Interview with CEO Patrick Lengwiler

How do you see the development in recent years?

We had a poor last season and failed to reach the playoff quarter-finals for the first time since 2018. The 4-0 loss was brutal and our elimination in the quarter-finals makes us mediocre. For me, the fact that we finished last season like that can be attributed to many developments since the 2022 championship title and it’s important to put all of this into context. The years following the ultimate success, a championship title, are a huge challenge for every club. The expectations of themselves and those around them rise immeasurably, although the hunger and absolute sacrifice of some people tends to wane somewhat.

People fail to realize that, as the hunted, you have to work much harder to stay at the top. Only very few clubs have managed to defend a championship title in recent decades or win multiple championship titles within five years. The ZSC Lions became champions in 2018. The following season, they did not even qualify for the playoffs. Since then, they have steadily fought their way back to the top, took a total of six years to win the next championship title and now have the chance to defend it for the first time. SC Bern became champions in 2019. In the last 6 years, they have not won a single playoff series and have failed to qualify for the playoffs twice. The 2023 champions were Genève-Servette HC. They won the CHL the following season, but failed to qualify for the playoffs twice in a row.

Our development should also be seen in this context. After successfully defending our title, we reached the play-off semi-finals twice and have now failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Even though we had a much less severe slump than the other clubs, we have not been able to counteract this development sufficiently in recent years. Together, we are doing everything we can to ensure that we are more competitive again from next season and that things improve.

Will there be changes to the men’s team squad?

In the joint analysis with Head of Sport Reto Kläy and our new Head Coach Michael Liniger, we all agree that changes need to be made to the squad. And there will be. The two of you are now working together to examine the options. They have clearly communicated to the players concerned that we are not satisfied with their performances and that the market is being sounded out.

It’s easy to say that you want to part with some players after the last season. Such decisions are associated with considerable costs and there is also a market that sometimes offers more and sometimes less. Finding an equivalent replacement just to make a move doesn’t make us better. They both have to succeed in making the team better on the market with targeted additions.

However, our squad planning will not only be a short-term challenge. We have a number of developments in the squad structure, not all of which we can correct immediately. We need to rebuild our squad and this will also take 2-3 years. During this time, it is all the more important that we remain competitive by making good additions in key positions.

Is Reto Kläy up for debate as head of sport?

Reto Kläy has been our head of sport for 11 years and will remain so. He is incredibly committed and puts his heart and soul into the sporting development of the EVZ. The performance of some imports was unsatisfactory and in general we were not satisfied with the top performers, including the Swiss. Even though Reto Kläy bears the main responsibility for squad planning, this is always done together with the head coach. A year ago, Reto Kläy and Dan Tangnes were convinced by these players and decided in their favor. These decisions were also not affected by a non-existent savings program; we invested more in last year’s squad than ever before. Unfortunately, individual players have not lived up to the expectations the club had of them.

Regardless of their playing ability, I think it’s very much down to the necessary sharpening of expectations that the import players have to meet. Our squad consists of 25 players and 3 goalkeepers. When an import player comes to us, it’s not enough if he sees himself as 1 of 25 and classifies his performance accordingly. As an import player you are 1 of 6 playing imports and you are expected to be a top performer in every game. Some of our import players are not aware of this enough or they are simply not capable of being more than just a follower. When recruiting, we need to make sure that the players are capable of doing this. But here, too, the market plays a role and all teams are looking for these players. Sometimes you are looking for a diamond in the rough, sometimes you have a good hand, other times not. We certainly have potential for improvement in the scouting area, and we will look at that.

However, the area of responsibility as General Manager at EVZ does not only include squad planning, even if this is a major focus. Reto Kläy is responsible for the management of the entire sporting area and we have also seen many positive developments here, for example the promotion and integration of young athletes into the National League, the excellent work with young talent in general and the development of the Women & Girls program.

What do you think of this statement by Klaus Zaugg?

That’s absolute nonsense. If our relationship had broken down, we would hardly have stayed on the road together for seven years. It’s in the nature of things that we dealt with issues from different perspectives and were always looking for solutions. The three of us had and still have a very good relationship – you can ask all three of us. If you ask, you will get an answer.

Klaus Zaugg does an excellent job as part of the ice hockey entertainment industry – he writes entertainingly, creates polemics and is a pleasure to read. The truth has no meaning here and that doesn’t really matter. If you give him information, you get away with it – if you don’t, you have to put up with the polemics. In his work, Klaus Zaugg never has to justify himself for statements made or untruths presented as facts, he enjoys complete freedom of fools.

And, as we know, he doesn’t pay his betting debts either, at least not with us. He wanted to give us a two-franc coin in the team’s coffers for every letter in his column in 2018 if Dan Tangnes was still our coach after the 2019/20 season. We gratefully accepted his bet and sent him the bill. He didn’t pay it. All of this can be accepted with a wink and a smile if you can correctly categorize Klaus Zaugg’s writing. Anyone who reads his texts can easily recognize how many contradictions they contain. He writes entertaining polemics, which can easily take 180 degree turns. He successfully provides plenty of topics of conversation for readers interested in ice hockey and keeps us all on our toes. Polemics sell better than the truth. It’s up to the readers themselves to choose between polemics and truth. But that’s not easy for many.

