A Swiss Showdown

It was a good weekend for former Canada West players who have taken their talents to Switzerland. The PostFinance Women's League - also known as SWHL-A - had play-in games this past weekend for four teams as a similar playoff format to what Canada West uses was seen in Switzerland. The third-seeded HC Davos squad was playing the sixth-seeded HC Fribourg-Gottéron while fourth-seeded HC Ambrì-Piotta squared off against the ZSC Lions. With a number of Canada West players looking to bring home hardware, let's see how they did in their playoff push!

There shouldn't be any surprise that HC Davos was powered by their two Calgary Dinos once again as Elizabeth Lang and Courtney Kollman were all over the scoresheet in this series as HC Davos and HC Fribourg-Gottéron opened Game One in Davos on Thursday night. This one was over by the midpoint of the game, though, and it didn't even need a lot of Calgary scoring. Lang scored her first goal of the series at the 4:19 mark of the second period while on the power-play to make it a 4-0 game for Davos, and former UBC Thunderbirds forward Joelle Fiala picked up a secondary assist on the 5-0 power-play goal.

Lang would add another power-play goal at 11:53 of the second period as both Fiala and Kollman picked up assists, but this game was in blowout territory at 7-0 at that point. HC Fribourg-Gottéron would get a goal back late in the frame when former StFX X-Women sniper Maggy Burbidge scored on a 5-on-3 advantage, but Davos would ice this game in the third with another goal for an 8-1 victory.

It was win-or-go-home on Saturday for HC Fribourg-Gottéron as they were the home team, but any advantage they may have had was quickly erased when Courtney Kollman scored her first goal of the playoffs at 12:57. HC Fribourg-Gottéron would tie the game before the end of the period, so we'd start even for the second period until Kollman struck again just 2:04 into the frame on a helper from Elizabeth Lang, and Davos had the 2-1 lead. The teams would exchange goals before Lang struck for her third goal at 15:23 on a setup from Kollman, and Davos went into the break up 4-2.

The hole from which HC Fribourg-Gottéron needed to dig out got a little deeper 6:23 into the third period as Lang setup Janine Hauser to make it a 5-2 game. HC Fribourg-Gottéron would get no closer while Davos needed no more as they skated to the 5-2 win to advance in the playoffs. Davos, as the third-seeded team, will face EV Zug this weekend as the second-seeded team awaits the challenge. The schedule for this best-of-five series is posted below!

HC Ambrì-Piotta started the series at home against the ZSC Lions, and the Lions boasted former MacEwan Griffins netminder Sandy Heim in their net as this series got underway. HC Ambrì-Piotta would build a 3-0 lead before Sinja Leemann cut the lead to 3-1 with 9:10 to play, but an empty-net goal would ice this game for HC Ambrì-Piotta as they captured the 4-1 win at home to start the series. The series would shift to Zurich where the Lions had to win.

The game in Zurich saw the other MacEwan Griffins player, Dominique Scheurer, find the scoresheet as her goal at 8:01 of the second period tied the game at 1-1. The Lions would grab the lead in the third period, but HC Ambrì-Piotta would find the equalizer on the power-play with four seconds remaining and the extra attacker on the ice, and we'd go to overtime tied at 2-2! 9:09 into the extra frame, the run for the former Griffins would end as Fanny Rask beat Sandy Heim to send HC Ambrì-Piotta to the next round.

That sets up the semifinal series as the top-seeded SC Bern will face fourth-seeded HC Ambrì-Piotta while third-seeded HC Davos will meet second-seeded EV Zug. Whatever happens in that Bern-vs-Ambrì-Piotta series will determine one of the finalists, but I'll be fully-focused on the Davos-Zug series thanks to the three Canada West stars on that Davos team.

Including the preseason and the semifinal game in the National Cup, HC Davos and EV Zug teams have squared off in seven games this season with EV Zug winning six of those seven games. It should be noted that EV Zug has already won the EWHL Euro Cup and the National Cup, and are looking to add a PostFinance Women's League to become the first team to win the three championships in the same season since the 2013 ZSC Lions. They'll face a strong HC Davos team, but it seems the EV Zug team is confident in their own abilities.

"I have full confidence in the team – we can do it," EV Zug forward Noemi Ryhner said about facing HC Davos. The 24 year-old Swiss National Team member had nine goals and 23 points this season, and she, along with Lara Stalder, Rahel Enzler, and Ivana Wey, are the homegrown Swiss talent that have paced EV Zug to their solid season. They have no Canadians on the roster, so they're looking to bump the last three former Canada West players out of the playoffs!

There hasn't been any comments coming out of Davos about the next series, so perhaps the Davos women are focused on the task at-hand. In any case, here's when and how you can watch this series:

• Saturday, March 8: HC Davos @ EV Zug - 10:30am CT
• Sunday, March 9: EV Zug @ HC Davos - 12:30pm CT
• Saturday, March 15: HC Davos @ EV Zug - 10:30am CT
• Sunday, March 16: EV Zug @ HC Davos - 8:00am CT**
• Wednesday, March 19: HC Davos @ EV Zug - 12:30pm CT**

All of the games can should be viewable on the OnHockey.tv website and/or the RedSport site through the Swiss Hockey site. For a seamless broadcast, make sure you have your adblockers updated, but these sites should give you options when it comes to watching these games. This should be a good series, so tune in!

It's always good to catch up with players you know, and seeing Lang, Kollman, and Fiala getting one step closer to a championship is exciting! Unfortunately, Scheurer and Heim won't be able to join them, but only one team can win in the end. Can HC Davos make a run and defeat EV Zug on their way to claiming that championship? We'll find out starting this weekend!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!