The Zurich teams ZSC Lions and Kloten continue to play great. The home team wins four out of five games. The facts about Friday's round.
ZSC wins thanks to Rohrer
As expected, the ZSC Lions set the tone in their home game against the SCL Tigers, which is underlined by the 42:21 shot ratio. However, they sinned in the end and Langnau keeper Stéphane Charlin was in top form. He was only beaten by Vinzenz Rohrer, the 20-year-old Austrian scoring in the 31st minute after a superb solo effort. For the Lions, goalkeeper Robin Zumbühl recorded his first shutout in the National League. Although ZSC still has to wait for its first power play goal of the season, it defeated the Emmentaler for the eighth time in a row.
Kloten continues to surprise
Second-placed Kloten started the season with few laurels, making the results so far all the more surprising. With the 5-2 win against Fribourg-Gottéron, the Zurich lowlanders achieved their fourth victory in their fifth game, their only defeat coming in a penalty shootout (in Ambri). They scored the first two goals against Fribourg to make it 2-0 on the powerplay, and after 33 minutes the hosts led 4-0, with Miro Aaltonen scoring twice.
Another home win for Lausanne against Bern
Lausanne celebrated their tenth win in their last eleven home games against Bern. Damien Riat turned a 0:1 (11th) into a 2:1 (16th) with two goals within 149 seconds. The 1:1 was the first powerplay goal for the Vaud team in the current championship. Waltteri Merelä saved the Bernese team with the 2:2 (55.) in overtime. Thanks to a goal from Janne Kuokkanen (63), however, it was the LHC who won in the end. While Lausanne returned to winning ways after two defeats, Bern lost for the fourth time in a row.
Ambri works overtime again
When Ambri-Piotta plays, overtime is almost inevitable. The Leventines played overtime for the fourth time in the fifth game of the season and won for the second time. The decisive goal to make it 2:1 in front of the home crowd against Biel was scored after 46 seconds of overtime by Finnish defenseman Jesse Virtanen, who scored for the third time in the current championship. Ambri won for the third time in a row. Last season, the team from North Ticino lost all three home games against Biel.
Ajoie still winless
Ajoie signed three top Finnish forwards for this season, Oulve Palve, Jerry Turkulainen and Julius Nättinen, in order to finally get away from the bottom of the table in their fourth season after promotion. So far, the hope remains. The team from Jura suffered their fifth defeat in the current championship with a 3-1 loss against Zug in their fifth game, with a goal difference of 8:23. In their first away game of the season, Zug led 3-0 after 22 minutes thanks to goals from Sven Leuenberger (3rd), Lino Martschini (14th) and Elia Riva and left nothing to be desired. Ajoie thus lost their seventh home game against EVZ since their promotion.
Telegrams and standings
ZSC Lions - SCL Tigers 1:0 (0:0, 1:0, 0:0)
10'333 spectators. - SR Kaukokari (FIN)/Piechaczek (GER), Fuchs/Huguet. - Goal: 31 Rohrer 1:0 - Penalties: 1 x 2 minutes against ZSC Lions, 3 x 2 minutes against SCL Tigers. - PostFinance top scorers: Malgin; Saarijärvi.
ZSC Lions: Zumbühl; Weber, Kukan; Lehtonen, Geering; Trutmann, Marti; Kinnunen; Frödén, Malgin, Balcers; Rohrer, Grant, Zehnder; Chris Baltisberger, Lammikko, Sigrist; Riedi, Baechler, Henry; Graf.
SCL Tigers: Charlin; Guggenheim, Riikola; Saarijärvi, Phil Baltisberger; Cadonau, Zanetti; Paschoud; Berger, Malone, Pesonen; Julian Schmutz, Flavio Schmutz, Saarela; Fahrni, Felcman, Allenspach; Rohrbach, Salzgeber, Lapinskis; Rossi.
Remarks: ZSC Lions without Andrighetto, Hollenstein (both injured) and Hrubec (extra man), SCL Tigers without Mäenalanen (injured). SCL Tigers without goalkeeper from 58:36.
Kloten - Fribourg-Gottéron 5:2 (1:0, 3:1, 1:1)
4371 spectators. - SR Borga/Stricker, Gurtner/Humair. - Goals: 13. Aaltonen (Ojamäki, Niku/power play goal) 1:0. 25. Diem (Niku/power play goal) 2:0. 27. Aaltonen (Smirnovs, Profico) 3:0. 33. Joel Marchon (Diem) 4:0. 39. DiDomenico (De la Rose, Bertschy) 4:1. 57. Sörensen (DiDomenico, Gunderson) 4:2 (without goalkeeper). 60 (59:44) Meier (Steve Kellenberger) 5:2 (into the empty net). - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Kloten, 1 time 2 plus 5 minutes (Seiler) plus playing time (Seiler) against Fribourg-Gottéron. - PostFinance top scorers: Niku; Sörensen.
