Halloween was celebrated on the night of Thursday to Friday. Ideal timing since the ghost of Fribourg-Gottéron played – and lost again (2-3) – at the start of the evening against Kloten at the BCF Arena.
The Dragons’ lair no longer scares anyone this season (six defeats in ten outings), except perhaps the loyal Friborg public. Because what has generally been presented to him on the ice since the start of the exercise is closer to horror films than to top-of-the-table hockey.
This is quickly seen: since the start of this 2024-2025 vintage, Pat Emond’s team has lost precisely two thirds of its National League matches (12 out of 18 outings) and has only managed to string together two positive results. only once (victory against Lugano on October 19, then at Ajoie three days later).
Well below expectations, this mediocre start to the championship is the result of errors made at all levels within the club. On the ice, three players fully symbolize the crisis in which the Dragons currently find themselves, before their trip to Zurich this Saturday evening (kick-off at 7:45 p.m.).
The Swedish rearguard was certainly never presented as the new Henrik Tömmernes of the Swiss championship when he joined Fribourg-Gottéron in the summer of 2023. But his record (SHL and AHL champion), his experience ( 55 appearances in the NHL) and his profile (versatile physical defender) aroused curiosity upon his arrival.
Author of an encouraging first season on the banks of the Sarine (27 units in 63 appearances), the 29-year-old player did not manage to continue at the start of the year. When it is not cleared in the game, it is distinguished by bad raises. He does not fulfill his role as leader and makes a series of anonymous appearances (two points, -5).
Killian Mottet had 367 points (including 164 goals) in 629 National League matches at the start of this season. More than honorable, this record has hardly increased after the first 18 outings of the Friborg winger’s exercise. The latter, author of only three assists, is currently offering performances unworthy of his status.
Proof of the existing unease, No. 71 of the Dragons, sometimes stubborn on the ice, did not receive any penalty. This invisibility would certainly have cost him a small turn (usual) at the end of the bench or as a thirteenth attacker in the days of Christian Dubé.
At 24, the striker from Morat is marking time. After his explosion in 2021-2022 (30 points in 59 games) and his confirmation the following season (23 units in 51 outings), Sandro Schmid has seen his progress stagnate for many months.
Issue? The Dragons’ No. 71, trained at the club, is at the end of his contract at the end of the current season. If he intends to sign an interesting new lease, at the BCF Arena or elsewhere, the Fribourgeois will urgently have to move up a gear and take responsibility. Because, so far, he has only been decisive in three games (a goal against Ajoie, an assist against Davos and a double against Lugano).
