Ambri-Piotta saw off EHC Kloten 5:1 in a club friendly match on Tuesday evening, putting together a performance that suggested their pre-season preparations are taking shape. The result came at a time when both sides are still finding their rhythm ahead of the competitive campaign.
For Ambri-Piotta, this victory continues a mixed run of results in recent weeks. They had beaten Schwenninger 3:1 and Ticino Rockets 2:1, but suffered heavier defeats against Landau Tigers and Visp. And here's the thing — friendlies don't always tell you everything, but a five-goal haul against a side that had been scoring freely themselves carries some weight.
Kloten came into this fixture with a string of victories behind them. They had edged past Augsburger Panther 5:4, held Landau Tigers to a 1:0 shutout, and put seven past Rapperswil-Jona Lakers. By then, you'd expect a team on that sort of run to be confident, but confidence doesn't always survive a morning after.
The match itself was straightforward enough. Ambri-Piotta started brighter, established control, and simply didn't let Kloten back into it once the gap was established. To be fair, Kloten had nothing to do all evening after the opening exchanges, and that's often when games are won or lost in these situations.
What matters now is how both teams build on this. Ambri-Piotta have shown they can string together results when the moments click, while Kloten will need to understand why a side that had been thriving suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of a comfortable margin.