Zug's captain Jan Kovar celebrates scoring twice in the 5-1 win in Bern
Image: Keystone
Fribourg-Gottéron finds a way to win on the road against Ajoie thanks to a shorthanded goal by Christoph Bertschy
Image: Keystone
With a strong Daniel Carr in the top scorer's uniform (2 goals, 2 assists), HC Lugano finds its way back to winning ways
Image: Keystone
Denis Malgin (left) shoots the ZSC Lions to victory in Ambri in overtime
Image: Keystone
Servette wins in soft toy action at Geneva's Les Vernets Hall
Image: Keystone
Zug's captain Jan Kovar celebrates scoring twice in the 5-1 win in Bern
Image: Keystone
Fribourg-Gottéron finds a way to win on the road against Ajoie thanks to a shorthanded goal by Christoph Bertschy
Image: Keystone
With a strong Daniel Carr in the top scorer's uniform (2 goals, 2 assists), HC Lugano finds its way back to winning ways
Image: Keystone
Denis Malgin (left) shoots the ZSC Lions to victory in Ambri in overtime
Image: Keystone
Servette wins in soft toy action at Geneva's Les Vernets Hall
Image: Keystone
A clear winner in the chasing duel, an overtime scare in the Leventina and a change of coach not without effect. These are the facts about the five National League games on Friday.
17.01.2025, 22:55
17.01.2025, 23:00
SDA
Zug clear winners in chasing duel
In the top game of the round between Bern and Zug, playoff-worthy ice hockey was celebrated for two thirds before a capital miss by SCB forward Thierry Schild took the tension and intensity out of the game. Zug's captain Jan Kovar gratefully accepted the gift in the 45th minute and increased the score to 3:1 for the visitors. The Czech scored a second goal in the 52nd minute to make the final score 5:1. After their third defeat in a row, the resurgent Bernese had to let the EVZ pass them in the table. The team from Central Switzerland, now in second place instead of SCB, extended their longest winning streak of the season with a fifth game in a row.
Bertschy's shorthander brings the turning point
Bottom-placed Ajoie also took a 1-0 lead in their seventh game this year, but in the end it was still their opponents who cheered; in this case Fribourg-Gottéron. Christoph Bertschy's shorthanded goal shortly before half-time heralded Fribourg's turnaround in the Jura. Just 63 seconds after the World Championship silver medallist's eighth shorthander in the National League, Marcus Sörensen even gave the visitors the lead. The score remained 2:1 until the end. As a result, Ajoie left the ice as losers in their fourth season duel with Gottéron.
Carr scores again and Lugano wins
The change of coach in Lugano did not fail to have an effect. In Uwe Krupp's debut, the Ticino team showed a strong improvement, especially offensively, with a 6-3 win at home against Davos. The home team led 2-0 after six and a half minutes and 4-1 after 27 minutes, with top scorer Daniel Carr symbolizing Lugano's upswing. The Canadian had not scored in the previous four games, all of which Lugano lost. On Friday, he was involved in four of his team's goals. He scored the 3:1 (on the power play) and the 6:3 (into the empty net) himself, and had a hand in the 2:0 and 5:3 as the passer.
Malgin as Ambri's overtime scare
A little further north, Ambri-Piotta and the ZSC Lions met in Ticino. Two days after the 6:1 gala in Geneva, the Zurich side went one better in the semi-final first leg of the Champions Hockey League. Denis Malgin scored the visitors to win 3:2 in overtime. The former NHL forward had already scored the winning goal in overtime in the 5-4 win against Ambri in September. Ambri-Piotta had to play overtime for the 19th time this season after a tie after 60 minutes. To equal HC Davos' league record from the 2022-23 season with another overtime, the Leventines still have 13 games left until the end of qualifying.
