Keystone
The Champions Hockey League enters the knockout phase, with the Léman derby between Genève-Servette and Lausanne taking center stage.
The Champions Hockey League begins on Tuesday evening with the first legs of the round of 16, and four Swiss teams are involved. The focus is on the clash between Genève-Servette and Lausanne, which promises to be a particularly explosive Léman derby.
Genève-Servette, the defending champions, have had a bumpy start to the season. In the National League, Geneva are currently outside the play-off places, with just one win from their last six games. In the Champions Hockey League, too, the path to the round of 16 was anything but easy, as progress was only secured on the last matchday. The national team break gave coach Jan Cadieux the opportunity to work with the majority of his squad, as none of the Finnish quintet was nominated for the national team. Whether this time could be used to make the necessary adjustments remains to be seen.
Léman derby in the round of 16
Lausanne, their rivals from Lake Geneva, have made a promising start to the season and are in second place in the National League behind the ZSC Lions. In the derbies against Servette so far, Lausanne has won by the narrowest of margins (2:1 and 3:2). Lausanne also performed strongly in the European Cup and was the only team apart from Färjestad to remain undefeated after 60 minutes. Despite the better ranking, Lausanne will have to do without home advantage in the second leg, as the availability of the stadiums makes this necessary.
In the history of the Champions Hockey League, there has only ever been one Swiss duel in the knockout phase, when the ZSC Lions defeated Lugano by an aggregate score of 6:5 in the 2016/17 season.
ZSC Lions and Fribourg-Gottéron face exciting tasks
The ZSC Lions have confidently qualified for the round of 16 in both the championship and the European Cup. They will face the Straubing Tigers, whom they defeated 3:2 two months ago. An elimination of the Zurich team would be a surprise, but the Lower Bavarians have already beaten Swedish champions Skelleftea in their home arena.
Fribourg-Gottéron, fifth in the regular season, will face the Växjö Lakers. The Swedes have had a mixed start to the season, but have proved to be a difficult opponent for Swiss teams in the past. Gottéron will be hoping to come out of the national team break with renewed vigor, having lost four of their last five games before the break.
SDA
