HC Ajoie celebrates its first win in the eighth game of the season. The team from the Jura beat and dethroned leaders Kloten 5-2.
For the 213th time in the almost 40 years since the introduction of the playoffs (and the recording of modern statistics), Ajoie's game against Kloten pitted the bottom team against the leader. And it was only the tenth time that the underdog prevailed. The last time Ajoie won against the then league leaders Davos (3:1) was also three years ago, when they were bottom of the table.
Kloten learned just how tight things are in the National League at the moment. Kloten, who took over the top of the table for the first time in eleven years three days ago, dropped back to fifth place due to the defeat in Pruntrut. The new leaders are the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, who won 4:1 against the SCL Tigers.
The ZSC Lions (4th) and Lugano (6th) played one game less than their rivals. The ZSC Lions are the leaders in terms of loss points; Lugano could catch up with leaders Rapperswil-Jona with a win in the supplementary game.
The home teams dominated on Friday. HC Ambri-Piotta against Servette (5:4 n.V.), Schlittschuhclub Bern against Fribourg-Gottéron (6:3), Biel against Lugano (5:3) and Lausanne against Zug (6:3) also won on home ice.
Results/rankings:
National League. Friday: Ajoie - Kloten 5:2 (1:0, 2:1, 2:1). Bern - Fribourg-Gottéron 6:3 (1:0, 1:1, 4:2). Biel - Lugano 5:3 (1:0, 3:2, 1:1). Rapperswil-Jona Lakers - SCL Tigers 4:1 (0:0, 2:1, 2:0). Lausanne - Zug 6:3 (1:1, 2:1, 3:1). Ambri-Piotta - Genève-Servette 5:4 (0:1, 3:1, 1:2, 1:0) n.V.
Ranking: 1. Rapperswil-Jona Lakers 8/16 (27:20). 2. Lausanne 8/15 (25:19). 3. Bern 8/15 (27:18). 4. ZSC Lions 7/14 (18:13). 5. Kloten 8/14 (23:21). 6. Lugano 7/13 (24:20). 7. Ambri-Piotta 8/13 (22:23). 8. SCL Tigers 8/11 (21:18). 9. Biel 8/10 (17:20). 10. Genève-Servette 6/9 (15:14). 11. Davos 7/9 (18:23). 12. Zug 7/9 (22:24). 13. Fribourg-Gottéron 8/8 (18:24). 14. Ajoie 8/3 (14:34).