Findings from the first rounds: Heavy punishments, division of tasks and finally talent again

There have already been six major penalties in the first fourteen games. Maximilian Streule (Fribourg, check to the head), who is now suspended for one match and has a case in his pocket, Jiri Sekac (Lausanne, check to the knee) as well as Fabian Ritzmann (Bern) and Cody Almond (Lausanne fought, got 5 minute penalty and a game misconduct penalty. There were also 5 minute penalties for Samuel Kreis (board check) and Benjamin Baumgartner (both SCB, disability).

In Bern, a 100-minute penalty was imposed. In addition, the referees went to the screen three times and studied the video for nine minutes, so that the new SCB coach Jussi Tapola complained: “This is not ice hockey anymore.”

Just like last year, when referees were able to view 5-minute penalties via video for the first time, the threshold for major penalties has dropped. Especially now that the rule has been adjusted and the referees also have the option not to award a penalty if they discover an error when studying the video. For this they had to impose a minimum time penalty of 2 minutes.

The referees used the new rule in the final phase of the Servette goal against the ZSC Lions (2:1). First they gave a 5-minute penalty to Winnik, who hit Rudolfs Balcers from Zurich on the head. After the assessment, they pardoned the Canadian because the Latvian kept his head relatively low.

Dividing the workload of the goalkeepers is not entirely new. But there was a lot of rotation at the start: Berra took a break at Fribourg on Saturday and Bryan Rüegger (22, former Thurgau) was in goal for the first time in the National League from the start. Job sharing was also available at Zug (Genoni, Hollenstein), Lausanne (Hughes, Punnenovs), Servette (Descloux, Mayer), Kloten (Metsola, Zurkirchen), Davos (Aeschliman, Senn), Lugano (Koskinen, Schlegel), Ajoie ( Wolf, Ciaccio) and Biel. Van Pottelberghe did not even make the difficult journey to Lugano for the number two. Säteri shone on Friday and celebrated a shutout and “JvP” became the match winner against Zug (2:1). Only Juvonen (Ambri) and Hrubec (ZSC) came into action “back to back”.

After the number of foreigners was increased from four to six a year ago, there was little room for talent at the NL clubs and Nati director Lars Weibel defiantly canceled the ‘prospect camp’ in the summer. It is clear from the start that there is still talent. The boys are allowed to play and emerge as trump cards. Above all, Mischa Ramel (20) van Kloten, who has already scored three goals alongside the Finns Aaltonen and Ojamäki. Their first NL goal was scored by Théo Rochette (21, Lausanne), Simone Terraneo (19, Ambri) and the Austrian Vinzenz Rohrer (19, ZSC). Tommaso De Luca (18, Ambri) has two assists. Two 17-year-old defenders were used, Leon Muggli (EVZ) and Daniil Ustinkov (ZSC).

No sign of summer ice hockey. All teams started with a lot of energy. The pace is high. No one can afford a false start in this balanced competition. There have been countless spectacular goals and saves. The fans got their money’s worth. Especially from Ambri: Cereda’s team has hit the bar ten times in two games and is the leader.