La Quinzaine des Romands #4: bulk transfers, smiles in the Jura and questions in Geneva – rts.ch

Ajoie (14e/-)

So much has changed in Porrentruy since the last episode! After a successful interim period (8 points in 5 matches), Julien Vauclair hired Greg Ireland as coach and recruited French striker Pierre-Edouard Bellemare until the end of the season, with Finnish Oula Palve paying the price (see boxes). Less spectacular but just as valuable, captain Kevin Fey extended his contract with the Bruntrutains for 2 years.

The most important change, however, took place on the ice, with an HCA in full rebirth which is none other than the 4th best team in NL over the fortnight with 2 points collected per game. The Ajoulots remain on 3 victories in 4 games, during which the trio Jerry Turkulainen (7 points), Phil-Michaël Devos (6) and Jonathan Hazen (5) shone. The Finnish striker is also 7th in scorers with 21 units (1.1 per match), ahead of stars like Antti Suomela (Lausanne) and Derek Grant (Zurich). This rise in power constitutes a real welcome breath of fresh air for the Jura team.

Biel (7th/-2)

The Zealanders experienced a certain slowdown during this fortnight due in particular to their large number of absentees (6 to 7 depending on the matches), which worsened further with the announcement of the commotion de Lias Andersson. Already deprived of executives such as Gaëtan Haas, Damien Brunner and Viktor Lööv, Bienne logically scores little (2.2 goals per game since the start of the season), but continues to concede just as little (2.2), thanks to a very solid goalkeeper duo (94.1% cumulative saves).

In terms of the transfer window, the Biennois have extended their defenders Yanick Stampfli et Yanik Burrenbut they also learned the departure of Noah Delémont (22 years old) for Kloten at the end of the season. The Swiss international (8 caps) went through a very complicated exercise last year before suffering a serious knee injury. Having returned to the game for a month, he is only fielded sparingly (7’28 per match), even seeing the young Niklas Blessing (18 years old) ahead of him in the hierarchy (10’22). The native of Orvin therefore decided to leave his training club to relaunch himself.

Friborg (9e/+3)

The Dragons’ situation is somewhat misleading. If they have indeed moved up the rankings, this 9th place is mainly due to the fact that they have at least 2 more matches than their direct pursuers. In points per match, the Friborgs are actually in 12th place (1.29), with only Ambri (1.26) and Ajoie (0.75) doing worse than them. However, everything is not so dark on the banks of the Sarine, since Friborg remains on 2 narrow successes against Bern et in Davos – championship leaders – who could well have (finally) launched their exercise.

Like his colleagues, Gerd Zenhäusern was not idle during the international break. The Dragons sporting director has hired the Canadian striker with immediate effect Linden Vey (33 years old), author of 19 points in 20 games this season with Omsk in the KHL before leaving the club for family reasons. Champion with Zurich in 2018, the center will offer an interesting alternative to Pat Emond to compose his team, allowing him for example to align 5 foreign attackers by removing one of the two defenders.

Geneva (13th/-)

Nothing is going well for the Eagles. Weaned from victory in the championship at Vernets for more than a month (5 defeats), the Genevans have only one success and 4 points in their last 7 meetings. Their good start to the season and their few late games nevertheless allow them to rank 11th in points per game (1.29). The top-10 is still only 3 units away in the “real” ranking, but it is becoming urgent for them to raise their heads, because the top-6 is moving further and further away (11 points behind). The numerous absences (9 last Saturday!) are perhaps not unrelated either.

Off the ice, announcements are also piling up. In addition to the temporary arrival of Oula Palve (see box), Geneva extended the Valais striker Vincent Praplan and hired the defenders for next year Vili Saarijärvi (Langnau) and Dave Sutter (Fribourg). These signings add to persistent rumors from Finland which suggest the returns to the country of Sami Vatanen and Teemu Hartikainen at the end of the season. Enough to add to the complex period that the Servettians are currently experiencing.

Lausanne (3e/-1)

The Lions continue to be one of the top teams this season, even if they have suffered two heavy away defeats during this fortnight (7-2 in Bern and 6-2 in Zug). At the same time, they reduced their Zurich counterparts to silence (success 2-0), which allowed them to briefly seize the leadership position, which they now share with the “Z” and Davos. The Vaudois have made Malley a practically impregnable fort with 2.36 points collected per game in their lair this season and 2.55 since the start of 2024.

Nothing seems to reach the people of Lausanne, who nevertheless lost Ahti Oksanen until Christmas, injured with Finlandand Lawrence Pilut, who will ultimately not scratch the ice this winter. In terms of good news, Finnish center Antti Suomela (30 years old), excellent since his arrival with 72 points in 90 games, has prolonged his contract of 2 years, while that of Ronalds Kenins has (finally) been terminated. The Latvian with a Swiss license has signed up for a trial with Bern.

Bastien Trottet

All figures are taken from the website of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation and of nlicedata.com.