Lugano fights back

Yesterday's "Tessiner Derby" was even more important than the others: the losing team would be placed at the bottom of the table, with the other one gaining a little bit of breath. Lugano, with Christian Wohlwend as temporary coach, had to demonstrate if there was still life on Lake Ceresio, while Ambrì coach Serge Pelletier wanted to show his strenght to prevent any possibility of being estranged from the team. It was as usually a really tense game, especially because of the strong rivalry between the more rich and industrialized Lugano and Ambrì-Piotta, themselves the names of two small hamlets in the microscopic town of Quinto, in the extreme north of the canton.

The game started pretty well for Ambrì, with a goal scored by Hamill and a scary injury for Lugano's goalie Daniel Manzato, who had to leave the rink substituted by the 20-year-old Merzlikins (from Latvia). In around 22 seconds came two goals for Lugano, with Chiesa and the Liberian-born defeseman Kparghai scoring. But soon Ambrì came back to the 2-2, with their rivals answering back with yet another score (four goals in less than 100 seconds!) on powerplay.

This awesome first half of the first period wasn't matched by the following 30 minutes, which were scoreless, though Ambrì had the chance to score thanks to a 5-minute suspension given to Chiesa because of a dangerous foul against Inti Pestoni. It provided fruitless, and the many occasions on both sides remained just... occasions.

In the third period, Linus Klasen scores soon the fourth goal for Lugano, while Pestoni sets the matters to a 4.3. But Lugano now is definitely dominating, and Sannitz scores again for the Southerners. Another goal by Gregory Hofmann on empty net gives the latter the definitive victory for 6-3.

Now, Ambrì is in trouble, while Lugano can take a breath of fresh air: but still, the Swiss media (most of them Lugano-based) should not think of this game as of "Lugano's resurrection": there is still too much to do, and the defensive line needs badly to be repaired and updated. With Ambrì, the last team of the league, it was fine, but with Fribourg? With ZSC? With Kloten? Let's see what will happen next, starting from the announcement of the new coach. Bengt Gustaffson confirmed having spoken to the management, but he also told the Swedish press he was refused, citing the presence of "other names on the list" as the main reason. The mystery goes on...

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