Head coach Dan Tangens has achieved cult status in Zug. Now he faces an unpleasant exit in the quarter-final against Davos. He is ashamed of his team's performance in the 4-0 loss on Tuesday.
20.03.2025, 04:31
20.03.2025, 07:44
SDA
When Dan Tangnes was appointed coach of EV Zug in the spring of 2018, sports director Reto Kläy had to listen to some critical voices, as the Norwegian was still a blank slate at the time. In his first six seasons with the team from Central Switzerland, Tangnes won the championship title twice (2021 and 2022), EVZ reached the final once (2019) and the semi-finals twice (2023 and 2024) - the playoffs were canceled in 2020 due to coronavirus. This record is more than impressive.
"Came as a nobody, left as a hero", wrote the Zug fans on a banner on Tuesday evening. Below it was a picture of him holding up the championship trophy. That says everything about the status Tangnes has achieved. He is leaving the club at the end of the season despite having a contract until 2026 and is returning to Sweden because he wants to be with his wife and daughter.
No extra kick so far
Zug's top scorer Lino Martschini answered the question of whether Tangnes' departure would give him an extra kick before the start of the playoffs: "It's certainly in the back of everyone's mind that we want to say goodbye to Dan as nicely as possible." But now the end is looming as quickly as possible, as the EVZ is 0:3 behind in the quarter-final series against Davos.
The Zug team lost their nerve in the 4-0 home loss on Tuesday, symbolized by Mike Künzle's completely unnecessary cross-check against three-time goal scorer Adam Tambellini in the 54th minute. The home team accumulated a total of 72 penalty minutes! "We behaved like shit out there," says Tangnes and adds: "They can write that in the newspaper. I think we're all ashamed of our behavior. We focused too much on things that didn't bring us one step closer to our goal. That gave Davos inspiration and energy."
Completely different starting position
In the history of the National League playoffs, a 0:3 in a series has already been turned around five times. The last time this happened was in 2022... EV Zug in the final against the ZSC Lions. Does that help? It's certainly positive that some players have been in this situation before and have mastered it, "but it's a different team," says Tangnes.
In fact, the starting position is completely different. Three years ago, Zug finished the qualifiers in first place and won both the quarter-final against Lugano and the semi-final against Davos with 4-0 victories. In addition, much went against them in the first three finals. As a result, their self-image was completely different to the current one.
The Zug team, fourth after qualifying, has repeatedly put in questionable performances this season, as in the last two duels against Davos - the second quarter-final game on Saturday was lost 5-1 after an "unacceptable performance" (Tangnes). Once again in the current championship, the Norwegian complained that too many players had been hiding.
Too many out of form
This naturally leads to the question of whether the team has been put together correctly. Whatever the case, the fact is that too many key players are far from their best form. While Zug still had the best offense in qualifying with 173 goals, they managed just two measly goals in the three quarter-final games. That is a minus record in the playoff era, but Kloten even undercut it in the current series against the ZSC Lions.
The Zug scorers were Colin Lindemann, who has only played four games in Switzerland's top league, and Elia Riva. That says everything about a team that has top forwards like Gregory Hofmann and Lino Martschini, to name just two. In addition, seven-time champion goalie Leonardo Genoni has lost his magic - the last time he lost a quarter-final series with Davos was in 2014. Added to this is bad luck with injuries.
Tangnes has of course not given up hope. He believes that they played at a level like no other team at times during the regular season. "So I know the potential is there. But firstly, we have to believe that we can reach this level. Secondly, we have to focus all our concentration and energy on the things that will get us there. We need to stick together as a group. Hopefully it will help that we now have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I don't intend to end my tenure here with a sweep in the quarter-finals."
