In a rarity in the Champions Hockey League schedule, PSG Zlin and Fribourg Gottéron face each other twice this weekend. Fribourg managed an overtime win in Zlin on Thursday and will now face them at home on Saturday, and goalie Mevlin Nyffeler gives his thoughts on the mini-series.

by Vojtech Jurak

ZLIN - Melvin Nyffeler, goaltender for Fribourg-Gottéron, has played many games against the Czechs in his career so far and his team is also facing a Czech team in the Champions Hockey League this season. Fribourg played Zlin in on Thursday and the two clubs will meet again in Fribourg on Saturday.

Although Nyffeler is not even 20 years old, he has played many games for the Swiss national team and met the top hockey countries, so he knows Czech hockey quite a lot.

“I've played many games against the Czech Republic with the U20 and 18 national teams,” he confirms. He doesn’t really find it hard to characterise the Czech style. “It all the same – they are fast, skilled and pretty good. I think the Czech league is one of the best in Europe.”

Fribourg played Zlin - the reigning Czech champion - in the third round of the CHL and Nyffeler was perhaps the biggest player of the game. His Fribourg club won in overtime, but they were really close to a three-point victory thanks to their goalie.

“Sure, it’s kind of disappointing that we didn’t win after 60 minutes, but that’s the way it is,” the young Swiss netminder confirmed. On the other hand, Nyffeler isn’t hiding his satisfaction. “Zlin is a very good team. It was tough and we had a little bit of a problem at the start, but we got better and got the win in overtime in the end.”

Nyffeler played a big game in Zlin and, especially in the third period with his team protecting a slim 2-1 lead and Zlin pressing, he made some great saves.

“Our defence is good. We talk a lot, which is fine, because I can play my best hockey when they do so. It was a solid team performance all around,” he said in praise of his teammates.

But there are also things he thinks should be improved. “It’s too bad we took so many penalties. We have to change that,” he said of the nine times his team was forced to play shorthanded.

Nyffeler is happy that his team is now leading Group D with six points and he is looking forward to the next game against Zlin on Saturday, which will be back in Fribourg.

“We want to keep going on like this and protect our leads. It’ll be a home game for us this time,” he said. The goalie believes they have a reason to be self-confident. “The crowd will be behind us and we are pretty strong in our own building, so that should help us a lot.”

But Nyffeler also knows that it won’t be easy. “We have to battle hard. Nothing is for free here in this league. But we want to get the win again.”