PostedSeptember 1, 2022, 10:41 PM
Ice HockeyGottéron begins his European campaign with a victory
In Freiburg, the Dragons won their first Champions Hockey League match once morest Finland’s Ilves Tampere (3-2). Mixed fortunes for the two other Swiss clubs engaged on Thursday.
Matthias Rossi and Benoit Jecker celebrate following Fribourg-Gottéron’s winning goal.
Urs Lindt/freshfocus
In front of 5014 spectators at the BCF Arena, Fribourg-Gottéron started its Champions Hockey League campaign well. At the end of a game where they alternated the good and the less good, the Dragons won with a score of 3-2 once morest the Finns of Ilves Tampere.
For this first official match of the season, Christian Dubé surely asked his men to immediately make an impression and that’s what they did. From the start of the game, his team put up a lot of intensity which forced the opponents to make mistakes. At 5 once morest 3, the locals were able to open the scoring with their new recruit, the 24-year-old Finn Janne Kuokkanen (4th).
Then, Ilves Tampere gradually entered the game and posed many problems for the Friborg defense. The equalizer fell early in the second half by Tikka. In the 27th, the first two scorers scored twice to bring the scoreboard to 2-2. Finally, the decision came from the butt of Matthias Rossi (51st) from a subtle deviation on a wrist shot from Benoît Jecker who took the goalkeeper Langhammer on the wrong foot.
Author of 48 saves, Reto Berra was one of the great architects of this victory. He notably made several decisive parades at the end of the second period when the score was tied. On Saturday, Fribourg-Gottéron will host Stavanger Oilers (Norway) for the second day.
Zurich on a steamroller, Rapperswil disillusioned
Traveling to Hungary to face Fehérvár AV19, finalist of the last ICEHL championship, the ZSC Lions took the opportunity to demonstrate their offensive strength with a big victory (1-7). Rikard Grönborg’s men killed all suspense from the start of the match. After 13 minutes, the score was already 0-3. Hollenstein and Bodenmann both scored twice, while Frenchman Alexandre Texier scored his first official success in his new colours.
The last member of the National League to join, Rapperswil was beaten in front of their home crowd by Red Bull Munich (1-4), CHL finalists in 2019. In contact until halfway through the match, the Saint-Gallois did not maintained the pace imposed by the Germans. On Saturday, Zurich will travel to Katowice while Rappi will host Tappara Tampere.