The ZSC Lions indeed deserve this title. In 30 regular season games, they only had to accept one defeat. Just another loss to Lugano in the second game of this final series underlines the dominance of the team coached by women’s national team coach Daniela Diaz.
The Lions have by far the most balanced roster of any team in the SWHL A: they have current and former national team players on their roster as well as several import players from Scotland, France, the United States and Austria and more experienced as well as younger players from the eastern and central parts of Switzerland. Similar to the men's organisation, they can also rely on the GCK Lions as their farm team.
The fourth title after the trifecta between 2011 and 2013 is the well-deserved reward for a continuing expansion of their organisation with three teams in three leagues. Due to their partnership agreement with EHC Wallisellen, the ZSC Lions also have a team in the C league.
After clinching the title in the past two season, HC Lugano earned the silver medal after a rather timid start to the season due to an improved performance after the new year.
Lugano, which had to cope without their top scorer Bettina Meyer, clinched a 3-0 victory against Université Neuchâtel in the playoff semifinal and kept the final series open for the first three games.
In the fourth playoff game, however, the ZSC Lions settled the game in the second period when the Lionesses scored three goals within ten minutes. Twice, league top scorer Christine Hüni found the back of the net and national team player Monika Waidacher also managed to score.
After HC Lugano’s Nicol Bullo got one back for her team, Isabel Waidacher and Kathrin Nabholz secured the victory for the Lionesses. Christine Hüni, who scored 2.28 points per game on average, won the award for the best playoff scorer. (dmo/bsc)
