Ice hockey: Ajoie beats Lugano and returns to six points from 13th place

Six points is now the gap that separates Lugano, 13th, from HC Ajoie, 14th and last in the National League. By winning the low-ranked duel on Saturday, the Jurassiens gave themselves the right to hope to leave, before the end of the regular portion of the season, this position of red lantern which has stuck to them for four years. The road obviously remains long, but the simple fact of still being able to cling to this perspective, especially given their nightmarish start to the campaign, is enough to put a smile back on the faces of Ajoie.

In Porrentruy, the people of Ticino have therefore not managed to escape the spiral of “lose”. As if driven by the energy of despair, they nevertheless tried to force the decision in the second half of the match. But everything was done in too disorderly a manner, with disjointed play and a terrible lack of realism on the offensive, to return from Jura with victory.

The accumulation of small errors which led to the 5-1 setback on Friday in Berne decided HCA coach Greg Ireland to modify his system for this bottom-of-the-ranking duel. Exit the Finnish striker Oula Palve, who has not convinced anyone in the Jura since his return from Geneva, replaced by Thibault Frossard, back from injury, alongside Bellemare and Nättinen. Palve’s exit from the lineup, far from being surprising shall we say, also revived TJ Brennan in defense. The American full-back did not achieve the outing of the century, far from it, but as the HCA won by conceding only one goal, it is difficult to blame the recent winner of the Spengler Cup with Fribourg.

What is certain is that the debates were not the most exciting. Quickly forced to deal with a foreign fraction reduced to five men (Jiri Sekac was sent to the locker room after 9 minutes for a charge to the head of Nussbaumer), Lugano was unable to gain the upper hand over the bottom of the National League.

And although we felt that they had a little more under the hood, the Luganese dried up in front of a once again imperial Benjamin Conz. Goalkeeper Ajoulot, left the day before in the capital, resumed his place in front of the nets in the absence of Damiano Ciaccio, who injured his upper body at the end of the second period on Friday.

From the second period, the pressure grew stronger and stronger in the HCA territory, which did not prevent the yellow and black collective from taking the lead. Postponed by Marco Pedretti, Philip-Michaël Devos was able to register his 18th achievement of the competition before the second break (37th).

The visitors finally waited until the 50th minute and their first period of power play to equalize through Matthew Verboon. Just enough time for Ajoie to regain some momentum and Kevin Fey to give his team a head start via a shot into the top corner from Niklas Schlegel (53rd). Top scorer Julius Nättinen then definitively ensured HCA’s victory in the empty cage.

Ajoie will play his next match on Wednesday at Rapperswil, an ice on which he has not celebrated the slightest success for seven years.

Ajoie – Lugano 3-1 (0-0 1-0 2-1)