Servette wins in plush toy rain
Servette put the European Cup defeat against ZSC behind them with a 2:0 home win against Kloten. However, the spectators in Geneva's Les Vernets Hall had to wait a long time before they could cheer the first goal of the league's weakest team at home and throw their stuffed animals onto the ice. A full 40 minutes and 25 seconds had been played before Josh Jooris scored at the start of the final period to make it 1-0 and kick off the fundraising campaign for children in hospitals. Shortly before the end, Jooris became the double scorer with Servette's 100th goal of the season into the empty Kloten net. Kloten, who had to do without their top scorer Miro Aaltonen at short notice due to a potential anti-doping rule violation, are still waiting for their first away win in 2025 after four games.
Table and telegrams:
Bern - Zug 1:5 (1:2, 0:0, 0:3)
15103 spectators. - SR Hebeisen/Kaukokari (FIN), Bürgy/Meusy. - Goals: 8. Schlumpf (Senteler, Biasca) 0:1. 13. Marchon (Vermin, Merelä) 1:1. 15. Biasca (Hansson, Eggenberger) 1:2. 45. Kovar 1:3. 48. Wingerli (Martschini, Bengtsson/powerplay goal) 1:4. 52. Kovar (underpaid goal!) 1:5 (into the empty net). - Penalties: 3 times 2 plus 5 minutes (Füllemann) plus 2 times added time (Füllemann, Scherwey) against Bern, 4 times 2 minutes against Zug. - PostFinance top scorers: Czarnik; Martschini.
Bern: Reideborn; Untersander, Kreis; Loeffel, Klok; Vermin, Nemeth; Füllemann, Kindschi; Schild, Graf, Ritzmann; Merelä, Baumgartner, Scherwey; Marchon, Czarnik, Kahun; Simon Moser, Schläpfer, Bader.
Zug: Genoni; Bengtsson, Johnson; Schlumpf, Muggli; Hansson, Tobias Geisser; Martschini, Kovar, Vozenilek; Wingerli, Olofsson, Hofmann; Herzog, Senteler, Künzle; Eggenberger, Leuenberger, Biasca.
Remarks: Bern without Lehmann, Lindholm (both injured) and Ejdsell (supernumerary foreigner), Zug without Simion (sick), Antenen, Balestra, Carlsson, Mischa Geisser, Riva, Stadler and Wey (all injured). Bern without a goalkeeper from 51:27 to 51:55.
Lugano - Davos 6:3 (3:1, 1:1, 2:1)
5105 spectators. - SR Stolc (SVK)/Dipietro, Cattaneo/Obwegeser. - Goals: 7. (6:06) Marco Müller (Thürkauf) 1:0. 7. (6:27) Fazzini (Carr) 2:0. 10. Kessler (Nussbaumer) 2:1. 12. Carr (Alatalo/powerplay goal) 3:1. 28. (27:02) Thürkauf (Fazzini, Alatalo/power play goal) 4:1. 29. (28:11) Tambellini 4:2. 46. Fora (Corvi) 4:3. 55. Arcobello (Fazzini, Carr) 5:3. 59. Carr (Thürkauf) 6:3 (into the empty net). - Penalties: 4 times 2 minutes against Lugano, 5 times 2 minutes plus playing time (Andersson) against Davos. - PostFinance top scorers: Carr; Tambellini.
Lugano: Huska; Pulli, Mirco Müller; Jesper Peltonen, Alatalo; Aebischer, Dahlström; Reichle, Guerra; Cormier, Canonica, Aleksi Peltonen; Fazzini, Arcobello, Carr; Zanetti, Verboon, Patry; Zohorna, Thürkauf, Marco Müller.
Davos: Aeschlimann (29. Hollenstein); Andersson, Barandun; Honka, Dahlbeck; Fora, Jung; Guebey; Stransky, Corvi, Knak; Frehner, Ryfors, Tambellini; Kessler, Gredig, Lemieux; Ambühl, Egli, Nussbaumer; Parrée.
Remarks: Lugano without Joly, Morini, van Pottelberghe (all injured) and Sekac (suspended), Davos without Gross, Nordström and Zadina (all injured). Davos without a goalkeeper from 57:48 to 58:04.
Ambri-Piotta - ZSC Lions 2:3 (0:0, 1:1, 1:1, 0:1) n.V.
