Six different goal scorers celebrated on Wednesday evening in the CHL round of 16 against Sparta Prague, including Colin Lindemann with his first goal of the season. Head coach Michael Liniger said after the game: “In terms of energy, that was some of the best I’ve seen this season.” The EVZ now wants to carry this energy into the first National League game after the two-week break due to the national team break.

They will face HC Ambrì-Piotta on the ice: The Leventines have been under new sporting leadership for ten games now, with head coach Éric Landry, assistant coach René Matt, and sporting director Alessandro Benin. The Biancoblù have won six of these ten games, most recently two in a row against Biel and Ajoie. Nevertheless, Ambrì still can’t seem to climb out of last place in the standings. With one more game played, they are only three points behind 13th-placed SC Bern, who also had higher ambitions for this season.

During the national team break, the new sporting management was also active on the transfer market: Slovakian defender Michal Cajkovsky was signed. The 33-year-old won Olympic bronze with his national team in Beijing in 2022 and has played mostly in the KHL over the last decade. He was without a contract this season and has not played in any competitive games so far.

Cajkovsky is also a national team colleague of Tomas Tatar, who will still be missing from EVZ this weekend due to injury. Daniel Vozenilek, who made his comeback on Wednesday but had to leave the game early, is also questionable for Friday. Robin Antenen, on the other hand, is likely to be back in the line-up, and youngster Jan Daron could make his sixth National League appearance.