Lars Leuenberger can shine - HC Fribourg-Gottéron gives him a lot of joy
Image: Keystone
Lars Leuenberger can shine - HC Fribourg-Gottéron gives him a lot of joy
Image: Keystone
Lars Leuenberger scores again in his 14th game as head coach of HC Fribourg-Gottéron. Leuenberger is building his record for eternity. These are the facts from Saturday's four National League games.
01.02.2025, 22:27
01.02.2025, 22:40
SDA
Lars Leuenberger, the underrated 2016 champion coach of SC Bern, took over HC Fribourg-Gottéron in 12th place just before the Christmas break. Gottéron won just 12 of their first 31 games of the season, but Fribourg scored in 14 games in a row under Leuenberger. Gottéron also won the Spengler Cup in Davos. In the four games at the Spengler Cup, Gottéron also did not concede a defeat in the regular season.
In the home game against the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, Fribourg celebrated a 3:2 victory with little danger. Under Lars Leuenberger, Gottéron played more solidly on defense than ever before. Only in the final period did the Lakers also score two (honorary) goals. The goals for Gottéron were scored by Sandro Schmid, Samuel Walser and Kevin Nicolet. It was Walser's first goal of the season and Nicolet's third.
False start for the ZSC
The ZSC Lions and their new head coach Marco Bayer would undoubtedly have been expected to produce a series like the one Fribourg conjured up on the ice under "emergency nail" Lars Leuenberger over New Year's Eve. However, the Zurich team has already lost seven points to Lausanne under Bayer - despite having played one more championship game. The 2:5 in Bern was already the fifth defeat in the regular season under Bayer.
The ZSC Lions paid for the spectacle that Langnau had celebrated against Bern on Friday (5 goals in the final period to win 6-2). The Bernese started the game highly concentrated and led 2:0 after just five and a half minutes. Thierry Schild gave the SCB a 2:0 lead with two goals within 75 seconds. The third Bernese goal by Marc Marchon after 15 minutes was also scored by the third Bernese forward line.
Ajoie's third win
Ajoie celebrated their third victory in a row after away wins in Geneva (4:2) and Biel (4:3 n.V.) with a 2:1 win against EV Zug. The Central Swiss team led 1-0 before Ajoie turned things around with overtime goals from Marco Pedretti and Julius Nättinen. Ajoie won three games in a row for the first time since qualifying for the league against La Chaux-de-Fonds in the spring of 2023. The last time Ajoie achieved this in the National League regular season was exactly three two years ago with victories over Kloten, Ambri-Piotta and Lausanne.
Ambri back on track
HC Ambri-Piotta is also trying to ensure that the season continues with at least a play-in after qualifying. The Leventines have celebrated four wins in the last five rounds. Ambri won 3-1 against Kloten thanks to powerplay goals from Eric Landry (1-0) and Dario Bürgler (2-1) and a shot into the empty net from André Heim (3-1). Kloten only scored through Niko Ojamäki in the second period while shorthanded. While Ambri made two goals out of three powerplay chances, Kloten failed to score anything from eleven minutes of overtime. Kloten never scored more than one goal in the last four rounds against Lugano (1:4), Davos (1:4), Freiburg (0:3) and Ambri.
Match telegrams:
Fribourg - Rapperswil 3:2 (1:0, 2:0, 0:2)
9262 spectators (sold out). - SR Kaukokari/Ruprecht, Meusy/Humair. - Goals: 14. Schmid (Rathgeb, Sörensen) 1:0. 24. Walser (Jeremi Gerber, Seiler) 2:0. 35. Nicolet (Dorthe, Jecker) 3:0. 56. Fritz (Holm, Strömwall) 3:1. 58. Rask (Wetter, Strömwall) 3:2. - Penalties: 5 times 2 minutes each. - PostFinance top scorers: Wallmark; Strömwall.
Fribourg-Gottéron: Berra; Diaz, Jecker; Rathgeb, Gunderson; Sutter, Borgman; Seiler; Sörensen, Wallmark, Schmid; Bertschy, Vey, Nicolet; Sprunger, De la Rose, Marchon; Dorthe, Walser, Jeremi Gerber; Rod.
Rapperswil-Jona Lakers: Nyffeler; Maier, Holm; Jelovac, Henauer; Baragano, Nardella; Colin Gerber; Strömwall, Rask, Wetter; Moy, Fritz, Jensen; Wick, Dünner, Lammer; Hofer, Taibel, Alge; Zangger.
Remarks: Fribourg-Gottéron without Dufner, Mottet, Streule (all injured) and Lilja (supernumerary foreigner), Rapperswil-Jona Lakers without Albrecht (suspended), Capaul (sick), Larsson, Quinn (both injured) and Djuse (supernumerary foreigner). Rapperswil-Jona Lakers without goalkeeper from 58:51.
