Luzerner SC - Grasshoppers Club Zürich --- 1:3
An away game on a Thursday night in rainy Luzern is not the easiest next step to build team confidence after a rough 5-1 season opening loss to competition favourites Rotweiss Wettingen the previous Sunday. However the boys of the GC mannschaft certainly put on a display of hockey and intestinal fortitude. The Luzern boys showed no sign of holding back in the opening minutes with their physical presence making it hard for GC to create strong attacking plays whilst simultaneously responding with strong counter attacking plays. Defence was kept strong and many balls were cleaned up by the fresh new GZ player Max Oswald who knew a thing or two about LSC's attacking plays having just moved from the club.
For the first two halves the game was touch and go, very tight however riddled with errors from both sides and wasted opportunities. However after the half time break it didn't take long for LSC to capitalise on a short corner scoring through a strong drag flick. The already tough battle became even harder for the GC men as LSC focused heavy on defence and destructive play allowing them to hold off on the ensuing onslaught of attacks from GC desperate for a scoring opportunity. Progress was made with many short corners but met with equally impressive saves form the LSC goalkeeper denying Lars Bamberg's drag flicks.
With 50 minutes of play with LSC in the lead with 1 goal going into the final quarter and fruitless attempts from GC, Lars Bamberg, a senior player returning from a season ending injury had had enough. What could only be described as a man on a warpath, Lars stepped it up a gear starting with a drag flick into the bottom left of the corner at the 6 minute mark. Then immediately still unsatisfied, again Lars scored at the 8 minute mark from a mad scramble in front of the goal. This was enough to make Luzern panic in the 4th quarter as they threw everything they had at GC including pulling their goal keeper in the last two minutes. It didn't take long until GC also punished this weakness as the fresh Argentinian import Luciano rushed a bouncing ball from the deep defender and subsequently having a shooting opportunity blocked by the body of a defender. And who took the 7 metre? Why Lars Bamberg of course. Converting the 7 metre in the final 2 minutes of the game was the final nail in the coffin of LSC to finish up with a score of 3:1 to GC.
An important win to build confidence for the Sunday game against Black Boys Hockey Club Geneve at the Hardhof at 14:00.
Players:
Fabian Starsich (GK), Hein Van, Roman Richner, Max Ostwald, Luca Frank, Rob, Ben Eddy, Fabian Steiner, Lucas Harte, Luciano, Lukas, David, Patrick Krüsi, Michelli, Lars Bamberg, Oliver Haberthür
Scorer: Lars Bamberg (3)
Coach: Facundo Quiroga