Loïc Galley and Friborg return from Porrentruy with three points.
Claudio De Capitani/freshfocus
Winner of Ajoie for the fourth time on Friday, FR Gottéron achieved a solid success this season against the red lantern of the National League. Thanks to this new success, the third in a row for them in the championship, the Dragons come back to three lengths from sixth place occupied by Kloten. As for HC Ajoie, this second setback of the week once again distances it from 13th place. Victorious over Davos (6-3), Lugano takes nine bonus points from the HCA.
True to form, the Ajoulots took the lead. They opened the scoring in their first power play period with a shot taken from the blue line by Finnish defender Anttoni Honka. Masked, Loïc Galley, preferred to Reto for this trip to Porrentruy, saw nothing coming (14th). For the seventh consecutive time, HCA was the first to score.
An advantage not really undeserved at that moment. The hottest alert, which occurred three minutes earlier, came from elsewhere in the Jura region. Served by Frossard during a break led to 2 against 1, the top scorer Julius Nättinen came up against the last rampart of Friborg.
Stopping for a brief moment
Benefiting from three other opportunities to play on the power play in the middle period, Ajoie could have extended his lead. Quite the opposite happened. At the end of a sequence of extremely poorly negotiated numerical superiority, Greg Ireland’s collective conceded the equalizer. It was Christoph Bertschy, at 4 against 5, who initiated the awakening of the Dragons (30th), just a few seconds after missing his duel against Benjamin Conz.
As if the catch had been pulled, the Jura game found itself at a complete standstill for a brief moment. And Gottéron used this power outage to gain the advantage in the sequence. 63 seconds after the 1-1, Marcus Sörensen scored the second in a disoriented opposing defense. And the sentence could have been even heavier if Jakob Lilja had not adjusted the post in the following minute.
Returning to better intentions in the final third, Ajoie was not able to erase his delay. Friborg turned its back on its territory and clung to its lead, celebrating another victory against opposition which will have suited it particularly well this season. Never, in four confrontations, has Ajoie been able to score more than one goal.
In a positive dynamic, Lars Leuenberger’s squad can calmly approach the Zaehringen derby against Berne on Saturday on their ice. As for the HCA, it is near Lausanne that it will try to grab its first points of the week.
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Ajoie – FR Gottéron 1-2 (1-0 0-2 0-0)
Raiffeisen Arena. 4987 spectators. Referees: MM. Wiegand, Piechaczek, Altmann et Gurtner.
Buts: 14th Honka (Sopa, Fey/5 c 4) 1-0, 30th Bertschy (4 c 5!) 1-1, 31st Sörensen (Wallmark, Schmid) 1-2,
Add: Cons; Honza, Fey; Thiry, Pilet; Maurer, Scheidegger; Minder, Fisher; Hazen, Devos, Pedretti; Frossard, Bellemare, Nättinen; Garessus, Romanenghi, Bozon; Sopa, Palve, Veckaktins. Coach: Ireland.
FR Gottéron: galley; Diaz, Jecker; Rathgeb, Gunderson; Sutter, Streule; Dufner; Sörensen, Wallmark, Blacksmith; Bertschy, Vey, Lilja; Sprunger, De la Rose, Marchon; Nicolet, Walser, Mottet; Dorthe. Coach: Leuenberger.
Penalties: 3 x 2′ against Ajoie, 5 x 2′ against FR Gottéron.
Notes: Ajoie without Ciaccio, Patenaude, Rundqvist, Schmutz, Turkulainen (injured), Brennan (supernumerary foreigner), Nussbaumer, Pouilly nor Robin (supernumerary). FR Gottéron without Borgman (supernumerary foreigner), Gerber nor Seiler (supernumerary). Shot on the post from Lilja (32nd) and Marchon (60th). Time out requested by FR Gottéron (47th) and Ajoie (59th). Ajoie removes his goalkeeper in favor of a sixth outfield player (58’14 to 60’00).
Genève-Servette can breathe a little sigh of relief. After three losses in the last four National League matches, the men of the Yorick Treille/Rikard Franzen duo won against Kloten (2-0) on Friday during the cuddly toy match. For this occasion, the Vernets ice rink was full.
Each time this operation takes place, a question always arises before the puck is released: who will be the hero of the evening, the one who will trigger the avalanche of teddy bears? Friday at Les Vernets, we had to wait a long, very long time. The deliverance came after 25 seconds in the third period by Josh Jooris (41st, 1-0), well served by Markus Granlund.
After this long-awaited goal, the Eagles perfectly controlled the last minutes, until the success of the safety scored by the same Josh Jooris in the empty cage (60th, 2-0). Robert Mayer got his second shutout of the season. RST
