Kloten are the surprise at the start of the season: after six games, they are in fourth place with eleven points and are unbeaten at home. Anyone who had already written off the airport team before the season and predicted a place in the lower reaches of the table is currently being proven wrong. Even though only a fraction of the season has been played and only six points separate fourth from 13th place, the Zurich Unterlanders have impressed with their new-found playing culture under Head Coach Lauri Marjamäki. The 47-year-old was hired this summer and has two championship titles in the Liiga (FIN) as well as a World Championship silver medal and Olympic bronze with the Finnish national team in his palmares as coach.

Ludovic Waeber also makes up a large part of the defensive bulwark created by the Finn. The former number 2 of the ZSC Lions set off on his North American adventure last fall, but returned home after a challenging year. Fortunately for EHC Kloten: Waeber is the clear number 1 for the Flyers and has fulfilled this role brilliantly so far. In four games, he has only allowed six shots to get past him and has the second-best save percentage behind Stéphane Charlin at 95%. Notabene with an average of over 30 shots per game – hardly any other goalkeeper has been given more work so far.

For the EVZ, which has recently been weak in terms of capitalizing on chances, this means that they will have to look to score more often against Kloten and their goalkeeper in particular – and above all more efficiently. “We invest a lot and nothing comes of it. We have to be more cold-blooded,” said the players and coaches in unison after Saturday’s painful 2-6 defeat against HCD. 

Mike Künzle is one player who has done this well so far. The Zug newcomer wore the Flames helmet for the first time on Tuesday. With four goals, he is EVZ’s top scorer so far – and with a shooting efficiency of 57%, he is also the “most prolific”.