DAVOS, Switzerland – Lo and behold. HC Davos lost several key players, the team seemed to be in a rebuilding mode, but after the first weekend of the Swiss NLA, Davos remains unbeaten after defeating two top contenders.

HC Davos (with coach Arno Del Curto in the same position since 1996-97) opened the 2009-2010 season with the Clash of the Champions – Swiss champion Davos at European champions ZSC Lions in Zurich. Or, the summit meeting between the teams that will challenge the Chicago Blackhawks at the Victoria Cup, 28-29 September, at the same venue.

It was also the first NLA game for Swedish national team forward Daniel Widing, a signing which immediately paid dividends. The 27-year-old scored a hat trick in the 5-3 win in front of 8,478 spectators at Hallenstadion. He got HCD ahead twice but Domenico Pittis and Ryan Gardner replied with equalizers. Also Davos’ 3-2 goal by Josef Marha was equalized, by Mark Bastl.

However, Widing’s third goal with two minutes left, Zurich didn’t have an answer to and Petr Taticek finished it off by scoring into the empty net for the 5-3 score.

Also the second game one day later promised to be a top game as it was a re-match of last year’s playoff final; Davos vs. Kloten. Roman Wick opened the scoring at 4:24 for the Kloten Flyers, who also unveiled a new Philadelphia-like logo. However, Taticek equalized in the first period with 13 seconds remaining and Beat Forster’s 2-1 goal at 28:08 stayed as the game-winner.

The ZSC Lions continued with two hard-fought victories against the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers: 3-2 in Rapperswil, 7-5 in Zurich.

While the forwards proved to be dangerous and efficient – Pittis and newly acquired Patrik Bärtschi had two goals and two assists each – there’s some room for improvement in the defensive department.

Head coach Sean Simpson let Lukas Flüeler play in the net for all three games to have all four imports (maximum number) on skating positions. Finnish goalie Ari Sulander, who played all games in Zurich’s Champions Hockey League triumph, must bide his time. Sooner or later, Simpson must let the veteran play.

The teams, other than Davos, with a clean record are Bern, Servette and Zug.

SC Bern began a season of redemption after the year-after-year championship favourite has failed in the quarterfinals in two straight seasons. The new head coach Larry Huras can be happy with two wins in two regional clashes against HC Fribourg-Gottéron (4-1) and EHC Biel (5-0).

Also Geneva-Servette beat the same two opponents and finished the road trip with a 3-1 victory in Biel and by beating Fribourg 4-2 in the francophone derby. Finnish forward Tony Salmelainen with four goals and NHL returnee Tobias Stephan in the net were the two most notable players for Geneva.

For Fribourg it was a major setback as the team has been labelled as the best since the times of Slava Bykov and Andrei Khomutov in the ‘90s. Also: both home games were lost before a sold-out building.

Like Geneva, also EV Zug hopes for a better season, mainly thanks to a new goalkeeper; Jussi Markkanen. In his premiere, the Finnish netminder conceded four goals in the 5-4 win in Langnau but celebrated a shutout in the 4-0 victory at home against HC Ambrì-Piotta.

While there were happy winners, there were some disappointing teams too.

HC Lugano has only two points out of two games on what was predicted to be the way back to past glory with new head coach Kent Johansson, who came back from HV71 Jönköping.

The black-and-whites, who had to play without their sick Finnish defenceman Petteri Nummelin, suffered a 6-3 loss in the Ticino derby against underdogs HC Ambrì-Piotta and it looked like they would suffer another unexpected defeat in the home game against Langnau, when the guests rushed to a 3-0 lead.

At the end, Lugano won 6-5 in a shootout. Jeff Hamilton was the only of the ten shooters who found the net.

Another negative surprise were the Kloten Flyers. After a good transfer summer and decent pre-season results, Kloten not only lost to Davos but coach Anders Eldebrink’s team was also defeated at home by the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, 3-1.

Update September 16:

HC Davos remained strong on the third day of NLA action and defeated HC Lugano at home, 3-1, thus becoming the only undefeated team together with Geneva-Servette after a 5-3 victory at SC Bern.

MARTIN MERK