Derby for Biel

24 Sep 2016 | Luis Lopes

Rajala, with two goals and seven shots, was the best player on the ice.

Biel 4 Bern 1

First derby of the year between Biel and Bern. The stadium was packed, and it was a great show, at least for the home team. The derby had everything: goals, hits, saves , fights, people chanting their idols' names. Everything.

Tradition goes that in Biel the "big bad bears" will normally have a difficult night. And it was confirmed.

Biel and Bern had to cope with some important players missing. Biel was without Jacob Micflikier and Bern was without Andrew Ebbet. For this game both teams had foreign players.

Bern started better with a goal scored by Top scorer Mark Arcobello assisted by Simon Moser. But Biel didn't let the defending champions impress them, either by scoring a goal or by giving some big hits. After that goal was Biel to dominate the game, create some good occasions and score, with Marco Pedretti. The game was tied at the end of the first period.

In the second period Toni Rajala, the new Biel's star player showed up with two identical goals in power-play situation. Biel came in front with a three-goal advantage, as Julien Schmutz had already scored the second goal of the game at the beginning of the period.

The last period of the game saw the home team expecting the opponent in its side of the ice, trying to make some dangerous counters. But Bern, to Jonas Hiller's fault as well, was never able to put the game into discussion until its end.

Mathieu Tschantre, Biel's captain, said after the game: "We managed to keep the score after yesterday's game. It was very important for us. We acted very disciplined"

With this victory, Biel is now in a comfortable position with fifteen points after the first eight games of the season. Bern has twelve points, but for the defending champions the regular season is usually just a transition to the playoffs.

Tschantre: "We didn't expect to be in this position by now, especially after the season opener against Lausanne. But we also know that in fifty games everything can happen in tight league like ours. We have to keep the pace until the end because nothing is decided yet".