Bern - ZSC Lions 5:2 (3:0, 1:1, 1:1)
16'531 spectators. - SR Lemelin/Kova, Huguet/Bürgy. - Goals: 5th (4:19) Schild (Marchon) 1:0. 6th (5:34) Schild (Ritzmann, Marchon) 2:0. 16th Marchon (Forrer, Ritzmann) 3:0. 25th Andrighetto (Frödén, Lehtonen) 3:1. 30th Merelä (Scherwey, Loeffel/Powerplaytor) 4:1. 49th Zehnder (Lammikko, Frödén) 4:2. 57th Untersander 5:2 (into the empty net). - Penalties: 8 times 2 minutes against Bern, 6 times 2 minutes against ZSC Lions. - PostFinance top scorers: Czarnik; Grant.
Bern: Reideborn; Untersander, Nemeth; Loeffel, Kreis; Forrer, Vermin; Rhyn, Kindschi; Merelä, Czarnik, Ejdsell; Bader, Baumgartner, Scherwey; Schild, Ritzmann, Marchon; Graf, Schläpfer, Ryser.
ZSC Lions: Zumbühl; Kukan, Geering; Kinnunen, Lehtonen; Trutmann, Marti; Bünzli; Sigrist, Malgin, Andrighetto; Rohrer, Grant, Balcers; Frödén, Lammikko, Zehnder; Baltisberger, Henry, Riedi.
Remarks: Bern without Füllemann, Kahun, Lehmann, Simon Moser, Wüthrich (all sick), Klok and Lindholm (both injured), ZSC Lions without Gruber, Hollenstein (both injured), Baechler, Yannick Weber (both sick) and Hrubec (supernumerary foreigner). ZSC Lions without goalkeeper from 56:40 to 56:54.
Ajoie - Zug 2:1 (0:0, 1:1, 1:0)
4745 spectators. - SR Tscherrig/Dipietro, Gurtner/Nater. - Goals: 31st Leuenberger (Hansson, Vozenilek) 0:1. 37th Pedretti (Frossard/powerplay goal) 1:1. 47th Nättinen (Bellemare, Honka/powerplay goal) 2:1. - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Ajoie, 6 times 2 minutes against Zug. - PostFinance top scorers: Nättinen; Martschini.
Ajoie: Ciaccio; Honka, Fischer; Brennan, Fey; Nussbaumer, Maurer; Thiry, Pilet; Hazen, Bellemare, Nättinen; Pedretti, Devos, Frossard; Robin, Garessus, Romanenghi; Veckaktins, Rundqvist, Bozon.
Zug: Wolf; Bengtsson, Johnson; Muggli, Tobias Geisser; Hansson, Carlsson; Riva; Martschini, Wingerli, Vozenilek; Künzle, Olofsson, Hofmann; Leuenberger, Senteler, Biasca; Balestra, Wey, Antenen.
Remarks: Ajoie without Conz, Palve, Patenaude and Turkulainen (all injured), Zug without Eggenberger, Herzog, Schlumpf, Stadler (all injured) and Kovar (suspended). Zug without goalkeeper from 58:10.
Ambri - Kloten 3:1 (1:0, 1:1, 1:0)
6661 spectators. - SR Wiegand/Hungerbühler, Gnemmi/Stalder. - Goals: 7th Landry (Virtanen, Maillet/powerplay goal) 1:0. 29th Ojamäki (underpaid goal!) 1:1. 37th Bürgler (Heed, Pestoni/powerplay goal) 2:1. 60th (59:32) Heim (Maillet) 3:1 (into the empty net). - Penalties: 3 times 2 plus 5 minutes (DiDomenico) plus playing time (DiDomenico) against Ambri-Piotta, 3 times 2 minutes against Kloten. - PostFinance top scorers: Kubalik; Ojamäki.
Ambri-Piotta: Senn; Heed, Zgraggen; Virtanen, Terraneo; Wüthrich, Isacco Dotti; Zaccheo Dotti; DiDomenico, Maillet, Kubalik; Muggli, Kostner, Zwerger; Bürgler, Heim, Müller; Pestoni, Landry, De Luca; Hedlund.
Kloten: Zurkirchen; Niku, Profico; Grégoire, Wolf; Sataric, Steve Kellenberger; Sidler; Aberg, Ramel, Schreiber; Ojamäki, Morley, Weibel; Hawryluk, Schäppi, Meyer; Rehak, Keller, Meier; Smirnovs.
Remarks: Ambri-Piotta without Douay, Grassi (both injured) and Curran (supernumerary foreigner), Kloten without Diem, Simic, Steiner, Waeber (all injured), Aebi, Cuesta Flores (both ) and Audette (supernumerary foreigner). Kloten without a goalkeeper from 58:35 to 59:33.
