On Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2, the U20 Elit team fromHockey Club Lugano will play on the track in Fleurier (Canton of Neuchâtel) the two challenges that put the national category title up for grabs.
After the second rank achieved in the regular season and after having defeated Kloten in the quarterfinals (3-1 in the series) and the Young Tigers of Langnau in the semifinals (3-2 in the series), the boys led at the barrier by Paolo Morini and Gianluca Prato thus reach the final act for the second consecutive year. Last year to impose themselves in a Best of Five series had been Zug after no less than three games that were decided in overtime.
A result that goes to highlight the continuity of the excellent work done by the Youth Section bianconera, if we also consider the bronze medal won always by the U20 Elit at the end of the 2020/21 season and the cancellation of the semifinals and playoff final in the 2019/20 season due to the pandemic, when Lugano had also finished second in the regular season.
Opponents in the final will be the GCK Lions of Zurich who land there undefeated in the playoffs where they eliminated in the semifinals Zug who had literally dominated the regular season.
"The GCK Lions proved to be a very competitive team in the playoffs ," the words of head coach Paolo Morini, " because they were able to recover several players who had played in the Swiss League during the season. Competitive, however, so are we. Every game starts from 0-0, and I think the two teams are off to an equal start."
So "Good luck" to the young people . bianconeri. The formula for the Fleurier final will have the first game on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and the second game on Sunday at 3:45 p.m. Each team will be allowed to field four "overage" players up to the age of 22.
The matches will be viewable on Red+ and You Tube streaming platforms. Sunday's competition also on blick.ch.