Kloten advances to semifinals after win over Davos
23 Mar 2014 | Andreas Reiner
With 4 wins in a row the Flyers beat HC Davos and meet HC Fribourg-Gottéron for spot in final.
Everything and eveyone was set up in Davos to relaunch the series against Kloten and force a game 7. A seasons record attendance of 6'410 at Vaillant Arena saw a Team Davos that was determined to win game 6.The first 20 minutes were dictated by many breakaways on both teams, Andres Ambühls return to his team almost payed off 55 seconds into the game but Martin Gerber kept his goal clean.
While the last 2 games had seen minor penalties given away in bunches, this game saw one minor penalty on each side during the first period but neither team was able to get on the scoreboard.
Period 2 and Davos was continuing to create a lot of pressure in the offensive zone, at times playing a 5:5 powerplay but Klotens defense stood strong, blocking shots and cleaning up in front of the crease. It was halftime when Kloten was on the attack and Simon Bodenmann passed the puck across the zone to Eric Blum who scored between the pads of Leonardo Genoni. One minor penalty against Davos in the second period against Noah Schneeberger for unsportsmanlike conduct was called but the Flyers powerplay was toothless tonight with one shot on goal.
With the last 20 minutes Davos now was under pressure to score at least a
goal if the wanted to extend their season but time after time, Klotens
defense closed down the attacks. Even 2 powerplay chances for Davos
weren't enough to even the score. The excitement climaxed when Lukas
Stoop was assessed with a hooking penalty with 2 minutes to go. Coach
Arno del Curto waited almost a minute to remove his keeper and replace
him with a 6th attacker but with 8 seconds left, the Ref called a
penalty shot because 7 players from Team Davos found themselves on the ice. Tommi
Santala scored his first goal of the playoffs and sealed the loss for
Davos. This is the 3rd time in a row that Davos lost a 1/4 final series (twice against ZSC Lions). In addition Beat Forster was injured on his knee and didn't return to the ice after leaving in the 47th minute. Sandro Rizzi announced his retirement after 18 seasons in which he only played for HC Davos and won 5 championships.
Kloten will face HC Fribourg-Gottéron in the semifinal starting next Thursday.
Specatators @Vaillant Arena: 6'410
Head Referees: Brent Reiber, Marc Wiegand
Linesmen: Roman Kaderli, Simon Wüst
Davos: Genoni; Schneeberger, Forster; Back, Koistinen; Jan von
Arx, Kutlak; Guerra, Grossmann; Bürgler, Corvi, Wieser; Ambühl,
Lindgren, Paulsson; Sciaroni, Walser, Aeschlimann; Ryser, Rizzi, Ranov.
Kloten Flyers: Gerber; DuPont, von Gunten; Blum, Schelling;
Stoop, Vandermeer; Frick, Randegger; Stancescu, Santala, Bieber;
Bodenmann, Steinmann, Herren; Bühler, Romano Lemm, Hennessy; Aurelio
Lemm, Jenni, Hoffmann.