The EVZ U20 Elite team can look back on a successful first phase of the season: 26 points from 10 matches and first place in the table. And the Zugers currently have the league’s top scorer – a defenseman: Ludvig Johnson has scored 3 goals and provided 12 assists so far. “My first goal is to improve my defensive play. If I also manage to score points, that’s all the better,” says the 18-year-old. Ludvig Johnson is also at the forefront of the Zug team in terms of penalty minutes. “It’s generally not good to take penalties,” he clarifies, ”I’m working on avoiding them.”
Defending champions EVZ are in first place in the table after the first 10 games. It also has the top scorer in Ludvig Johnson.
The man from the city of Zug started playing ice hockey at the EVZ at the age of 7. When asked about the next step, he mentions the jump to the National League team. His former teammates Leon Muggli and Nic Balestra have shown him the way. Leon Muggli, who was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the spring, even played his first game on the NHL stage recently as part of his preparations.
Ludvig Johnson is close friends with Leon Muggli and talks to him regularly. The traditional Canadian magazine “The Hockey News” has also identified Ludvig Johnson as a potential draft pick this year. When asked about this, the EVZ defenseman says that he is concentrating entirely on the present in the sport and graduating from high school as part of The Hockey Academy training program.
The goal with the U20 Elite team is to defend the title. Ludvig Johnson praises the work of the coaching staff led by Head Coach Thomi Derungs and new Assistant Coach Reto Suri. “They get everything out of us. We are a highly motivated group with a good atmosphere.” In their next game on Wednesday, they will face EHC Biel-Bienne Spirit again, against whom the Zug team won the championship title in a dramatic final in the spring (7:30 p.m., Tissot Arena). The next home game takes place on Friday at the OYM (puck drop at 6.30 pm).
NEXT GAMES – U20
U17 ELITE IN 8TH PLACE
Zug’s U17 Elite team is in 8th place in the table after nine games. Head coach Sven Lindemann’s team has two away games coming up: on Friday at the SCL Young Tigers (5 p.m., Emmental Versicherung AG) and on Sunday at the ZSC Lions (12:15 p.m., Swiss Life Arena).
NEXT GAMES – U17
