Balcers continues scoring streak, Smirnovs and Ābols shine in Swiss hockey league
Several Latvian hockey players contributed to their clubs' results in the Swiss National League, with Rūdolfs Balcers helping Zurich extend its unbeaten start while Deniss Smirnovs and Rodrigo Ābols also stood out.
The latest round of Switzerland's National League hockey competition saw several Latvian players make notable contributions to their teams.
29-year-old forward Rūdolfs Balcers completed two shots on goal and blocked one shot in roughly 15 minutes of ice time, posting a plus-minus rating of +2. His club, Zurich, has opened the season with seven wins in regulation across seven rounds, giving the team a maximum possible 21 points from 21.
Other legionnaires' performances
Ajoie, a club that finished near the bottom of the standings in recent seasons, defeated Lausanne 3:0 on the night, bringing its point total to 11. Deniss Smirnovs featured prominently, recording an assist and winning ten of 12 faceoffs in about 16.5 minutes of play.
Bern fell 2:5 to defending champion Fribourg, though Rodrigo Ābols had a solid outing, registering three shots on goal and one blocked shot along with nine faceoff wins out of 17 in around 17.5 minutes, while finishing with a -2 rating.
Rapperswil's Lakers suffered an identical 2:5 defeat, this time to Zug. Goaltender Ivars Punnenovs, who had stopped 88.5% of shots across his previous four games, made 26 saves on 31 shots in this outing.
Langnau's Tigers won 4:3 against Lugano, though forward Oskars Lapinskis saw only about three minutes of ice time in the game.
