An impressive HC Davos shatters the ZSC Lions' dream of becoming the first team in thirty years to win the title hat-trick. The investigation into the causes begins quickly, the frustration runs deep.
14.04.2026, 05:01
14.04.2026, 06:39
SDA
The faces are blank, hardly anyone speaks, hardly a sound escapes from the dressing room. "I haven't said anything to the players yet," explains head coach Marco Bayer in the catacombs of the Davos ice stadium late on Sunday evening. "At the moment I'm just disappointed. It hurts." It's a feeling that hasn't been experienced for a long time at ZSC, a team so accustomed to success. They had become Swiss champions two years in a row and even won the Champions League last season.
It was clear that it would be difficult. HC Davos had marched through the qualifiers and the quarter-finals with too much style and conviction. A tight semi-final series was expected. But after Brendan Lemieux's overtime goal, the lights went out after just five games, with the Lions winning only their first home game in Zurich.
Lack of efficiency, lack of hunger
The obvious analysis leads Bayer and captain Patrick Geering to the same conclusion. There was a lack of efficiency, they were not consistent enough. "If you win, you've done every detail right," says Geering. "If you lose, you just didn't get enough details right. It's always the centimetres that decide, and we couldn't force them on our side."
Since the great EHC Kloten of the 1990s became champions four times in a row, no team has managed the title hat-trick. Bayer had already spoken of "an extremely difficult season" before the playoffs. "You can say, now we're going for the third. But there is still a certain satisfaction in certain games that is simply there. That's human nature." At HC Davos, who are back in the final for the first time since their 31st championship title eleven years ago, the hunger is probably that decisive little bit greater.
In the end, the ultimately clear elimination from the playoffs also reflects this difficult qualification, which the ZSC Lions "only" finished in 4th place. The statistics are revealing: since the 2020 coronavirus championship, which was not played to the end, the qualifying winners have been crowned champions four times in a row, last year it was ZSC in second place. This is the third time in five years that the first-placed team has faced the runner-up in the final; the other two times it was the first-placed team against the third-placed team. So the long qualifying period is anything but meaningless. Bayer laughs dryly. "Especially today, I don't think it's good from our point of view," he says. "But it's good and right for the league that it's like this."
The absence of top scorer Andrighetto
It is also true that the Zurich team has not only had to contend with the championship blues this season, but also with a series of injuries. The Lions were (too) often missing a few of their sharpest teeth, with Sven Andrighetto arguably the absolute key figure of late. "That can't be an excuse, it's the same with other teams," says Bayer. But Andrighetto is probably the one player who is almost impossible to replace, even in a squad as broad and top-class as the "Z". The MVP of the championship-winning Champions League season has been out since the third quarter-final game against Lugano with a concussion. "He was desperate to get back on the ice," revealed Head of Sport Sven Leuenberger. "But you have to protect the player at that moment." It might have been enough for the final, but now at least the national team is hoping for his return for the home World Cup.
Fourth place in qualifying and an exit in the semi-final did not meet the high expectations of the Zurich team, who are used to success. "We are Zurich, we have the ambition to play for the championship title," emphasizes Marco Bayer. "We will certainly draw certain conclusions and attack again next year." He does not know for sure whether he will still be at the helm. "It's not in my hands, it's not my decision," says the coach, smiling a little pained.
It is in the hands of Sven Leuenberger and ultimately the new president Lorenz Frey-Hilti, the son of long-time patron Walter Frey. One thing is clear: Bayer has a contract for another season, and a premature sacking would come as a surprise. Leuenberger rolls his eyes at the question and routinely refers to the following season analysis.
Hardly any changes to the squad
However, he can almost only provide new impetus through the coach. Six foreigners have contracts that continue to run, the seventh being the Swede Malte Strömwall from Rapperswil-Jona. At this time of the year, there are no longer any Swiss players of value on the market anyway. If Bayer can be accused of anything, it is that the young players have hardly developed at all.
One thing is also important to everyone in Zurich: they have a lot of praise for the HCD. But they would rather be the lions again next season with all their bite.
