“How do you feel?”, Rikard Grönborg asks the journalist would like to talk with him. “No Fever? No Cough?” It is not only the concern for the health of a person that has the ZSC-Coach. The answer reassured him. “At my age you have to be careful at the moment,” says Grönborg semi-seriously. “I have exceeded the 50 already.” Since the risk of the Coronavirus increase rapidly. The Swede is 51 but in great shape. Every day he trains in the weight room. To include it to the high-risk group that would probably be overkill.
The Coronavirus has the Swiss ice hockey a tight grip. The ZSC-Cracks had three days off this Tuesday, you sprint back across the ice with the goal to be in a week when the Playoff should begin. “We have a simple Job,” says Grönborg. “We have to look only on the 17. March set. The difficult Job of those who must make the decisions. For the League, for the whole country.”
In his home country of the Playoff on Saturday begins with spectators. But Grönborg has understanding for the tougher restrictions in Switzerland. “There is also in Sweden cases, but you can’t compare the Situation. Because we are so close to the hotspot in Italy. We must see to it that we can contain the outbreak.”
“I just want to play. We have been working the whole season.”ZSC-Coach Rikard Grönborg
The certainty of the spirits-Playoff compacted more and more. There are players that have trouble with it. Grönborg, giving the clock, says: “I just want to play. We have now hung out the whole season.” As his ZSC Lions in the 50. Round won in front of empty stands with a 4:1 on the EV train the Regular Season, he did not perceived the trappings during the game at all. “I was so focused on my Job. But of course, it was a great pity that we could not share this Moment with our Fans.”
Unimaginable, don’t be a Playoff without an audience, says Chris Baltisberger. But a challenge. “We need to behave differently, set the mood for yourself to create. On the bench, in the dressing room. We succeeded in the in the second the spirit of the game quite well.” Maybe everyone would remember his time as a Junior. “As we drove back early on Sunday, according to Ambri, was at 10 a.m. no one in the Valascia, rallied us. Not even our parents. In the case of Junior not to play abroad also. You need the energy from the own Team to get.”
to Back in the weight room
Baltisberger, that he had last week after the postponement of the play-off Starts at the beginning of trouble. “We were actually ready, and then we had to redo a building, strength training, running exercises, us to Limit push. But at some point we said to ourselves: we simply Gas, and if we don’t do the things you do the other, we may have an advantage when it goes off.” After all, all recovered except Severin blind Bacher, also Garrett Roe and Joni Ortio are now.
watched As Chris Baltisberger on Saturday evening at home with his girlfriend at the dinner sass, he’s around 20 o’clock on the clock. “I thought: Now the first third would be against Lugano. That was special.” In the meantime, he looks forward again. On Wednesday, the ZSC Lions in a training game on Friday to test against the EV train. And then it should start soon. “The mood is already different than last week,” says the striker. “Now there is more tension there.”
“What if what has been circulating Virus suddenly in a team?”Chris Baltisberger
panic, not to go to the ZSC-cabin due to the Coronavirus, says Baltisberger. “We wash ourselves a little more often, the hands. It is also important not to go crazy. For example, if you got a Check and it is in the area of the lung, something hurts.” But he also poses questions. His biggest concern: “What if the Virus is circulating in a team? Wins the Team that has the Virus? That would then also not a real master.”
in his environment, he is feeling the effects: his girlfriend is a Flight Attendant at the Swiss. These days, you would have had a flight to Tokyo, which was deleted. “There are moments in life where you just have to adapt,” says Baltisberger, almost philosophically. This is also the Mantra in the playoffs: getting the Best out of the Situation.
The DJ could use a home fan chants and cheers playing over the speakers, in order to provide for some atmosphere, stimulates the ZSC-striker. “And maybe we need to look at it this way: If you have a career once you finish it, you’ll look back and think: the Playoff 2020 was special.”
icebreaker – Hockey Podcast by Tamedia
The broadcast can be heard on Spotify as well as Apple. Or directly here:
Created: 10.03.2020, 17:56 PM
