The runners-up are on a roll: five wins in a row, nine wins from eleven games, 27 points and 46 goals scored. The top scorer jersey at Lausanne is worn by last year’s league top scorer Austin Czarnik, who moved from the capital to Lake Geneva this summer – four goals and eleven assists in ten games. The new signing from Bakersfield (AHL) has also made a big impact: Drake Caggiula has already scored seven times in ten games for the Lions.

But the Swiss players are also scoring regularly for LHC. With a 56.52% share, they not only score more than half of all goals, but are also just above the league average. With six goals, Théo Rochette is second behind Caggiula in the team’s internal scoring list.

For Zug, the match against Lausanne is likely to be a special occasion for David Sklenicka in particular: he played for the Romands last season and was their top-scoring defenseman. In his first ten games with EVZ, he has already scored four goals – one more than in the whole of last season – and provided four assists. This makes him the most productive defenseman.

«Lausanne has a strong team and they’ve had an excellent start to the season. But if we focus on our game and are ready for every challenge throughout the entire 60 minutes, we can beat them.»

David Sklenicka, Defender EVZ

The EVZ suffered its first away defeat of the season on Tuesday in Biel – not much went right in the 0-2 loss to EHC Biel-Bienne. Head coach Michael Liniger spoke after the defeat of “poor precision in passing and shooting.” In their last home game, they defeated the ZSC Lions 2-1 in overtime – the team wants to build on this performance.

On Friday, Liniger will have to do without Daniel Vozenilek in addition to the long-term injured defenders Schlumpf, Riva, and Bengtsson. The forward was unfortunately hit by a shot on the foot last week and suffered a fracture. Raphael Diaz’s participation remains questionable.