Tigers Benjamin Neukom cheers during the National League championship game between the SCL Tigers and the ZSC Lions on Saturday, January 2, 2021, in the Ilfis Stadium in Langnau. Image: keystone
–
Eismeister Zaugg
The Bern area like New York and some eternal hockey wisdom
Finally a «double header» in the Bern area. As usual in New York. And seldom has a day been as instructive as January 2nd.
A “double header” stands for two games in a row in the same league, in the same culture and in the same region. Actually, there are these “double headers” mainly in the NHL and in the New York area. For example with an afternoon game by the Rangers in Madison Square Garden and an evening game in New Jersey over there or the Islanders in Brooklyn or out in Long Island.
A “double header” is possible for once in the Bern area. At 3:45 p.m. Langnau against the ZSC Lions and at 7:45 p.m. Biel against Zug. What a hopeful start to the hockey year 2021: A full round with six games. No postponement. And just: a “double header”.
With little traffic, it takes about the same time by car from Langnau via Worb and Bern to Biel as from Manhattan to Long Island or across to New Jersey. However, it is wiser to use the railroad in the New York area.
The game in Langnau and then the trip via Worb and Bern to Biel and the game there are extremely instructive. Let’s start very “süferli”, very factually (write what is) with the sport. Langnau against the ZSC Lions proves one thing above all: the quality and balance of our league. The Zurich team do not lose – as the result (3: 5 after a 3: 1 lead) would suggest, because after the 3: 1 they become arrogant or careless. You lose a very good game because the opponent works even harder and is brave.
The win against SCB (4: 3) on December 23rd strengthened the Emmental’s confidence. They had often played well before. It’s just useless if good performances cannot be turned into victories. The Langnauer stood on their toes against the ZSC Lions. Which means in the hockey language: they were always active, always ready to put the opponent under pressure and to force their own game on him in short phases. This is in contrast to standing «on your heels». So passive, waiting game. This statement is in contrast to the statistics (25:48 shots on goal). But the difference will be so extreme, especially in the final phase (7:20 in the last third), as the Zurich team are trying to balance out by all means. The decisive factor is: the SCL Tigers use every opportunity for an offensive needle stick.
Eternal wisdom is confirmed: with a goalkeeper who is “upside down” (Ivars Punnenovs fends off more than 93 percent of the pucks coming up), with courage, with passion, with a bit of luck in this league on a good evening too a blatant geek every now and then to win a game. But only as an exception.
And up in the box someone does the math: in the last few minutes – the ZSC Lions bring the best of the best and the most expensive of the expensive ones to use – two million will happily compete against a wage sum of just over 500,000 francs.
It may be a cliché that we no longer like to read. But the rule is: write what is. What an eloquent poet prince (I just forgot the name) teaches us in a work of world literature. The title: “Money and Spirit”. Published in two parts in the years 1843 and 1844. And today more relevant than ever.
Zug wins 2-0 in Biel. The specialty of this game: Zug plays like a master team. Exactly as every coach dreams of: a goalkeeper who shows his best hockey (Leonardo Genoni). The most expensive Swiss “sniper” who scores the winning goal in power play (Grégory Hofmann). A defensive organization that never falls apart against a spirited, creative and courageous attacking opponent. And here too: the loser plays – like the ZSC Lions in Langnau – a good, and sometimes big, game.
What stands out: we see the real Leonardo Genoni. So the calm, cool Leonardo Genoni, who always has the puck in his eye, who seems to know where the puck will fly before the hard rubber disc has even left the attacker’s stick shovel. It is the Leonardo Genoni in masterly form. Has it ever been this good in Zug? Probably not.
