Entry into the Swiss League final
GCK sends Kloten and Ajoie on vacation
The National League will also feature the same teams next season. With the GCK Lions reaching the final, no team is playing for promotion anymore.
Published: 6 minutes ago
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Updated: 5 minutes ago
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“Lucky again,” Ajoie coach Christian Wohlwend probably thought on Friday evening. Thanks to Oltner’s elimination, there are no play-outs to be played.
Carlo Steiner Intern Sport
A good ten days after the last serious battle of the regular season, the two bottom teams in the National League – Kloten and Ajoie – can now go on vacation. Since the two finalists of the second-tier Swiss League – the GCK Lions and HC La Chaux-de-Fonds – have neither applied for a license for the top division, there will be no play for promotion and relegation this year.
In the playoff semi-final series against Olten, the GCK Lions prevailed in extremis in game seven.
Efficient Lions move into the final
After almost 90 seconds in the third period, the northwestern Swiss team got their deserved equalizer (42nd) – the sold-out Kleinholz ice rink shook. To the dismay of the vast majority of the almost 5,400 spectators, the Oltners then suffered two lapses of concentration within eleven seconds, so that the Zurich team were already leading by two goals again after a good 43 minutes. Above all, the 2:4, in which goalie Nyffeler missed the target behind the goal, hurts Olten’s heart.
The home team didn’t give up afterwards and came within a goal twice again just ten minutes before the end. But the rebellion comes too late, the game ends 4:5 from Oltner’s point of view.
It is the more efficient team that celebrates in the end. The Zurich team took an early 2-0 lead in the first third with a double strike (8th and 9th minutes), but then had to tremble. The guests seem nervous at times and only know how to help themselves with unfair behavior: goalie Lorin Grüter deliberately lifts the goal from its anchorage during an Oltner attack.
The man of the match on the Zurich side is Joel Henry, who scored a hat trick in the final third.
Swiss League 23/24
team
SP
TD
PT
1
HC La Chaux-de-Fonds
45
54
92
2
EHC Basel
45
67
92
3
EHC Olten
45
43
84
4
GCK Lions
45
23
77
5
HC Sierre
45
-20
63
6
HC Thurgau
45
5
63
7
EHC Whisk
45
-10
61
8
EHC Winterthur
45
-16
60
9
Hcv Martigny
45
-27
58
10
HC Biasca Ticino Rockets
45
-119
25
