Sergi-Pontuaz Edge Past Nice in High-Scoring Thriller
Sergi-Pontuaz saw off Nice Hockey Côte d'Azur 6:5 in the Magnus League on Tuesday evening, claiming their first point of the campaign after two opening defeats. To be fair, the result was far from straightforward — five goals each, and the home side found something extra when it mattered. By then, the opening rounds had already set the pattern: Sergi-Pontuaz had dropped both previous games, while Nice had won theirs.
The visitors had looked solid in their first two outings, beating Anglet 3:2 and Amiens 4:3, but this time the back line was stretched further than usual. The home side sat deep and soaked it up early on, then raised the tempo when they needed to. And here's the thing — they didn't let Nice settle into the rhythm that had carried them through two wins.
Five goals each told the story of a match where both sides took chances, but neither could quite pull away. Sergi-Pontuaz had nothing to lose after two losses, and that freedom showed in the way they pressed. Nice, meanwhile, found themselves chasing a game they had led for stretches. The old head of the home side settled things down when nerves could have taken over.
I had called a home win at 49 per cent confidence before kickoff, and it came good. Not because the statistics pointed that way — they didn't, not really — but because a team coming off two heavy defeats tends to play with more urgency. Five goals each meant chances went begging for both sides, but Sergi-Pontuaz took the one that counted.
After this result, Sergi-Pontuaz move off the bottom of the table with a single point, while Nice remain unbeaten but find their perfect record interrupted. The gap between them in the standings is still negligible — two games played, zero points for both sides before Tuesday — but momentum shifts quickly in the Magnus League.
What stands out isn't the scoreline itself, but the way Sergi-Pontuaz responded. They had lost 1:3 to Bordeaux and 1:3 to Marseille in their opening fixtures, and instead of folding, they stayed in the game. Five goals scored and five conceded is not a tidy result, but it shows a team that refused to disappear.
