Bankruptcy instead of comfort in the Caribbean or Munich

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SCB coach Toni Söderholm congratulates Ajoie coach/sports director Julien Vauclair after the 3:6 bankruptcy.

Stephen RothDeputy Head of Ice Hockey

Lions coach Marc Crawford (61) and SCB coach Toni Söderholm (44) only came during the season after their predecessors had paid the price for last season. The Lions were in third place when Rikard Grönborg, under whom Zurich lost a 3-0 lead against Zug in the playoff final last spring, had to go after Christmas. Johan Lundskog, under whom SCB delivered its worst NL season (11th place), was chased off the court in sixth place after beating ZSC in November.

More about the SCB and the ZSC Lions

Now the ZSC is only fourth, while the SCB hasn’t dropped any further and is back to seventh place.

Crawford and Söderholm could not resist the lure of what is arguably the most attractive coaching job in Europe, although they could have taken it easy. Crawford’s return to Zurich was only planned for the coming season. He was still being paid by the Chicago Blackhawks, where he was fired as an assistant coach in May. And the Canadian had already promised his wife Helene vacations on the Caribbean island of Aruba. Meanwhile, Söderholm had an almost stress-free job as German national coach (World Cup is only once a year) with a contract until 2026 and lived happily in Munich.

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The six changes of coach in the 2022/23 season: Coach Christian Wohlwend’s tenure in Davos ended abruptly on January 10 after almost four years.

But instead of dream beaches in Aruba or comfort in the Bavarian metropolis, the two coaches are now experiencing tough days in Switzerland. After two wins at the start, the Lions have lost four in a row. One is still a long way from lively hockey.

“We shot ourselves in the foot”

And the Bernese have recently become the league’s shooting gallery after you thought they had found their balance: 5-7 against Servette, 5-6 against the SCRJ Lakers and 3-6 against Ajoie. “We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Söderholm to “MySports” after the Jura bankruptcy and admitted: “We didn’t prepare our team well enough.”

HC Ajoie – SC Bern 6: 3: SCB slept – Mutzen conceded three goals in 98 seconds(07:10)

The Finn exudes composure on the outside and tries to take the pressure off the team. Crawford is also cool. “The players should be relaxed and not think too much.” But the Lions haven’t managed to do that yet. After complaining that there were no clear announcements under Grönborg, they are now finding it difficult to implement Crawford’s instructions.

The balance of the Stanley Cup winner from 1996 (Colorado) and Swiss champion from 2014 (ZSC) does not look good after six games. Crawford only got one point per game. Worse are Filip Pesan, who was fired at Ajoie, and Zugs assistant coach Josh Holden, who was boss for two games when Dan Tangnes underwent back surgery.

The balance sheet of the NL coaches

Immonen/Metropolit (Davos) 1 game/3 points – 3 points/game
Cadieux (Servette) 36/74 – 2.06
Tormanen (Biel) 37/74 – 2.0
Gronborg (ex ZSC) 30/56 – 1.87
Vauclair (Ajoie) 9/16 – 1.78
Hedlund (SCRJ Lakers) 37/64 – 1.73
Dube (Fribourg) 35/58 – 1.66
Wohlwend (ex Davos) 34/55 – 1.62
Tangnes (train) 33/51 – 1.55
Lundskog (ex 20/31 – 1.55
Tomlinson (Kloten) 37/55 – 1.49
Soderholm (Bern) 18/26 – 1.44
Cereda (Ambri) 37/48 – 1.30
Paterlini (SCL Tigers) 36/45 – 1.25
Gianinazzi (Lugano) 28/35 – 1.25
McSorley (ex-Lugano) 8/9 – 1.12
Ward (Lausanne) 18/20 – 1.11
Fust (ex Lausanne) 19/20 – 1.05
Crawford (ZSC) 6/6 – 1.00
Franzén (servette) 1/1 – 1.00
Pesan (ex Ajoie) 30/20 – 0.67
Holden (Train Assistant) 2/1 – 0.5

Immonen/Metropolit (Davos) 1 game/3 points – 3 points/game
Cadieux (Servette) 36/74 – 2.06
Tormanen (Biel) 37/74 – 2.0
Gronborg (ex ZSC) 30/56 – 1.87
Vauclair (Ajoie) 9/16 – 1.78
Hedlund (SCRJ Lakers) 37/64 – 1.73
Dube (Fribourg) 35/58 – 1.66
Wohlwend (ex Davos) 34/55 – 1.62
Tangnes (train) 33/51 – 1.55
Lundskog (ex 20/31 – 1.55
Tomlinson (Kloten) 37/55 – 1.49
Soderholm (Bern) 18/26 – 1.44
Cereda (Ambri) 37/48 – 1.30
Paterlini (SCL Tigers) 36/45 – 1.25
Gianinazzi (Lugano) 28/35 – 1.25
McSorley (ex-Lugano) 8/9 – 1.12
Ward (Lausanne) 18/20 – 1.11
Fust (ex Lausanne) 19/20 – 1.05
Crawford (ZSC) 6/6 – 1.00
Franzén (servette) 1/1 – 1.00
Pesan (ex Ajoie) 30/20 – 0.67
Holden (Train Assistant) 2/1 – 0.5

Crawford is patient: “I always focus on the development of the team. We just have to keep at it and keep improving. After such a change, it always takes time. It would be a surprise if it were different.”

He doesn’t want to know anything about the fact that he would rather be in Aruba than see ZSC defeats. “I’ve lost a lot of games in my career. I can deal with that,” says the Canadian, who can now also count on his loyal assistant Rob Cookson.