The EVZ welcomes SC Bern to the BOSSARD Arena on Friday.

After the pore home series with the 1:5 on Saturday against Lugano as the low point and only five out of a possible 21 points, the big arithmetic has begun for the EVZ. The lead over HC Lausanne in fourth place has shrunk to three points. The Vaud team has picked up eight more points in the last ten rounds and can still host EVZ at home in the Vaudoise Arena in the 52nd qualifying round.

Auch Their next opponents in the BOSSARD Arena, SC Bern, like Davos and Lugano, who are tied on points, still have a mathematical chance of overtaking the EVZ and ousting them from the top four. The 16-time champions are currently in 6th place and are dependent on every point in the battle for direct play-off qualification. Fortunately, the Bernese have picked up just one point more in their last ten games (10/12) than the 2021 and 2022 champions (10/11), who have only managed to leave HC Ajoie (10/5) behind in this standings. High time for the EVZ to end their streak of five consecutive defeats!

EVZ VS SC Bern TEAM COMPARISON

The BOSSARD Arena is not a good place for the SCB: The Bernese have lost their last nine games here, with their last win coming in the 2020/21 season (EVZ-SC Bern 1:2 OT). Zug also lead the current season 3-0 in wins and 7-2 in points. Nevertheless, they have to watch out – especially for top scorer Dominik Kahun, who wants to finally win the duel against his compatriot and national team colleague Marc Michaelis. The SCB German has already scored the game-winner five times and two goals five times and is third on the NL top scorer list with 47 points.

ABSENCES

The EVZ will also be without Brian O’Neill, Tobias Geisser, the recently operated Grégory Hofmann, Riley Sheen and Niklas Hansson in this game due to injury. Dan Tangnes is counting on Tobias Geisser, Niklas Hansson and Riley Sheen at least for the playoffs. Attilio Biasca returns to the line-up against Bern. For Zug, Tim Muggli is serving the second of five game suspensions handed down to him for an offense against the referees in the game against Fribourg. SCB defenseman Romain Loeffel is suspended for the game in Zug (slew footing against Ambri’s Diego Kostner)

You can find all information on the current situation in the Medical Report.

OUTLOOK

SC Bern will host the CHL winners and reigning champions Servette on Saturday, while the EVZ will visit Langnau on Sunday evening. Notably, the SCL Tigers are the team that has picked up the most points in the last ten rounds (10/20)!

Take another look at the highlights and goals from the last match in Bern: