Undefeated start to the ice hockey season

The Zug women won all of their pre-season games before the Women's League championship, which started at the weekend. And they continued with their winning ways in the league.
 

The EVZ women have proven during their pre-season that they will be among the top favourites for the upcoming season. They won all four matches: 7-0 against Mannheim, 3-1 against the ZSC Lions, 6-1 against Swiss champions SC Bern, and 4-0 against German champions Memmingen.

The Zug women have strengthened their squad for the upcoming season with, among others, Swiss national team players Nicole Vallario and Alina Marti. Czech international Noemi Neubauerová, who played several games for Zug last fall before moving to the North American PWHL, is also back in the team.

And they continued their winning run in the first two league matches at the weekend.

The championship started for EVZ on Saturday with an away game against Neuchâtel Hockey Academy, in the Patinoire du Littoral in Neuchâtel. The Zug team thereby made an impressive start in the away match, with goals by Lara Stalder, Luisa Waser and Noemi Rhyner in the first period (score 0:3), and Jael Manetsch making it 4:0 in the 2^nd period, before the EVZ conceded their only counter goal (score: 1:4).

A dominant 3^rd period saw the EVZ score 3 more goals (Rahel Enzler with 2 goals and Alina Marti).
The 1:7 away win was thereby an ominous warning to all the EVZ’s future opponents. Unfortunately there were only 172 spectators for this match.

Alina Marti is one of the newcomers to the EVZ uniform, and scored in both league matches  Photo: Patrick Hürlimann
Noemi Rhyner made it 3:0 for the EV Zug against Neuchâtel                 Archive Photo: Sfefan Kaiser
 

Fribourg's Special Partnership
HC Fribourg-Gottéron visited the OYM Hall in Zug on Sunday, with the match starting at 2:30 pm. The Fribourg team had attracted attention through its partnership with the Chinese club HC Shenzhen Kunlun Red Star, and some Chinese players participated in training sessions during the pre-season. Canadian defencewoman Maggie MacEachern, who played for Shenzhen Kunlun last season, is a new signing on the Gottéron roster

After conceding 2 goals in the first period (Alina Marti (06:03) and Noemi Nuebauerova (14:36)), the Fribourg team hit back in the second period with 2 goals, which book-ended Zug’s 4th goal (Ivana Wey 29:06), followed by goals from Rahel Enzler and Luisa Waser, resulting in the final score of 5:2. The home win thereby crowned a successful start to the season, in front of a more impressive 1,204 spectators.

The EVZ thereby find themselves leading the league table with 6 points, ahead of HC Ambri-Piotta Girls on goal difference, with SC Bern having played, and won, one game fewer.

After being promoted to the top division, EVZ immediately reached the playoff final last season (suffering a 0-3 loss to SC Bern in the final: we reported at the time). The Zug team currently hold the Swiss Cup and the European Cup titles. But they won't be defending their title on the international stage: Due to the Olympic Games in February, the league schedule is very tight, and coach Daniela Diaz is placing more emphasis on the players' recovery.

The next games for the EVZ women:
Against SC Langenthal in the Eishalle Campus Huttwil from 5:30 pm on Saturday, 20th September, and against arch-rivals SC Bern in the OYM Hall in Zug from 14:30 on Sunday, 21st September.

Young people under 18 years of age & seniors over 65 years will receive free admission to the game on Sunday, and don't need to purchase a single game ticket. Admission will be on presentation of an official ID. The entire package price must be paid for the Dine & View offer.
So come and support our girls!