6583 spectators. - SR Lemelin (USA)/Stricker, Schlegel/Huguet. - Goals: 32nd Heed (Heim, Kubalik) 1:0. 35th Balcers (Malgin, Andrighetto) 1:1. 49th (48:09) Rohrer 1:2. 49th (48:52) Virtanen (Müller) 2:2. 63rd Malgin (Balcers) 2:3. - Penalties: 2 times 2 minutes against Ambri-Piotta, 3 times 2 minutes against ZSC Lions. - PostFinance top scorers: Kubalik; Grant.
Ambri-Piotta: Senn; Heed, Zgraggen; Virtanen, Curran; Wüthrich, Terraneo; Isacco Dotti; DiDomenico, Maillet, Kubalik; Pestoni, Kostner, De Luca; Grassi, Heim, Müller; Bürgler, Landry, Zwerger; Muggli.
ZSC Lions: Hrubec; Kukan, Geering; Trutmann, Lehtonen; Weber, Marti; Schwendeler; Sigrist, Malgin, Andrighetto; Frödén, Lammikko, Zehnder; Rohrer, Grant, Balcers; Baltisberger, Baechler, Segafredo; Henry.
Remarks: Ambri-Piotta without Douay (injured), ZSC Lions without Hollenstein (injured) and Riedi (sick).
Ajoie - Fribourg-Gottéron 1:2 (1:0, 0:2, 0:0)
4987 spectators. - Referees Wiegand/Piechaczek (GER), Altmann/Gurtner. - Goals: 14. Honka (Sopa, Fey/powerplay goal) 1:0. 30. Bertschy (underpaid goal!) 1:1. 31. Sörensen (Wallmark, Schmid) 1:2. - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Ajoie, 5 times 2 minutes against Fribourg-Gottéron. - PostFinance top scorers: Nättinen; Wallmark.
Ajoie: Conz; Honka, Fey; Minder, Fischer; Maurer, Scheidegger; Thiry, Pilet; Frossard, Bellemare, Nättinen; Hazen, Devos, Pedretti; Garessus, Romanenghi, Bozon; Sopa, Palve, Veckaktins.
Fribourg-Gottéron: Galley; Diaz, Jecker; Rathgeb, Gunderson; Sutter, Streule; Dufner; Dorthe; Sörensen, Wallmark, Schmid; Bertschy, Vey, Lilja; Sprunger, De la Rose, Marchon; Nicolet, Walser, Mottet.
Remarks: Ajoie without Ciaccio, Patenaude, Rundqvist, Schmutz, Turkulainen (all injured) and Brennan (supernumerary foreigner), Fribourg-Gottéron without Borgman (supernumerary foreigner). Ajoie without goalkeeper from 58:14.
Genève-Servette - Kloten 2:0 (0:0, 0:0, 2:0)
7135 spectators. - SR Tscherrig/Mollard, Steenstra (CAN)/Duc. - Goals: 41st (40:25) Jooris 1:0. 60th (59:26) Jooris (Karrer, Mayer) 2:0 (into the empty net). - Penalties: 3 times 2 minutes against Genève-Servette, 1 time 2 minutes against Kloten. - PostFinance top scorers: Granlund; Ojamäki.
Genève-Servette: Mayer; Chanton, Vatanen; Lennström, Karrer; Schneller, Berni; Jacquemet, Le Coultre; Hartikainen, Jooris, Granlund; Timashov, Richard, Praplan; Miranda, Pouliot, Bertaggia; Loosli, Cavalleri, Völlmin.
Kloten: Waeber; Niku, Profico; Grégoire, Wolf; Sataric, Steve Kellenberger; Sidler; Ojamäki, Audette, Simic; Meyer, Ramel, Schreiber; Derungs, Schäppi, Weibel; Rehak, Smirnovs, Meier.
Remarks: Genève-Servette without Descloux, Hischier, Rod (all injured) and Manninen (suspended), Kloten without Aebi, Diem, Morley and Steiner (all injured). Kloten without a goalkeeper from 57:42 to 59:26.