How is the collaboration with the OYM going?

The OYM is an integral part of our sporting strategy. The extremely competent OYM team is responsible for the athletic development, performance diagnostics and support of our National League team, U20 Elite and U17 Elite players in the areas of athletics and nutrition. There is a defined catalog of services for these approximately 75 athletes and, just like other user groups at the OYM, the EVZ pays a pro rata contribution for the use of the entire infrastructure, athletics, nutrition, nutritional advice, testing, science and health management.

For many people, it is difficult to understand and grasp what is really happening at the OYM and what opportunities have been created here. Unfortunately, the planned opening days were canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic. Around 15,000 people would have been able to see for themselves on site. As a result, we need to communicate better here than we have done so far. If you have ever been able to visit the site, you can see how outstanding the conditions are: The OYM itself, with all its possibilities for sporting and athletic development, as well as an additional ice rink for the ECC’s performance teams; the integrated OYM College, which provides athletes with basic school and vocational training for their sporting development; the OYM Campus, with its expertly supervised accommodation for underage athletes, and the expansion of the production kitchen to meet the growing need for healthy, athlete-friendly nutrition for the ECC’s performance teams.

These framework conditions were financed and created by our Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hans-Peter Strebel, as a private individual. The framework conditions created are unique and outstanding. In order to make even better use of them for EVZ, we have put together a team following a joint dialog that deals with day-to-day operational issues and is in constant communication. Responsibility on the EVZ side lies with Head Coach Michael Liniger and our Head of Development Ted Suihkonen.

How can injuries be counteracted?

We have indeed had adverse circumstances when it comes to the number of injured players. The analysis by our medical team showed that we had an average of four players missing due to injury or illness last season. That’s too much missing substance, even if the young players who moved up did their part very successfully. With all these injuries, a distinction must be made between those that occurred without or as a result of an opponent’s influence. The absences were very diverse and too many in total.

It is important to do everything possible to prevent avoidable absences. Not only the entire medical and coaching team is required to do this, but the players themselves are also responsible.

Will Michael Liniger continue everything in exactly the same way?

The claim is very amusing. I think Dan Tangnes was Dan Tangnes and Michael Liniger is Michael Liniger. Unfortunately, it’s a fact that every new person is initially met with a great deal of skepticism and little trust from those around them. It’s also because people simply don’t know Michael Liniger well enough and this vacuum is then filled with statements from random people.

We have chosen Michael Liniger because we believe he is capable. He marks the start of a new chapter and we are consciously making this change, which is also necessary. We will remain true to our chosen strategy in whatever comes next. However, Michael Liniger will tackle some issues in a slightly different way than we have done recently. It is very much up to him to revive and implement the high-performance culture that made us successful a few years ago. He is taking on the new challenge with a lot of drive and energy and will do everything in his power to ensure that our team brings more joy back to all our fans. We will support him in every possible way. One or two changes will also take time. We have to fight our way back to the top step by step, and that is what we are all focusing on from now on. It all starts with enjoying the team, enjoying working hard together, which will ultimately and hopefully lead to more enjoyment for everyone.

Is there enough focus on the men’s team?

The men’s team is still the linchpin of our organization. If we are successful here, everything else is ok and good. However, if we are not successful here, then everything else is called into question. When it comes to the very important success of the Men’s Team, our players and coaches of the Men’s Team themselves are primarily responsible for the results on the ice. Success cannot be taken for granted, we need them to play their part. Not one of them is involved in any of EVZ’s future projects. They have always been able to focus on the here and now, i.e. sporting success on the ice, and will continue to do so in the future. And that is also important.

In addition, no money has been or will be taken away from any team, and especially not from our flagship National League team, to fund other projects. We have made a huge effort to get our Women & Girls program off the ground and have managed to make our semi-professional structures self-supporting in the second year. In the regular season, we achieved an average attendance of over 1,000 spectators and in the semi-finals we set a new attendance record of 4,136 spectators. We are proud of this and will continue to do everything we can to have a successful women’s team in addition to the men’s team.

The expansion of the arena will be the next major milestone for the EVZ; it represents the future of the EVZ. Here, too, it is important for us to ensure that the financing of the entire investment sum is secured and that the completed expansions will bring the added value that we have set as our goal over the coming decades. With the expansion of the arena, we want to create the basic conditions that will enable us to take the EVZ forward in a sustainable manner, including but not limited to our men’s team.

We still face many challenges and there are many areas in which we can and must improve. However, this also requires financial resources, and we must first generate these ourselves. EVZ has laid out a roadmap and communicated very transparently that it needs to, wants to, and will develop in various directions. We are “MORE THAN HOCKEY,” so we won’t let ourselves be reduced to just that. It is the task and responsibility of our management — and especially mine — to think and act in multiple dimensions: short-, medium-, and long-term. That is a major challenge and a difficult balancing act, particularly because EVZ is known for rarely being satisfied with itself and always striving for more. At the same time, a large part of our community is only interested in short-term success, and I fully understand that. But it is also my responsibility to think about the EVZ of tomorrow and the day after. As a consequence of the expanded arena, we will tackle and address one or two additional topics. We are doing all of this for a successful EVZ — in the short, medium, and long term.