No presents for Kloten Flyers

In the last game before the Christmas break in which the NLA interrupts their season for the Spengler Cup the Flyers faced fourth placed EV Zug. During the press conference the Flyers announced that Daniele Grassi from HC Ambri-Piotta signed a two year contract as of next season. The 22 year old forward has scored 4 goals and 3 assists in 30 games this season with Ambri so far.

The home team was highly motivated after yesterday's win in Biel. After 8 losses in a row on opposing ice the Flyers had won the game in extremis in overtime. Newly acquired Mathis Olimb who had 2 assists yesterday cooperated great in a Scandinavian attack together with Erik Gustafsson and scored his first goal for the Flyers after 4 minutes. But it just took a moment in which the defense wasn't careful enough and so Fabian Schnyder scored the equalizer only two minutes later. What followed was a demonstration by the home team how to pepper some hard shots on goalie Stephan who was forced to show some critical saves during a 5 minute span.

The atmosphere in the Swiss-Arena went quiet fast with 7 minutes left when Gerber's save rebounded back on Schnyders stick and beat the goalie for the second time. Kloten didn't slow down the pace though, keeping Zug's defense busy. But instead of scoring the equalizer, it was the guest who created a great chance when Pierre-Marc Bouchard gave a pass in between the face-off circles to Robin Grossmann scored the 3rd goal for Zug.

8 minutes were played in the second period and Kloten had a two-man advantage when Josh Holden and Emanuel Peter served a minor penalty. For almost a minute and a half the Flyers only managed 2 shots on goal when top scorer Chad Kolarik took things in his own hands and skated from behind the goal, made a 180 degree spin and beat Stephan with a precise slap shot.

We jump into the third period and Kloten was awarded a powerplay with 12 minutes left. James Sheppard didn't fool around very long and scored the equalizer on a solo attack. But if you thought that the Flyers would have finally found a way back into the game, you were mistaken. Again Kloten's defense wasn't paying attention when Zug's attackers Holden, Martschini and Suri played a tick, tack, toe pass to beat Gerber who had no chance to stop the puck. And it got worse for the home team when Santeri Alatalo beat Gerber in the far corner with 8 minutes left. Pierre-Marc Bouchard also had his stick in the next play when Dominic Lammer hammered the puck into the net with 5 minutes to play, definitely taking Kloten's chance of coming back into this game even with Robin Leone scoring the 4th goal 5 hole on Tobias Stephan. The Flyers took a time out and removed Gerber but for goals to happen you need to play the puck precisely and what normally happens in those cases is that the opposing team scores on the empty net. Jarkko Immonen was the lucky one to put an end to the Flyers misery after 60 minutes.

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