Fribourg-Gotteron bounced defending champion Davos 4-2 in a spectacular semi-final matchup at the 96th Spengler Cup on Monday night. Fribourg will now get a shot at their first title in club history when they face the Straubing Tigers in the final at noon on New Year’s Eve.

Rested after having two days off, Fribourg immediately struck a high tempo. And cashed in on their first powerplay. Linden Vej unstoppably netted a pass from Lucas Wallmark eleven seconds before the end of the minor penalty against Calle Andersson. Davos had trouble getting into gear against the hard-pressing Fribourg early on. They registered only their third shot on net in the 17th minute. But that one fit; the Czech world champion Matej Stransky beat Fribourg goalie Reto Berra with a world-class wrist shot after a pass from Simon Ryfors. To that point, Sandro Aeschlimann had been tested eight times on the opposite side. He had prevented a two-goal deficit with a big save on Raphael Diaz. Things got even better for the home team 36.8 seconds before the first intermission. Yannick Frehner scored on Davos’ fifth shot on net assisted by linemates Adam Tambellini and Enzo Corvi to make it 2-1.

The middle period developed into an open back-and-forth battle. The hosts shone with diligent skating. Andres Ambuhl and Andersson squandered further opportunities. In their own end, Davos held tight with collective defensive work. Additionally, Aeschlimann emanated calm and security on Fribourg’s few promising scoring chances. The HCD goaltender was helpless when the guests turned the game in the third period. On the powerplay, it was Vej again, who stood in the perfect spot on the far post to score on a pass from Marcus Sorensen to tie it up. And Christoph Bertschy netted an ideal cross-ice pass from Samuel Walser for the game-winner (56th minute of play). Before, Davos had been unlucky not to capitalize on the man-advantage. Jacob De la Rose sealed the defending champion’s definitive exit with an empty-netter 85 seconds before the end of the game.
 

Text: Spengler Cup Onlineredaktion    Foto: Keystone