The second round of the playoff quarter-finals between the teams in fourth and fifth place, separated by only two points after the 52 games of the regular season. SC Bern has already managed a break in the first game and has the home advantage on its side after the narrow 4-3 win in Zug. EVZ, who finished fourth in qualifying, will be expected to respond on the road after their ninth defeat in the last eleven games in front of their own fans.

Zug’s last win after 60 minutes in the regular season came on January 30 in impressive fashion in Fribourg (4:3). Since then, eleven games have passed, ten of which were lost, and only once, in the 51st round at home against Geneva-Servette (3:2 n.V.), have they picked up two points. Head coach Dan Tangnes will not find it easy to be optimistic ahead of the second playoff quarter-final on Tuesday in Switzerland’s biggest ice hockey arena.

Perhaps the EVZ’s positive record in Bern is a clue. After all, Zug have won nine out of fourteen games at the PostFinance Arena since Leonardo Genoni switched sides after the final of the 2018-19 season (Bern-EVZ 4:1). The Central Swiss have also picked up five out of six points in the Swiss capital this season (2:1 n.p. and 6:2) when they were still able to line up at more or less full strength. The fact that Brian O’Neill was ruled out of the 6:2 win on December 10, 2023 after an unfortunate collision with Marco Maurer shortly before the end with a broken cervical vertebra has had a negative impact to this day. The same applies to the absence of Grégory Hofmann, who will only be back in the hunt for scoring points next season.

It is understandable that the returning Tobias Geisser, Niklas Hansson and Lukas Bengtsson were not yet in top form in their first serious match after their injury break. The defeat cannot be blamed on them. Rather, the Zug team must accept the reproach that the Bern team, driven by Dominik Kahun and Tristan Scherwey, left the more determined impression overall and were stronger in the duel. 

“That wasn’t playoff field hockey, we have to play consistently well over the whole game,” Dan Tangnes was rightly annoyed. The EVZ saw on Sunday that a 3:1 lead and a good second period are not enough to win even against beatable Bern.