Davos secure place in play-offs

Davos goalie Lars Weibel defending his goal against Bern's Thomas Ziegler Keystone

Davos have become the first team to secure their place in the play-offs for the Swiss ice hockey championship, following a 3-2 victory over Bern on Sunday.

Sunday’s defeat to the league leaders was Bern’s second setback of the weekend, moving the club from the Swiss capital ever closer to the cut-off line for the relegation playouts.

Bern are now only three points ahead of Lausanne and four ahead of Langnau, giving the two teams immediately below the line continued hope of making the playoffs.

Davos top the standings with 50 points, six points ahead of Lugano, who achieved a smashing 3-0 victory over Zug.

After Saturday’s 6-4 victory against Langnau, Fribourg suffered a huge defeat on Sunday, losing 9-0 to Kloten. It was Fribourg’s second biggest defeat since the introduction of the play-off rounds.

Apart from Bern, Rapperswil-Jona were the other big losers this weekend, going down 2-1 in Chur on Saturday before crashing 5-3 in Lausanne on Sunday.

Langnau pulled off a comfortable 6-2 win over Chur on Sunday to boost their play-off chances. In Sunday’s other action defending champions the Zurich Lions fell back to earth following Saturday’s derby win over Kloten. Pekka Rautakallio’s men were beaten 3-1 by Ambri in their second match of the weekend.

swissinfo with agencies