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Defender Calle Andersson has arrived in Lugano in his hockey home.
Nicole VandenbrouckIce hockey reporter
Calle Andersson is one of the top four defenders at HC Lugano. He gets a lot of ice time in general and especially on the power play. Responsibility is transferred to the Swede with a Swiss license – and trust is placed in him. The latter was no longer the case in previous years. The defender fell out of favor with SCB, and the value for money was often criticized.
After Bern’s low point, missing the pre-playoffs with 11th place after qualifying, Andersson was given the scapegoat stamp because they no longer wanted him in the team despite the ongoing contract. Lugano took in the prodigal son, he signed for four years. In southern Ticino he was a little boy when he first stepped onto the ice when his father Peter (57) played for the Bianconeri from 1997 to 2001.
Under the magnifying glass: Lugano defender Calle Andersson’s career in numbers(00:47)
“It feels like my hockey home here,” says Calle Andersson, “I’m where I belong. Everything reminds me of my childhood.” He is not yet happy with the position in the table, “but since Luca (Gianinazzi, ed.) took over the team, things have been moving forward step by step”. The 28-year-old is not satisfied with his own score either. The fact that Sweden’s new national team coach Sam Hallam (43) called him up for the tournament in Friborg in December is confirmation for Andersson that he’s on the right track.
He wished for more support
Because his self-confidence has suffered after five seasons at SCB. The fact that they wanted to get rid of him after they had been begging him three years earlier to extend his contract was emotionally difficult. “It was tough and it hit me. I always thought people believed in me, but obviously they didn’t. People quickly forget that you were also there for the two championship titles (2019, 2017, the editor). »
In the Swedish media, Andersson already emphasized in December 2021 that it was not easy to play hockey in an unstable environment. Even now, he says the club’s decisions to change coaches and sporting directors so often have made it difficult. “I didn’t play that well, I know that.” Still, Andersson would have liked the club to have given him more support during those times.
He praises Gianinazzi’s calm manner
He now feels this support in Lugano. When Luca Gianinazzi (30) surprisingly took over as coach from Chris McSorley (60, Ka) at the beginning of October, Andersson was out for another three weeks with a broken rib. But confidence quickly set in. “I’ve had a lot of good coaches – like Kari Jalonen in Bern, Rikard Grönborg with the juniors or most recently Sam Hallam in the national team,” says Andersson, “so it makes me kind of proud that Lugano is giving such a young coach like Luca this chance .»
Head 2 Head: Can Lugano beat SCB without top scorer Granlund?(01:11)
Gianinazzi’s calm manner on the bench carries over to the team. Now, according to Andersson, the team just needs more stable self-confidence for more consistency. Because Lugano managed to string together wins only once this season (in November, five wins). Since then, victory has always been followed by defeat. However, Andersson won the last meeting with his former club 5-1 with Lugano. How it ends today can be seen live on Blick TV from 7.25 p.m.
National League 22/23
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team |
SP |
TD |
pt |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
8th |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
13 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
|
14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |