Lugano is world hockey’s biggest mystery

What such a long list tells us: clearly, Lugano's coaches don't always fail. If Lugano wants to become “great” again – and HC Lugano's self-image is that – self-criticism is the order of the day. If the coach always has to go, there's no way he can ever return to rainbow glory. The great Albert Einstein said this: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So in Lugano fire the coach again and hope that things will turn out Better is crazy.

According to Albert Einstein, sacking Lugano coach Luca Gianinazzi would be madness.Image: trapezoid

On October 8, 2022, capable athletic director Nat Domenicelli fired Chris McSorley, appointed Luca Gianinazzi as head coach, and announced that this was the end of his hiring. A coach. So there is no need to change coaches anymore. He took Albert Einstein's insights to heart. Changing coaches again would be crazy and would do nothing good.

Lugano is ranked 13th in the standings. At least on paper, this team is good enough to make the playoff finals. Only Ajoy ranks worse. The statistics are terrible: fourth fewest goals scored, third most goals conceded. Never in Lugano's National League history had a coach with such a poor record remained in office until Advent. But just this: changing coaches is — to paraphrase Einstein — crazy.

Therefore, sporting director Hnat Domenichelli found another solution: Antti Törmänen acted as consultant to coach Luca Gianinazzi. It's a bit like managers hiring McKinsey consultants when they need to restructure. Does this make sense? At first glance, there is no doubt: Antti Törmänen is a great and charismatic figure. There's no question he knows hockey: as a player, a world champion, a coach, an SCB champion and a Bills playoff finalist. He knows there are bigger challenges in life than a hockey championship. He was battling an insidious disease.

Can Antti Törmänen help HC Lugano?Image: trapezoid

Lugano's goal this season is to avoid the sacking of their coach. The romance of double hockey, so to speak: In addition to the romance of coaches within our own ranks (we want to be like Embry), there is now the romance (or naïveté) of ignoring a coach’s responsibilities to the sport. crisis. And there's the romance of self-criticism: Lugano canceled Saturday's event in honor of Regis Fox hours early. The official reason was that the team's performance was not worthy of the occasion. Unique in the hockey world.

The most important question now is: can Luca Gianinazzi still be a great coach through strong advice and make Lugano “great”? It would be in our interest as hockey if possible. Because by then, the history of coaching firings will be rewritten. Fire the coach? no need. Having a good advisor is enough. This can save a lot of money.

But it is almost certain that the history of coaching firings does not need to be rewritten. A coach whose team has gone off the rails cannot regain his authority with the help of a consultant, no matter how smart. Luka Gianinazzi may have to go Chris McSorley, Serge Pelletier, Sami Kapanen, Greg Ireland, Doug Shedden, Patrick Fisher, Larry Huras, Barry Smith, Philip Bozon, Kent Johnson, Hannu Huerta, John Slatwall, Kent Ruhnke and Ivano Lu. Zanatar left.

• 7

  A leader who can decide games and make his team better on and off the ice.

• 6-7

  A talented player who can decide a game on a good night and is a leader.

• 5-6

  A good NL player: usually a rainbow butterfly of talent, sometimes a serious worker who brings out a lot of talent.

• 4-5

  Players on the third or fourth block, veterans or newcomers.

• 3-4

  The future is still ahead of you, or the future is already behind you.

• The rating is the North American hockey grading standard, ranging from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest). There are no levels below level 3, because those who play in the top leagues are at least barely adequate.

So what's the problem? Anyone who likes to argue can say this now: the sporting director did not organize the team well. The foreigners and goalkeepers are not good enough either. One often hears the argument that Lugano's performance culture is so over-inflated by money that it's difficult to play good hockey under the palm trees. But no argument is enough: Lugano is already “great”, has a lot of money, is under the palm trees and has dominated the league for many years.

So it's easy to write a pithy polemic. But that would be a cheap argument. Because there is no explanation and no culprit to blame. We don't know who actually built the pyramids, we don't know who erected the stone statues on Easter Island, we don't know if Atlantis existed, and – if we're honest – we don't know why in Lugano since 2006 Every coach has failed since the last championship. HC Lugano is the biggest mystery in world hockey.