Sandro Schmid (Fribourg) against Romain Loeffel (Bern). The two neighbors did not do each other any favors until the penalties.
Pascal Muller/freshfocus
This second Zaehringen derby got off to a flying start. It only took Waltteri Merelä 12 seconds to give the Bears the lead. The Finnish SCB striker deceived Reto Berra who, clumsily or cleverly, had just moved his cage in the face of the threat presented to him. Whether voluntary or not, the game directors in any case validated the success after viewing the video.
11 seconds is the time it took for Gottéron to equalize. Betrayed by the plexiglass behind his sanctuary, Adam Reideborn, out of his cage, left the net empty to Jakob Lilja, happy with this favorable rebound.
An unexpected start, to say the least, followed by a return to normal. No longer present in enemy territory, Bern was not able to regain the lead. Unhappy in the offensive zone (two strikes on the posts from Ejdsell in the initial third), the visitors were also unhappy in defense when Joël Vermin involuntarily deflected into his net a shot from Lucas Wallmark taken from behind the cage ( 7th).
Five taps on the uprights
This success could have represented the tipping point. It didn’t happen. After a quarter of an hour, captain Simon Moser escaped the lax marking of the two Friborg defenders to set the record straight.
The back and forth between the two teams lasted until the final siren. If Berne regained a lead after half an hour (Ritzmann, 2-3), the Friborgs made perfect use of the first power play situations available to them to restart the debates. At 5 against 4, Christoph Bertschy brought his group back to 3-3 eight seconds before the second siren after seeing his two linemates, Schmid and De la Rose, adjust the post in quick succession.
The metal resonated numerous times on Friday evening with no less than five strikes on the uprights during the game and three others (Sprunger, Wallmark and Czarnik) during the penalty shootout. Rather than the metal frame, it was the net that Raphäel Diaz martyred a quarter of the time when his heavy shot pierced the last rampart of the capital. Friborg then played with two more men on the ice (4-3).
De la Rose and Bertschy transform
This regained advantage was, however, not kept until the end (double from Merelä in the 57th minute). The decision was therefore made during penalties. Exercise during which only Jacob De la Rose and Bertschy transformed their attempt.
These two points won allow Fribourg-Gottéron to prepare more calmly for Saturday’s long trip to Davos, facing the team in good form at the moment.
FR Gottéron – Bern tab 5-4 (2-2 1-1 1-1)
BCF-Arena. 9,178 spectators (box offices closed).
Referees: MM. Tscherrig, Hungerbühler, Steenstra et Humair.
Buts: 1st (0’12) Merelä (Baumgartner) 0-1, 1st (0’23) Lilja (Dorthe, Borgman) 1-1, 7th Wallmark 2-1, 14th Moser (Ritzmann, Schild) 2-2, 31st Ritzmann (Loeffel, Marchon) 2-3, 40th Bertschy (De la Rose, Schmid/5 c 4) 3-3, 44th Diaz (Sörensen, Gunderson/5 c 3) 4-3, 57th Merelä (Vermin) 4-4.
Penalties: Sprunger -, Merelä -, Wallmark -, Czarnik -, De la Rose 1-0, Baumgartner -, Bertschy 2-0, Lehmann -.
FR Gottéron: berry; Sutter, Streule; Gunderson, Jecker; Diaz, Borgman; sailors; Sörensen, Wallmark, Blacksmith; Lilja, De la Rose, Dorthe; Sprunger, Bertschy, Mottet; Nicolet, Walser, Gerber; After. Coach: Emond.
Berne: Reideborn; Loeffel, Nemeth; Untersander, Füllmann; Vermin, Rhyn; Merelä, Baumgartner, Scherwey; Lehmann, Czarnik, Ejdsell; Bader, Graf, Marc Marchon; Schild, Ritzmann, Moser; Sablatnig. Entrainer: Tapola.
Penalties: 4 x 2′ against FR Gottéron, 6 x 2′ against Berne.
Notes: FR Gottéron without Dufner, Nathan Marchon, Rod (injured) nor Rathgeb (extras). Bern without Kahun, Kreis, Lindholm (injured) or Kindschi (family reasons). Shots on the posts of Ejdsell (10th and 17th), Schmid (40th), De la Rose (40th) and Nemeth (61st).