Zug’s goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni, Zug’s Raphael Diaz and Langnaus Marcus Nilsson, from left, in the National League ice hockey game between EV Zug and the SCL Tigers on Wednesday, December 23, 2020, in the Bossard Arena in Zug. Image: keystone
–
Zug’s trainer Dan Tagners is on a mission. To win a title for the first time. He is very satisfied, but not complacent. He is happy about the performance of his men, but he can classify the good performance: an away win against a strong Biel is far from being a title win. After all, he praises Leonardo Genoni and says: “The people in front of him made his work a lot easier. It is much easier for a goalkeeper if he is so integrated into the team’s game that he knows how everything works. ”
And what do we learn on the one-hour drive by car from Langnau via Worb and Bern to Biel? We turn onto the motorway at Muri, which will lead us past Bern. And on this trip, the hockey temple appears on the left. With a wonderful, blue light pattern. Now we are getting a little poetic-literary-philosophical.
Nowhere outside of North America do so many women, men and children gather to play hockey as here in normal times. An imposing building that gives an idea of the power and glorious history of the hockey company that lives here. And inside there is the gigantic, most terrifying standing ramp in world hockey history. Anyone who only builds on this visual impression tends to be awestruck, to kneel in front of the big SC Bern.
But what does it actually look like inside this temple? Well, the standing ramp is still – if the public is allowed – one of the most impressive things there is on the planet hockey. However, if we take a closer look inside, we notice something: upstairs, in the boxes of the powerful and the rich (VIP), there where champagne is sipped and salmon fades away on the tongue, everything is new, modern and exquisite prepared.
But downstairs, where the ordinary spectators watch the game, where mainly beer and sausage (“bear croissants”) are eaten, this arena doesn’t exactly give the impression of dilapidation. That would be extremely disrespectful. But the impression of a strange shabbiness. Visually, this is mainly due to the floor: it reminds you of a car.
In fact, after a game (if spectators are allowed), the hard-working helpers sweep the arena with giant rice brooms, as they once used the Emmental farmers to broom clean before the local pastor visits the farm.
If only a new floor were laid, a real, neat, smooth floor, then everything would be much newer, more beautiful, “aam smack”. If we are honest (write what is): the stadiums in Langnau and Biel are more modern, more functional and just “aam smack”. In terms of infrastructure, Bern is actually only number 3 in the canton.
Why does the chronicler come up with this description now of all times? Because as he drives by he thinks: isn’t it exactly the same with the SCB today? Isn’t the SCB still big, as powerful as the outside arena in our perception? After all, the SCB is still the defending champion with one of the most expensive teams in the league.
Isn’t the difference between the highest SCB management level and what is going on downstairs in the cabin and on the ice as big as the difference between the comfort up in the VIP boxes, this own world, and the somewhat shabby state of the Arena below? Doesn’t this “we up there” and “you down there” symbolize the pride, arrogance and ignorance of the highest SCB command level towards the paying customers and the conditions in the sports department, which meanwhile defy description.
These are the thoughts of an unsuspecting chronicler who has just passed the hockey temple of the capital. And he thinks: you shouldn’t think that way. Such heretical considerations are simply not appropriate. Please, as a Berner, more respect for the big, powerful, proud SCB!
Four hours later, after the game in Biel, the chronicler rolls home via Solothurn and Lindenholz. He has long known that the SCB went down 1: 7 in Lausanne. And that now Philip Wüthrich, the best, the bravest at SCB, could no longer stop the disaster.
If the chronicler stays true to his motto (write what is), then he will come to the conclusion: the heretical thoughts that he had on the highway drive past the SCB temple are not heretical. The SCB is also only number 3 in the canton in terms of sport. And if there was a relegation this season, the SCB would meanwhile also be relegation candidate number 1.
It is what it is: Langnau and Biel rose on their own. The SCB rose to the «green table» in 1986. The SCB will be saved at the “green table” this season.
THANK YOU FOR THE ♥
Would you like to support watson and journalism? Learn more
(You will be redirected to complete the payment)
![[사회]657 new confirmed yesterday… 600 in 23 days](https://i0.wp.com/image.ytn.co.kr/general/jpg/2021/0103/202101031355036471_t.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "[사회]657 new confirmed yesterday… 600 in 23 days")