Kloten: Waeber; Niku, Profico; Grégoire, Wolf; Sidler, Steve Kellenberger; Steiner; Simic, Aaltonen, Audette; Ojamäki, Morley, Ramel; Meier, Schäppi, Meyer; Weibel, Diem, Joel Marchon; Smirnovs.
Fribourg-Gottéron: Rüegger; Rathgeb, Jecker; Gunderson, Streule; Diaz, Borgman; Seiler; Dorthe, Schmid, Mottet; Sörensen, Wallmark, Nathan Marchon; Sprunger, Walser, Gerber; Bertschy, De la Rose, DiDomenico; Näf.
Remarks: Fribourg-Gottéron without a goalkeeper from 56:04 to 56:53 and 57:02 to 59:44.
Lausanne - Bern 3:2 (2:1, 0:0, 0:1, 1:0) n.V.
8701 spectators. - SR Tscherrig/Eriksson (SWE), Steenstra (CAN)/Stalder. - Goals: 11. Baumgartner (Vermin, Scherwey) 0:1. 13. Riat (Oksanen, Suomela/power play goal) 1:1. 16. Riat (Suomela, Oksanen) 2:1. 55. Merelä (Ejdsell, Loeffel/power play goal) 2:2. 63. Kuokkanen (Rochette, Sklenicka/power play goal) 3:2. - Penalties: 4 times 2 minutes against Lausanne, 6 times 2 minutes against Bern. - PostFinance top scorers: Rochette; Lehmann.
Lausanne: Pasche; Glauser, Bayreuther; Heldner, Frick; Sklenicka, Marti; Vouardoux, Fiedler; Riat, Suomela, Oksanen; Bozon, Jäger, Fuchs; Hügli, Kuokkanen, Rochette; Holdener, Bougro, Genazzi.
Bern: Reideborn; Untersander, Nemeth; Loeffel, Lindholm; Vermin, Kindschi; Füllemann; Lehmann, Baumgartner, Scherwey; Merelä, Czarnik, Ejdsell; Sablatnig, Bader, Marchon; Graf, Ritzmann, Simon Moser; Schild.
Remarks: Lausanne without Pajuniemi, Pilut, Prassl and Raffl (all injured), Bern without Kahun and Kreis (both injured).
Ambri-Piotta - Biel 2:1 (1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 1:0) n.V.
6352 spectators. - SR Hürlimann/Staudenmann, Duc/Francey. - Goals: 7. Landry 1:0. 29. Rajala (Kneubuehler) 1:1. 61. (60:46) Virtanen (Landry, Kubalik) 2:1. - Penalties: 2 times 2 minutes against Ambri-Piotta, 4 times 2 minutes against Biel. - PostFinance top scorers: Virtanen; Yakovenko.
Ambri-Piotta: Senn; Heed, Curran; Virtanen, Zgraggen; Wüthrich, Zaccheo Dotti; Terraneo; Bürgler, Heim, Pestoni; Ang, De Luca, Lilja; Zwerger, Landry, Kubalik; Grassi, Miles Müller, Brüschweiler; Douay.
Biel: Säteri; Stampfli, Lööv; Burren, Yakovenko; Grossmann, Christe; Kneubuehler, Andersson, Rajala; Hofer, Haas, Heponiemi; Tanner, Bärtschi, Nicolas Müller; Bachofner, Christen, Schläpfer; Derungs.
Remarks: Ambri-Piotta without Isacco Dotti, Kostner, Maillet, Pezzullo (all injured) and Juvonen (extra foreigner), Biel without Cunti, Delémont and Zryd (all injured).
Ajoie - Zug 1:3 (0:2, 1:1, 0:0)
4003 spectators. - SR Hebeisen/Dipietro, Urfer/Gnemmi. - Goals: 3. Leuenberger 0:1. 14. Martschini (Herzog) 0:2. 22. Riva 0:3. 24. Devos (Turkulainen, Nättinen/powerplay goal) 1:3. - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Ajoie, 2 times 2 minutes against Zug. - PostFinance top scorers: Brennan; Kovar.
Ajoie: Patenaude; Nussbaumer, Fey; Scheidegger, Brennan; Pilet, Fischer; Thiry; Sopa, Palve, Pedretti; Turkulainen, Romanenghi, Nättinen; Robin, Devos, Veckaktins; Garessus, Rundqvist, Bozon; Pouilly.
Zug: Wolf; Bengtsson, Geisser; Hansson, Carlsson; Schlumpf, Riva; Balestra, Muggli; Simion, Kovar, Hofmann; Martschini, Olofsson, Herzog; Biasca, Senteler, Künzle; Wingerli, Leuenberger, Eggenberger.
Remarks: Ajoie without Frossard, Hazen, Maurer, Schmutz (all injured) and Ciaccio (sick), Zug without Genoni (injured) and Vozenilek (supernumerary foreigner). Ajoie without goalkeeper from 59:47.