Hockey: Genève-Servette wins its duel against Friborg

Geneva continues its good week in the National League. The Eagles defeated Friborg 2-0 at Les Vernets and here they are 10th in the standings, while Gottéron drops to 13th place.

Geneva has apparently unlocked the “home victory” trophy. Uninspired in front of their fans, the Eagles therefore had two successes in three days. After the crazy match against Ambri and this comeback from 0-4 to 6-5 after, Jan Cadieux and his staff had a more conventional evening.

Still without Teemu Hartikainen, injured, Jan Cadieux decided to place Vincent Praplan in place of the Finnish trax. And the Valaisan was able to take advantage of his two brilliant linemates to open the scoring in the 16th minute. Manninen found Granlund who slipped a subtle puck to the far post for the 1-0.

Before this Geneva goal, the Friborgs had benefited from numerical superiority but not much good came of it. We can even say that shooting towards Raanta’s goal was more of an idea than a real conviction with the Friborgs having only four shots on the opposing goal.

Sörensen blessé

The Dragons also had to cope without Marcus Sörensen for the last two thirds. The Swedish top scorer was hit at the end of the first period. The Eagles took advantage of this absence to score 2-0. If Berra had made a double save on Bertaggia in the 24th, he could do nothing on Berni’s shot in the 26th. There too the defender was placed in a chair by Manninen and Granlund.

Freiburg tried to turn things around, but they are really missing that little grain of something. Is this success? Is it a desire to hurt yourself? Because we cannot say that the Dragons remained spectators in this game. Over the last two periods, they even sent 37 (!) shots towards the opposing cage, compared to only 13 for the Genevans. But Gottéron came up against a perfect Antti Raanta.

Praplan or the rebirth of the striker

Author of the 1-0 during the 2-0 victory over Friborg at Les Vernets, Vincent Praplan is going through a prosperous period. It’s been a week since the Valaisan has found his “touch”. You have to go back a week, no more. Last Wednesday. During the Champions League round of 16 second leg and a 7-4 victory over Lausanne, Praplan scored a quadruple.

Since then, the former Kloten and Berne player has built on this explosion and has not stopped there. Four league matches, 3 goals and 3 assists. Enough to forget the absence due to injury of the usual garnet top scorer, Teemu Hartikainen. And to perfect the imitation of his teammate, Vincent Praplan had the right to play with the Finnish duo Manninen and Granlund.

We perhaps tend to forget it because of the constellation of stars within the Geneva squad, but Vincent Praplan is a player who got used to responsibilities very early on. In Kloten, he formed a formidable triplet with Denis Hollenstein and Tommi Santala. The Valaisan has this goalscoring gene in him and these days he is rediscovering it.

“A few weeks ago, we mainly had one line that worked,” he analyzes. But it’s up to us, the Swiss, to help the team. Personally since this quadruplet, I think less, I play more on instinct by making myself forgotten behind the defense. It’s paying off for the moment and I’m not going to change anything.”

When asked what it’s like to play with two stars like Manninen and Granlund, the Sierre native can only appreciate: “They are two very good players, super intelligent. They are very efficient in what they do by always being in the right place offensively and defensively. You “just” have to find the space.”

Lots (too much?) of hockey

To dominate Fribourg, Geneva was able to use its head more than its legs, letting the Friborgs shoot, but generally from the sides. “We didn’t necessarily have the legs tonight, because we’ve been playing a lot of hockey lately,” explains Praplan. So we tried to skate less in all directions and stay compact in the middle by leaving them on the sides as much as possible. It wasn’t the sexiest of matches, but the main thing is victory.”

If Monday’s improbable victory against Ambri with this comeback from 0-4 to finally win 6-5 helped solidify the character of the Garnets, it should not hide the insane schedule imposed on the Eagles. For the past week, Jan Cadieux’s men have played 5 games in 8 days. And until December 8, the Genevans will still be entitled to six matches.

“We prefer competition to training, that’s for sure, but you still wonder whether it’s good for your health to play as many matches as that,” asks the Valaisan. When you play four games a week two weeks in a row, you get very little rest. We ask ourselves questions, but we’re not going to complain either and it’s the same for a lot of teams.”

Ajoie beat

Ajoie for his part suffered an honorable 6-3 defeat in Bern. But the Jurassiens can now count on a solid second line with Bellemare, author of a double, who complements the striker Nättinen well. However, not enough to overcome Ours who climbed to 4th place with 42 points.

Davos believed he had pocketed three points with the arrival of Ambri. The Grisons even led 2-0 after forty minutes. Only the Leventins believed in it, came back to 2-2, then to 3-3, before winning after 23 seconds of overtime (4-3).

ATS

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