The EVZ U20 Elite team lived up to its role as the favorites to win the quarter-final series, defeating HC Davos 3:1. Now the next challenge awaits coach Thomi Derungs and Co. with HC Ambrì-Piotta. The Ticino side finished 7th in the qualifiers and sent the favorites from Kloten off on vacation with a 3-0 win in the quarter-finals. The team showed nerves of steel in the process: all games ended with a one-goal difference, with Ambrì winning twice in overtime. One of the best playoff scorers in the team is William Hedlund, an ex-Zug player. His father Stefan once coached the EVZ Academy team in the Swiss League.
The playoffs continue for Zug’s U20 and U17 youngsters from Friday.
At the top of the scorers list is a current Zug player: Louis Robin. The 21-year-old can look back on an eventful season. He started it in the EVZ NL team before being loaned out to La Chaux-de-Fonds. He recently returned to Zug, where he supports the U20 Elite team. “The coach and the boys have a lot of confidence in me,” Louis Robin noted. And he’s paying it back: in the four games against Davos, he scored 5 goals and 2 assists. The forward became champion with Zug’s elite juniors in the 2020/21 season. “The memory of that is very cool,” he says, “I’d love to experience it again.” It would be a nice farewell for Louis Robin from Zug. He has signed a contract with NL club Ajoie for the coming season. The first two games of the best-of-five series against HC Ambrì-Piotta will take place this week on Friday (OYM from 6:30 p.m.) and Sunday (Gottardo Arena from 4 p.m.).
U17 MEETS REGULAR SEASON WINNERS
On the same days, Zug’s U17 Elite team will play its first two matches of the semi-final series against the SCL Young Tigers: on Friday at 7.15 p.m. in the Emmental Versicherung Arena and on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the OYM in Cham. Both teams won two games each in the regular season. Coach Sven Lindemann’s team beat HC Lugano 3:1 in the quarterfinals. The Langnau team advanced with the same result against Kloten.
