Winners by the smallest of scores in Langnau on Saturday evening, the Lausanne residents completed a perfect weekend with two victories, and climbed to second place in the National League rankings.
The match
Resting the day before, the Emmentalois gave Geoff Ward’s men a hard time from the first minutes of play. After a relatively balanced first period, the Vaudois gradually gained the upper hand in the match, without however managing to realize their opportunities. After 40 minutes of play, their 28 attempts on target were all stopped by an excellent opposing goalkeeper, Stéphane Charlin.
The decision was finally made during the third period. In the 52nd minute, Ken Jäger, with a powerful shot, finally managed to deceive the vigilance of one of the best goalkeepers in the National League. The end of the match, completely unbridled, notably saw the Lausanne residents resist the attacks of the Bernese during an unbreathable boxplay, before Tim Bozon missed his face to face against the Langnau goalkeeper. This failure will have no consequences, and the Lausanne players leave their trip with the three points.
Three goals for Ken Jäger
Having had a timid start to the season, Ken Jäger silenced the few comments against him this weekend. Already the author of a double during the Lions’ 6-0 success on Friday evening against Fribourg, number 17 became the savior of the Vaudois this evening, scoring the only goal of the match. With 5 points in 11 games, he is now one of the seven best scorers in the LHC, a ranking still led by Antti Suomela with 12 points.
Two shutouts for Kevin Pasche
Kevin Pasche has undoubtedly just had the best weekend of his young career. Friday evening, he signed his first shutout of the season in front of the public at the Vaudoise Arena. On Saturday, he kept his team afloat for a long time, making some exceptional parades. With 35 saves made, he disgusted opposing attackers on numerous occasions, and greatly contributed to the success of his club. In 8 games this season, he has impressive statistics: an average of 1.94 goals conceded per game, for a save rate of 93.06%.
A collective success
In addition to the performances of Ken Jäger and Kevin Pasche, the entire team was present on Saturday evening. With 38 shots on target towards the excellent Stéphane Charlin, the Lausanne players constantly sought to create opportunities. Ahti Oksanen, with 7 shots, was the Vaudois who put the most shots on target this evening. In defense, Geoff Ward’s men also responded, with 4 successful boxplays and 24 blocked shots, including 4 by Damien Riat.
The rest of the program
The three-match weeks continue for the Vaudois in the middle of October. They will first travel to Finland on Wednesday for their sixth match of the Champions Hockey League group stage, to face Tappara Tampere. The Lions will continue on Friday with a trip to Davos, before hosting HC Ambri-Piotta on Saturday evening, author of a very good start to the season, at the Vaudoise arena.
