The decisive difference in the game of details?

Lars Leuenberger is not letting his cards get in the way after the 0:1 against the qualification winners Lausanne. The Fribourg-Gottéron coach puts on his poker face in front of the dressing room. Does he know what Lucas Wallmark is missing? "Yes." Do you want to tell us? "No." Can he play in Game 3 on Thursday? "We'll see. You know the game."

Playoffs are when injuries are made an even bigger secret than they usually are in field hockey. And they can decide entire championships. Just look at SC Bern, who lost their top scorer Austin Czarnik early on in the quarter-final against Fribourg. Now Fribourg are facing the same fate. If Wallmark were to miss out for Gottéron, it would not primarily be his scoring points that would be missing, but above all a second center after Jacob de la Rose, who was also injured in the quarter-finals and will not return this season.

National League

End of season for Fribourg's top scorer Lucas Wallmark

"A great challenge"

Of course, Gottéron doesn't want to know anything about it. "We made it to the semi-finals without De la Rose," emphasizes Leuenberger. "If Wallmark can play, great, if not, we have other players." Can you win the qualifier without two of the best centers and bully players? "Difficult? Yes, but what a great challenge that would be," he says with a cryptic smile.

One thing is clear: In the rematch of last year's semi-final, which Lausanne clearly won 4:1 (also after trailing 0:1), details are likely to be decisive. Twice the away team prevailed, in Lausanne the home team seemed a little careless defensively and allowed their opponents too much space, in Freiburg on Tuesday evening both teams acted very cautiously, intent on avoiding mistakes. It was not until the 54th minute that Lausanne took a 1-0 lead - after a penalty by De la Rose substitute Daniel Ljunggren, who moved to the first line for Wallmark in the final third. With the shackles loosened, Fribourg still had good chances in the final phase, but too late.

"Good work from Pasche"

Last but not least, the young Kevin Pasche, who is playing his first playoffs as a regular goalie, demonstrated his value here. The 22-year-old from Lausanne had not been called upon much before, but was a bench player when it counted and saved the win for his team with his tenth shutout of the season. "That was good work from Kevin," praised his coach Geoff Ward, but also emphasized that his entire back line "wiped away all the rebounds when it counted". Like David Sklenicka in the final minutes, for example.

Ward is clearly more satisfied and more talkative than after the home defeat in the season opener on Saturday (2:3). The favorite had already struggled with the SCL Tigers for seven games in the quarterfinals, but still won all four home games. "We haven't been the most consistent lately," the Canadian notes. "But today we showed a solid match and a very complete performance."

"A game of details"

A match that his counterpart Lars Leuenberger says "we have to learn a lot from". What exactly? The man from eastern Switzerland puts on his poker face again and says with a grin: "We'll see." You never know exactly what will happen in advance. "The first four matches were much more intense," he says. "And hardly anyone would have expected Game 7 to turn out like this." For Gottéron forward Nathan Marchon, one thing is clear after the first two games: "It's a game of small details."

The absence of Lucas Wallmark would not be a detail for his team. It is possible that a correct check by Aurélien Marti in the 28th minute of Tuesday's game could have decided the semi-final series. Wallmark's absence could be the decisive difference in the game of details.