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GC Herren: Three Points in Geneva to Secure the Semifinal at Home

Not only the World Cup final but also the men's NLA was scheduled for this last Sunday before Christmas. Due to last-minute injuries and sicknesses (get well soon Joel, Arthur, Tina) our multiple fans could witness the long-awaited comeback of Fabio "Eagle" Landtwing. After an early wake-up call to travel to the End of the World within Geneva (Bout-du-Monde) it was the local Black Boys side, who awaited the Grasshoppers in their first game of the day.

Black Boys HC Genève - Grasshopper Club Zürich --- 1:8

Motivated by the chance to once and for all seal the final four ticket, GC started determined and quickly created a convenient lead. Halftime score: 6:0. Despite this promising start the visitors from Zurich were not able to keep up their high intensity giving Black Boys several goal-scoring opportunities, especially in the third quarter. As a result, a lucky rebound of a short corner flick led to the deserved goal for the Genevians, who showed a drastically improved second half. Luckily, for GC this should remain the only goal against and two more goals in the last quarter resulted in a final score of 8:1 and an overall deserved and confident win over Black Boys.


Grasshopper Club Zürich - Rotweiss Wettingen --- 5:6

After a good recovering period led by Lula, GC was well aware that the second game against the current table head and last year's vice-champion Rot-Weiss Wettingen would surely be a different challenge. Nevertheless, the Zurich side started furiously. Clinical finishes combined with individual skills made the numerous fans cheer excessively and gave GC a deserved 4:2 half-time lead.

Unfortunately, similar to previous close games, the Zurich men could not continue on this level and again the third quarter proved to be the Achilles heel of the team in blue and white. Due to individual errors in the build-up and defense, highly efficient RWW was able to turn around the score into a 4:5 lead. With only two minutes to go coach Franco replaced the goalkeeper with an additional field player. However, this did not drastically affect the outcome, with a final score and close loss of 5:6.

 

While the result of the second game understandably hurts, it showed GC the importance of keeping up a high intensity over a full stretch. Otherwise, clinically efficient teams will make use of every opportunity. This will be the main focus of the upcoming training weeks to fully prepare for the last round and ultimately the final four on home ground in Zurich Utogrund on the 4th and 5th of February (mark the date !!!)

 

With this, the first team wishes our dear fans a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

GC Players:
Pascal Gremlich, Oliver Haberthür, Robert Keitel, Patrick Krüsi, Imanuel Poulastrou Gonzalez, Roman Richner, Fabio Landtwing, Dénes Heins, Fabian Starsich, Fabian Steiner

Goals: Denes (2), Imi (2), Roman (2), Fabio (2), Pascal, Robert, Fabian Steiner, Oli, Pat

Coach: Franco