When the Champions Hockey League draw takes place on 16 May, two teams will be thinking back to just how different their seasons looked like they might be some six months earlier.
Both Bolzano Foxes and ZSC Lions had regular seasons that went far from 'to plan'. However both made tough decisions, found form at the right time, and both ended up celebrating titles for the first time since 2014.
For the Foxes, flashback to November and the team were bottom of the EBEL. Pat Curcio, a former Assistant Coach at Lugano, was fired and replaced by Finn Kai Suikkanen - a Liiga Champion in 2010 with TPS, and formerly of Kärpät Oulu. Suikkanen guided the Foxes to finishing the regular season in ninth, important as they got two bonus points going into the Qualification Round. A win in Fehérvár put the Foxes in control of their own destiny to make the playoffs, and despite going 3-0 behind to Znojmo in the final game they came through to take the win - and qualify for the playoffs as #8 overall.
Memories of 2014
And then the magic began. Klagenfurt defeated in six games, before knocking out regular season powerhouses Vienna in only five. That set up a final reminiscent of 2014, the first year the Foxes were in the EBEL. And it followed almost an identical pattern - again against Red Bull Salzburg, this time it went to seven games instead of five, but again the Foxes won the championship game on the road in Austria to celebrate another unlikely title!
"Four years ago were the first international team to win the EBEL, this year we're the first to do it the long way through the Qualification Round!" said captain Alexander Egger, who confirmed his retirement after the Finals. "We're just so proud of what we have achieved - for our country, for our team, and for our town."
New coach, new belief?
For the ZSC Lions, a not dissimilar tale. With the team underperforming in the league, and having exited the CHL to Liberec in the Quarter-Finals, Hans Wallsson was dismissed as Head Coach on 29 December. While Serge Aubin was announced as the new Head Coach from the 2018/19 season onwards, former Ambri man Hans Kossmann was put in charge of the team until the end of the season. The Lions ended the regular season seventh, but hit form at the crucial time as they knocked out EV Zug 4-1 in the Quarter-Finals. Then came old rivals, and regular season winners, SC Bern, where from 3-1 ahead in the series ZSC went through in six games.
"With the new coach we also had a structure that clearly put more emphasis on battling... in the end it's how we changed our DNA"ZSC Lions' Sport Manager Sven Leuenberger
The Finals then pitched up teams 4 vs. 7 from the regular season, with Lugano and ZSC both qualifying for the CHL as a result of making the final round. Again at 3-1 up the Lions stumbled, but this time Lugano took two straight wins to force a decisive Game 7 back on their own ice. A 2-0 shutout win, with an empty-net goal with 20 seconds to play, brought ZSC their first Swiss title in four years.
"It was amazing for me too" said Sport Manager Sven Leuenberger about the change in mindset of his players over the final months of the season. "With passion comes extra energy. But also through fear. Perhaps the players thought 'If we go out in the first round, who's to blame? The Sport Manager? He's only new. The Coach? he's only here until the end of the season."
The Foxes and Lions join 30 other teams in the 2018/19 Champions Hockey League. To see who they are, click: here.