distance against the resilient SCL Tigers in the quarter-finals, contrary to expectations, it seems to be slightly favored in the duel with Fribourg-Gottéron.
Leuenberger's magic
However, the LHC will not underestimate their opponents, especially as they have gone into a real frenzy since the arrival of Lars Leuenberger shortly before Christmas. Of the 32 games Gottéron have played under the former SCB champions' coach, they have only lost two in regulation time.
"That's totally crazy. The team can be very proud of the journey we've made together over the last twelve weeks. We've come a long way and now we're one of the four best teams in the country," said Leuenberger after his team secured their semi-final ticket with a commanding 4-1 win in Bern on Wednesday evening.
In a seventh game in which not many believed he would be able to lift his team after two bitter overtime defeats, Leuenberger did just that and succeeded against his long-time employer and favorite. Fribourg's captain Julien Sprunger is full of praise for his coach, who has turned the team around after a difficult first half of the season under Patrick Emond. "He reminds us why we're successful, why we won the Spengler Cup, why we've won so much."
Birthday party of a special kind
The start of the semi-final series on Saturday coincides with Lars Leuenberger's 50th birthday. When asked about this, he said with a laugh that the birthday party would now take place in Lausanne. Preferably with a Fribourg victory, of course. The majority of the 9600 spectators in the sold-out Lausanne Arena naturally saw things differently.
Despite the opponent's great potential, Leuenberger was optimistic ahead of the upcoming task. "Lausanne are strong. But we've seen in our duels in qualifying and now in their quarter-final series against Langnau where they struggle. I'm convinced that it will be another exciting series."
In the end, the reserves of strength may also decide who advances. Fribourg had to go into overtime four times in the series against SCB, Lausanne only once against Langnau.
ZSC - Davos: ZSC as new favorite opponent
In the other semi-final series, the starting position is somewhat different. The ZSC Lions won the Zurich derby against Kloten 4:1 and saved their strength in the quarter-finals, as did Davos, who even managed a sweep against Zug.
In contrast to Lausanne and Fribourg-Gottéron, who have never been Swiss champions, ZSC and Davos have a great palmarès. The Lions celebrated their tenth championship title last year after winning the final against Lausanne, while the HCD is the Swiss record champion with 31 titles.
As defending champions and Champions League winners, the ZSC Lions are actually the clear favorites, especially as they also finished the qualifiers ahead of HCD and thus start the series with home ice advantage. But if you take the head-to-head meetings as a yardstick, the tide is turning. Davos have won seven of their last eight duels (and the last three this season) with ZSC. Prior to that, however, HCD had long been a favorite opponent of the Zurich club, losing just twice in 22 games between September 2019 and March 2023.
Duel between two top goalies
While Lausanne and Fribourg-Gottéron are facing each other in the playoffs for only the third time (after 2022 and 2024), the clash between the ZSC Lions and HC Davos is a real classic. The last of ten playoff series between these two teams to date took place two years ago, when the Zurich side prevailed with a 4:1 victory. Before that, ZSC and HCD met in the 2015 final, which the Grisons team also won in five games.
To advance to the playoff final for the first time in ten years, coach Josh Holden's team is relying on a strong Sandro Aeschlimann in goal. He was outstanding against the EVZ, averaging one goal against per game and a save percentage of over 96 percent. Aeschlimann was only bettered in the quarter-finals by Simon Hrubec, who only allowed three goals in four games at ZSC and even had a slightly better save percentage than the HCD goalie.
The duel between champions and record champions is therefore also one between two absolute top goalies.
