Black Wings Linz crashed out of this year's CHL with a 5-0 defeat in Bern.

The Black Wings arrived in the Swiss capital knowing that a point would be enough for them to overtake Kosice and qualify for the next round. After a scoreless first period, David Jobin gave Bern the lead with 22:12 played. Over the remainder of the period, the Black Wings had chances to equalize but were unable to do so, and paid the penalty with 31 seconds remaining on the period when Thomas Rufenacht doubled the home side's lead.

“We expected this to be a hard game, Bern was very strong,” said Linz centre Philipp Lukas. “I thought we played a good game but once we got behind, and especially after the second goal just before the the end of the second period, it was very hard for us to come back.”

The final period saw Linz tire as Bern ran away with the game. Jeremie Kamerzin's snapshot made it 3-0 at 44:58, and by the time Simon Bodenmann completed some crisp passing to fire past Ouzas at 47:34 Linz were dead and buried. Alain Burger's wrist shot from a tight angle completed the scoring for Bern with 53:31 played as they took a 5-0 win.

"It was a really good, solid 60 minutes. I felt we got better as the game went on too, offensively we were strong and defensively sound," said Kari Jalonen, Bern coach, after the game. "Four games and four wins are the result of the team getting better with each game."

So far, SC Bern are the only team to finish the CHL Group Stage with a perfect 12 points, and Bern right-winger Dario Meyer acknowledged that the team means business in the CHL this year. “Yes, that’s what we wanted and what we expected from ourselves. It was our goal after early exits in previous years in the CHL. We knew our group wasn’t the strongest one and we used this to our advantage.”

"I think the key point in the game was the second goal at the end of the second period. Before that, we had some good chances but didn't manage to tie it, then they got a lucky goal and killed our morale," conceded Linz coach Rob Daum after the game. "They're a good team with a lot of quickness and strength, and as the game wore on this took its toll on us."