The ZSC Lions and Fribourg-Gottéron can plan for the round of 16 in the Champions Hockey League. Both won in the penultimate round of the group stage.
The ZSC Lions had to suffer against the surprising Brits from Sheffield. In front of only 2600 spectators, Rudolfs Balcers' early 1:0 remained the only result from the game. After the Steelers equalized, the Latvian also scored twice in the penalty shoot-out, thus securing the extra point for the Zurich team and virtually guaranteeing qualification for the round of 16.
Fribourg-Gottéron, who have been so disappointing in the championship so far, celebrated a gala at European level. With a 9:3 win against the Eisbären Berlin, they put themselves in an excellent position to qualify for the round of 16.
The 18-year-old Gottéron junior Jan Dorthe shone with three goals, including the 1:0 and 2:0 in the first ten minutes. Christoph Bertschy even scored four points (two goals).
The ZSC Lions with eleven points as well as Lausanne - with only four games - and Fribourg-Gottéron with ten points are unlikely to be ousted from the top 16 next week in the final round. Their qualification should already be clear after the remaining games of the 5th round on Wednesday - with Lausanne and Genève-Servette.
Telegrams and standings:
ZSC Lions - Sheffield Steelers 2:1 (1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 0:0) n.P.
2606 spectators. - SR Ströbel/Kaukokari (SUI/FIN). - Goals: 17. Balcers (Lehtonen, Graf/powerplay goal) 1:0. 33. Leavens (Juusola) 1:1. penalty shoot-out: Rohrer-, Watling-, Grant-, Balmas 0:1, Frödén-, Juusola-, Balcers 1:1, Ciampini-, Lammikko 2:1, Leavens 2:2, Balmas-, Balcers 3:2. - Penalties: 4 times 2 minutes against ZSC Lions, 1 time 2 minutes against Sheffield.
Fribourg-Gottéron - Eisbären Berlin 9:3 (3:0, 5:2, 1:1)
4569 spectators. - SR Borga/Hürlimann (SUI). - Goals: 8. Dorthe (Wallmark, Sörensen) 1:0. 10. Dorthe (Gunderson, Sörensen/powerplay goal) 2:0. 16. Rathgeb (Mottet, Bertschy/powerplay goal) 3:0. 21. Ronning (Pföderl) 3:1. 22. Mottet (Rathgeb, Bertschy/powerplay goal) 4:1. 26. Schmid (Sutter, Sprunger) 5:1. 27. Bertschy (Sörensen, Jecker) 6:1. 30. Dorthe (Wallmark) 7:1. 31. Bertschy (Sutter) 8:1. 36. Byron (Pföderl/powerplay goal) 8:2. 44. Byron (Müller, Wiederer) 8:3. 50. Näf (Gerber) 9:3. - Penalties: 2 times 2 minutes against Fribourg-Gottéron, 9 times 2 minutes against Berlin.
Champions Hockey League. 5th round: ZSC Lions - Sheffield Steelers (GBR) 2:1 n.P. (1:0, 0:1, 0:0, 0:0). Fribourg-Gottéron - Eisbären Berlin 9:3 (3:0, 5:2, 1:1). - Ranking: 1. Färjestad (SWE) 5 games/14 points. Also: 3. ZSC Lions 5/11. 4. Lausanne 4/10. 5. Fribourg-Gottéron 5/10. ZSC Lions 15. Genève-Servette 4/6. - Mode: The first 16 teams after 6 rounds reach the round of 16.
