ZSC board members Walter Frey and Rolf Dörig, two SVP politicians, would rather join the Labor Party than the Lions lose direct play-off qualification. It pays off for them that the coach once skated around the ice in Canada with eleven-year-old juniors.
Canadian Derek Grant found his offensive flair again in Zurich.
Christian Merz / Keystone
Marc Crawford’s coaching career began 35 years ago, and the Canadian has experienced too much to let the journalists lure him out of his reserve with cheap tricks. But you can try it.
The ZSC Lions only needed twelve minutes on Saturday evening to secure their fifth win in a row. The 4-2 win against the suddenly fallen champion Geneva-Servette was so safe that one can ask oneself whether the old champion wasn’t competing against the new champion. But this thought game only made ZSC coach Crawford smile mildly. He replied that it was not advisable to look so far ahead; life had taught him that.
Nevertheless: There is much to suggest that the ZSC will be able to celebrate its tenth championship title in the spring; Not only the generous budget, which the competition envies the Zurich organization. First and foremost, Crawford has a team at his disposal that knows no weakness. There are good reasons for this; Perhaps the most important is that the squad depth that ZSC currently has is perhaps unmatched in the almost 40-year history of the play-off era.
On Saturday, seasoned National League professionals Simon Bodenmann, Chris Baltisberger and Phil Baltisberger sat in the stands. They are players that the coaches from Kloten or Ajoie would transport from the Swiss Life Arena in a piggyback ride and with tears of gratitude in their eyes to use with them.
It should also be borne in mind that ZSC has already handed over three players to other clubs: Jérôme Bachofner (Biel), Kyen Sopa (Ajoie) and Enzo Guebey (Davos). And that, surprisingly, there are still a number of players in the GCK Lions farm team squad who have the format for the National League and who could play for the national team in the future, such as center Joel Henry, for example. Marc Crawford says: “Competition is a difficult sell because everyone wants to play. But it’s a good thing, it increases the intensity.”
A victory that would have provided great entertainment ????
I like 4:2 against Geneva and enjoy the Sunntig as leader????????#deZischmeh #mirsindzüri #zsclions pic.twitter.com/tfNNK85wOr
— ZSC Lions (@zsclions) December 2, 2023
The Lions have so much firepower that coach Crawford can regulate the playing times
The balance of the ZSC team on offense is also impressive in the first half of the season: with Derek Grant, Juho Lammikko, Denis Malgin, Jesper Frödén and Dean Kukan, five players have already produced twenty or more scorer points. This is a lonely peak; in Kloten and Rapperswil-Jona, for example, no one has yet reached this plateau. Crawford has so much firepower across four lines that he can regulate the playing times. This will pay off if the most important forces are not hopelessly outplayed in the play-offs.
Grant, the match winner on Saturday with two goals, is one of the positive surprises of the season. The 33-year-old, who has played 446 NHL games, is 191 centimeters tall and weighs 95 kilograms. Such guard masses were an advantage in ice hockey for a long time, but the game has become so devilishly fast that the massive giants are increasingly finding it difficult. But amazingly, Grant is the ZSC top scorer. If that doesn’t surprise anyone, it’s Crawford.
Because Crawford and Grant have known each other for more than twenty years. Growing up in Langley, Canada, Grant played on the same team as Crawford’s son Dylan. Crawford, then head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, regularly attended their games and occasionally helped out in training. That must have been a big deal for a bunch of eleven-year-olds: skating around the ice with Stanley Cup winner Crawford. Last summer, Crawford asked his son, who was now a video coach for the Canucks, to ask his old friend Derek whether he could imagine moving to Zurich.
And so there he is, Derek Grant, standing in front of the ZSC locker room, covered in sweat, and says: “I knew that my time in the NHL was coming to an end. It came July and there were no offers. The ZSC has such a good reputation that it was easy for me to accept.”
???? pic.twitter.com/ME1EATaqBu
— ZSC Lions (@zsclions) December 2, 2023
Bad play-off hangover in Biel and Geneva
In the NHL, Grant was a destroyer, a box play specialist. At ZSC he found his flair for the offensive again: he managed 11 goals and 11 assists in 26 games. And Crawford says the value of his former protégé goes far beyond the statistics. «I can assess his character well. Derek is a leader who leads the way and can be brought into any situation, even in the final minutes of a close game. He is very valuable to us.” Grant actually only has room for improvement in one part of the statistics: the face-offs. A center with his CV should have a better success rate than a dismal 46 percent.
It’s complaining at a high level – but that’s how it is at ZSC these days: He can devote himself to taking care of the details. The lead over 7th place is already more than fifteen points. ZSC board members Walter Frey and Rolf Dörig, two SVP politicians, would rather join the Labor Party than the Lions lose direct play-off qualification.
Crawford still warns against too much carelessness: “We must not let up, the league is extremely balanced. Just look at Geneva or Biel.” The spring play-off finalists are struggling with a bad hangover and are in 10th and 11th place. Both teams have personnel problems, Servette doesn’t seem to have been able to cope with the departures of artists Linus Omark and Henrik Tömmernes. A long-time Geneva observer says that the weakening star striker Teemu Hartikainen seems like a fish on land without his congenial partner Omark.
These are worries that Marc Crawford is not familiar with: Anyone who runs after their form in the ZSC takes a seat in the stands. This is how a healthy performance culture works.
ZSC coach Marc Crawford.
Christian Merz / Keystone
