Hard landing for the Flyers

With a completely new mindset, the Flyers had one thing on their mind, revenge. Revenge for last season that saw the longest serving NLA club drop to the play-outs after competing in the final the previous season.

The new Canadian investors are confident that Kloten will be able to make the turn-around within the next few years and are prepared to carry the financial losses that are expected to add up due to a poor season-ticket sale so far.

Chad Kolarik and Mark Olver have been acquired to solve the scoring problem while Erik Gustafsson hopes to bring some much needed stability to the defense.

The Flyers had played a great pre-season, winning 7 out of 8 games against both national and international competition and leaving behind a good impression.

And it seemed that they were able to preserve that confidence into the start of the new season against EHC Biel. With little over a minute played on a powerplay, it was US forward Chad Kolarik with his first official goal in the League. And as if that wasn't enough, he doubled up 10 minutes later, again on a powerplay after a nice tic-tac-toe pass from Guggisberg and Bieber, leaving Lukas Meili with no chance to stop the shot from the near left post.

Ahren Spylo's unassisted goal in the 15th minute came unexpected and seemed to have caught the defense on the wrong foot but it was still mainly the Flyers in the starting period pushing for the 3rd goal.

The second period started with a 5 minute penalty and an automatic game misconduct against Patrick von Gunten. Biel's forwards were eager to get back into the game when Mathieu Tschantré scored the equalizer unassisted and just a minute later Pär Arlbrandt assisted by Niklaus Olausson and Daniel Steiner had the lead for the first time in this game. The third goal by the "Seeländer" in the middle period by Tschantré, assisted by Spylo and Haas finished off a catastrophic 20 minutes for the home team.

But things should get worse in the third. Once again it was Swedish forward Pär Arlbrandt two minutes into the final period and his second goal of the evening. The Flyers now showed symptoms of desintegration. Matthias Rossi with Biel's 6th goal a minute later was proof of the defensive instability but also Martin Gerber clearly wasn't on top of his game tonight. His deflections gave Biel second chances and tonight this was a key on scoring those important goals.

Asked about his first National League A game, defenseman Erik Gustafsson answered that it was frustrating how they finished the game. "We had a good start, take a 2:0 lead but fold, no defense and no desperation and we have to play a lot better than that", he continues.

Coach Simpson had a simple answer as to what needs to happen for tomorrow's game against Fribourg: "I want to see a reaction, it won't be easy in Fribourg, they'll be motivated to play at home and it won't be an easy task for us".

So where was this fast pacing team  of the pre-season that had entered the season with a clear goal, to make up with the fans and prove that they were more than just a copy of last seasons team? Well, for the first 20 minutes you could get a glimpse of that team but that was abut it. Loosing the second period 0:3 and the third 1:3 doesn't exactly speak for the offense nor the defense. With 10 minutes played in the final period some fans had already seen enough and left early. At least the Flyers managed to score the last goal with 2 minutes left. 7:3 sounds like a harsh result and it definitely is but it is the reality with which Kloten will have to deal in the next few months.

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