Lions fail to turn around miserable start to season

Lions' coach, Larry Huras (right), looks on as his team falls to Zug Keystone

Defending ice hockey champions Zurich Lions have dropped to 10th place in the overall league table after suffering another defeat on Friday. Their rivals, Lugano, remained at the top of the overall league table after the evening's matches.

The Lions failed to draw strength from the home crowd and lost to Zug 3-5. They opened the evening’s scoring, with a goal from Patric Della Rossa and Edgar Salis. Peter Jaks’s goal soon after gave the Lions a comfortable lead.

Todd Elik scored Zug’s first goal in the 18th minute, but seven minutes later, Mark Ouimet took the score to 3-1 in the Lions’ favour.

After a triumphant start, it all went horribly wrong. Vjeran Ivankovic, Stefan Grogg and Joel Savage each had a turn to shoot the puc into their opponents’ goal – Savage twice.

Zug currently lie in fourth place in the league table with seven points while the Lions now hold just four points.

Lugano look in good shape to go one better this season after finishing as runners up for the past two years. Their 4-3 win over Langnau ensured their spot at the top of the overall standings with 10 points.

Lugano’s Ticinese rivals, Ambri-Piotta, scored a convincing 6-3 win over Lausanne. Ambri keeps their third place overall, while Lausanne languishes in 11th position after suffering four consecutive defeats.

Rapperswill-Jona stay level with Lugano on points after winning their match against Bern. Rapperswil’s 3-1 victory saw Bern drop one place to fifth spot with six points.

Kloten Flyers notched up their second win of the season and defeated Chur 6-3. Chur is struggling at the bottom of the table, with a track record of six defeats out of six.

One of the preseason favourites, Davos, beat Fribourg Gottéron 4-2 in the evening’s other match.

swissinfo with agencies