The playoff quarter-finals will pit champions ZSC against Kloten starting Thursday
Image: Keystone
Nothing will be given away
Image: Keystone
For ZSC coach Marco Bayer, his personal future is also at stake
Image: Keystone
ZSC veteran Reto Schäppi is really looking forward to the duels against his former teammates
Image: Keystone
Axel Simic, in the blue jersey, will miss Kloten at least in the first quarter-final game. He was the most productive of all players in the play-in
Image: Keystone
The playoff quarter-finals will pit champions ZSC against Kloten starting Thursday
Image: Keystone
Nothing will be given away
Image: Keystone
For ZSC coach Marco Bayer, his personal future is also at stake
Image: Keystone
ZSC veteran Reto Schäppi is really looking forward to the duels against his former teammates
Image: Keystone
Axel Simic, in the blue jersey, will miss Kloten at least in the first quarter-final game. He was the most productive of all players in the play-in
Image: Keystone
The Zurich derby in the ice hockey playoffs promises to be a spectacle. Although in the role of favorite, ZSC coach Marco Bayer is preparing for "a tough series" against cantonal rival Kloten.
13.03.2025, 04:30
13.03.2025, 04:31
SDA
Playoffs have their special appeal - derbies anyway. Combined, they unfold an explosive potential. There's no grudging each other anything, on and off the ice. The rivalry is characterized by mutual dislike. Every check crashes louder, every penalty weighs heavier. The fans whip their team forward as if it were about more than just advancing to the next round - it's about pride, honor, dominance in the canton and, of course, it's all or nothing in the playoffs. Some win, others lose. Nobody wants to go on vacation prematurely.
If you take the four Zurich derbies of the past qualifiers as a yardstick, fans of both camps can prepare themselves for a lot. Kloten and the ZSC Lions, both offensively oriented, offered plenty of spectacle - and the home team always won.
This shows that although Kloten are the underdogs, they have nothing to hide in a duel with their mighty neighbor. In the last seven duels, the Zurich Unterlanders have even come away victorious five times. So the ZSC has been warned.
ZSC coach Bayer: "The boys are hungry"
"It's going to be a tough, tough series for us," predicts ZSC coach Marco Bayer. When Marc Crawford resigned for health reasons, the Dübendorf native was promoted from head coach of the GCK Lions farm team to head coach of the big ZSC after Christmas in a kind of cloak-and-dagger operation.
Bayer was challenged right from the start. The tight schedule, a wave of flu and injuries repeatedly presented him and his coaching staff with new challenges. So the eleven days off before the playoffs came at just the right time for ZSC. "The break did us a lot of good. We weren't as fresh mentally and physically. We were finally able to train properly. That's never been possible since I've been here," said Bayer in a meeting with journalists on Tuesday afternoon.
Bayer does not believe that the team lacks the necessary bite after winning the Champions Hockey League in February. "The boys are hungry. I've noticed in the last two or three days how fresh and focused they are again. We still have a goal that we want to achieve. "
For Marco Bayer, the play-off is also about his personal future. The former national defenceman, a two-time champion with Kloten as an active player, will remain with the ZSC organization for two more seasons. A corresponding contract was signed in January. However, it is still unclear whether he will remain in his current role as head coach of the ZSC Lions or return as head coach of the GCK Lions. The 52-year-old is calm, at least to the outside world: "This is not about me, but about the club and the players. We can discuss my situation after the season."
Schäppi's reunion
The Zurich derby is particularly special for Reto Schäppi, who has played almost his entire career with ZSC and has won four Swiss championships with them. As part of a rejuvenation program, the 34-year-old center was no longer given a contract by the Lions for this season. Following his move to cantonal rivals EHC Kloten, he will now face his former club of all teams. "I'm really looking forward to playing a playoff series against my old teammates. It will certainly be special," said Schäppi late Monday night, when the playoff qualification was confirmed after the spectacular 5:4 home win against Ambri-Piotta.
He describes the starting position in the duel between the second and seventh-placed teams in the qualifiers as follows: "We know that we are the underdogs. Nevertheless, we can play with confidence, which we have built up over the course of the season. We know that we have a chance."
The veteran does not believe that the team lacks the necessary freshness due to the additional four play-in games. "Of course it would have been nice if we had qualified right away against Langnau. But we want to take the momentum with us and look on the bright side."
In order to get the big rival out of the way, EHC Kloten will have to achieve something that nobody managed a year ago: on their way to their tenth championship title, the Lions have won all eight of their playoff home games. ZSC coach Bayer believes: "We're fresh, over a longer series that can be an advantage."
