Servette's team manager Marc Gautschi has mixed feelings after the loss to Fribourg. He believes the team is on the right track, but is also annoyed about their performance in the playoff semi-final.
14.04.2026, 05:01
14.04.2026, 06:39
SDA
"At the start of the season, we would have taken the semi-final," says Gautschi in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. "The league is so evenly matched, just getting into the top 6 is extremely difficult. Once again, there were big teams that didn't make it."
However, the 43-year-old adds a but: "I don't think Fribourg was excellent and did anything special. Rather, we only played our best field hockey for 20 or 30 minutes per game. They were faster than us, took advantage of our mistakes and Reto Berra (Fribourg's goalie) was incredibly strong. We didn't deserve to make it to the final."
Not balanced enough
For Gautschi, one factor in the team not getting up to speed as desired was the quarter-final against Lausanne, in which Geneva turned around a 3-0 deficit in the sixth game away from home and forced a seventh game, which they won 5-1. "That was an incredible series for Swiss ice hockey. After that, emotions were extremely high and we lacked energy."
In addition, much depends on Servette's Finnish forward line of Jesse Puljujärvi, Markus Granlund and Sakari Manninen. The latter two scored just two points each in the five semi-final games. Regarding the lack of balance in the team, Gautschi says: "It's easier for me to sign an NHL player than a Swiss national player from German-speaking Switzerland."
In addition, goalie Stéphane Charlin, who was brought back from the SCL Tigers, was not the support he had hoped for. He recorded a save percentage of just 88.89 percent in the semi-final and 89.93 percent overall in the playoffs. At 2:6 on Sunday, coach Ville Peltonen even relied on Robert Mayer, who cut anything but a good figure. Asked about the goalkeepers, Gautschi says: "We have to be cleaner defensively. With defenders like Karrer or Le Coultre, you have to play better at the back. We didn't do that."
Generation change planned
However, it should not be forgotten that Geneva missed out on the playoffs in the previous two seasons. So they made a huge improvement. "We drew the right conclusions, wanted to get back to our DNA, be a heavier team with a bit more grit (combination of passion and stamina - ed.) and more character. It was never down to the quality of the team in recent years, it just didn't work out. Now we showed our fighting spirit again, there was more life in it, we moved closer together with our fans. We're on the right track."
According to "Eliteprospects", Servette had the oldest team in the league with an average age of 29.25. Although only one addition (Mika Henauer) and two departures (Tim Berni, Eric Schneller) have been confirmed so far, "we have already signed players who we will announce and who are in their prime. There are also many teams that are not satisfied with the season, and there will be some transfer calls in the coming days and weeks."
Trades? "Exactly. Contracts are getting longer and longer, so players have to expect trades." There are also promising talents at Servette who could move up, as was the case this season with 18-year-old Simas Ignatavicius. "There will be a generation change," says Gautschi. And then it should work out again with the final - with the new coach Sam Hallam, most recently head coach of the Swedish national team.
