Davos double up

Joseph Mahra scored one of the goals which led Davos to victory Keystone

Davos ice hockey club are just two wins away from their first Swiss league title in seventeen years.

The side from canton Graubunden romped to a 6-2 win over final opponents the Zurich Lions on Easter Monday, to take a 2-0 lead in the overall best-of-seven series.

“We have been together as a team for about four or five years now and we’ve now got the experience to know how to bring home these important games,” Davos head coach Arno del Curto told swissinfo afterwards.

“In recent seasons when we’ve been ahead we haven’t always managed to wrap up matches like that,” del Curto added. “But the series isn’t finished yet. The Lions are double champions (having won the title for the past two years) and they’re going to have an extra day’s rest now before Thursday. The next game will be a hard one.”

Brutal finishing

After losing 3-0 in Davos on Saturday, the Lions looked more composed as a team on Monday, but were undone by a combination of individual errors and some brutal Davos finishing.

The second period was particularly hard on the Lions’ fans packed into Zurich’s sold-old Hallenstadium, with a goal a piece from Patrick Fischer, Josef Marha and Lonny Bohonos taking Davos from 2-2 to 5-2 in the space of nine minutes.

A last minute strike from Fabian Sutter completed the rout, leaving Zurich head coach Pekka Rautakallio with plenty to work on before Thursday’s third match.

“Davos were really flying tonight,” Rautakallio admitted afterwards, “but they got some funny goals that normally wouldn’t all come along on the same day. That just happens sometimes.

“We just have to keep our heads up and see what happens in Davos. The next game is one of those turning point games. If we do lose and fall 3-0 down we’ll certainly still have a chance but we know that it will be a limited chance. So it will be much better to get revenge on Thursday and then get back home and get things even.”

by Mark Ledsom, Zurich