Lugano has picked up speed after a poor start to the season. Coach Tomas Mitells can benefit from his work before ice hockey: The Swede was a professional poker player.
Tomas Mitell joined Lugano in the summer. On his CV: four years on the Färjestad bench and before that three years as an assistant coach in the NHL, on the Chicago Blackhawks' sidelines.
No easy task awaits him on the banks of the Ceresio before the start of the season: getting the HCL players back on track after a disappointing pre-season.
Not getting enough out of his playing career
Born in the small town of Mariestad, Mitell was a defender as a player without celebrating any successes, even though his coaches attested to his great potential and talent.
He played for years in the Swiss first division and spent four years in the second-highest Swedish league. He hung up his skates in 2014.
Today he says openly: "I was too lazy as a player, I didn't have the will to commit myself unconditionally and therefore never got the best out of my career."
The talent for poker
In addition to ice hockey, Mitell sometimes works in a sports store, sometimes in a department store. The most lucrative side job was also the most unusual: the Swede was a professional poker player for years, both in his last years as a player and in his first years as an assistant coach.
"I had a talent for poker," he confirms toBlick. At the age of 20, when he had a contract as a first division player at his home club Mariestadt BoIs in his pocket, he wanted to try his luck and it actually worked out: "Somehow I was good at it." The winnings were sometimes considerable.
His recipe for success? "I was good at controlling my emotions and making sensible decisions under pressure. And above all, not dwelling on them too much when they were wrong." He also liked to study his opponents, their body language and their charisma.
Lugano's escape combined with the player's patience
This explains one of the secrets of the Lugano coach's success: he took the time to study his opponents and his players - and didn't let a difficult start to the season put him under pressure.
As soon as he had made his decisions, he transferred them to his boys: it is no coincidence that Lugano have recorded eight wins and only two defeats in their last ten games.
A record that has enabled them to climb from 12th to 6th place in the table (43 points) - just seven points away from second-placed Lausanne.
Why quit the lucrative poker game?
Why didn't the Swede continue his lucrative gambling career? In 2011, he even won a major tournament and pocketed more than 90,000 dollars.
"Poker is a fine line" - the risk of falling into a kind of addiction is high, the 45-year-old told Blick.
It is also difficult to lead a normal family life. You play at night and sleep during the day. The father of two decided to give up playing cards in 2017 when his young coaching career was taking off.
The will to suffer and win
The similarities between a career as a poker player and as an ice hockey coach are not limited to controlling emotions and assessing opponents, but also to the will to win and analyzing players' decisions.
Now he no longer plays poker, "I don't enjoy it as much as I used to". But in the meantime, the tide has turned in Lugano thanks to him.
