The supporters were there early Friday evening in Friborg where the banner raising ceremony was organized to celebrate the 2026 championship title. But then, after a missed opening match on Tuesday for both Lausanne and Fribourg, the two teams were perhaps a little too nervous at kick-off.
It was Lausanne who dampened the fans’ enthusiasm in the tenth minute with a goal from Oksanen. But Dorthe, stung, was able to equalize in the fourteenth minute.
A messed up end of the third by Lausanne, who put one man too many on the ice, allowed Friborg to turn the match around at the start of the second period which then took place without goals or emotions. Two penalties were killed by Lausanne including a high cross from Heldner on Marchon who was injured.
The sleeping Friborgs saw Lausanne equalize at the start of the last third, through Sansonnens who did not do it on purpose but scored his first goal in the National League. It was a big outburst from Rathgeb, thrown off the ice, which woke up the rink and the players. Seiler took advantage of a good serve from Streule to give Freiburg a point back and Walser finished in the empty cage.
Unexpected scenario in Geneva (4-3 tab)
In the other 100% French-speaking match of the evening, Geneva hosted Ajoie and started as the statistical favorite. But it was Ajoie who showed themselves to be the most realistic team with a goal from a very nice escape from Tanus. In superiority following a surplus, Carr doubles the lead halfway through the period.
The second third was icy with a quick start from Robin who scored in the second minute. At this time of the evening, Ajoie leads 3-0, is third in the ranking while Geneva is last. The penalty against Honka does not allow the Genevans to raise their heads and it smells like a grimace to the Vernets.
But that’s without counting on the mastery of Puljujarvi who came back from the locker room white-hot and took barely more than five minutes to score a first goal. A full minute later, Karrer comes to give some color to the Geneva fans and make the Ajoulots doubt. A penalty against Sopa offers a new opportunity to Puljujarvi who equalizes under his helmet as top scorer.
After an overtime which yielded nothing, Keller showed himself to be imperial during the penalties while Carr beat Mayer, prolonging Geneva’s poor start to the season.
