Swiss Goalies Gerber, Aebischer Become Part of NHL Trivia

This game certainly echoed through the Alps. For the first time, two goalies from Switzerland -- the Mighty Ducks’ Martin Gerber and Colorado’s David Aebischer -- faced each other.

Gerber, a 28-year-old rookie in his first NHL start, was solid, making 22 saves, which included deflecting a Peter Forsberg shot on a breakaway in the first period. Aebischer stopped 24 of 27 shots in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory.

“I think there might be a couple newspapers in Switzerland that write about this,” Gerber said.

Gerber has known Aebischer for seven years and the two were teammates on Switzerland’s team at the Olympics in February. That factored into Duck Coach Mike Babcock’s decision to start Gerber.

“I knew that it would be a big deal and I knew [Martin] would be fired up against him,” Babcock said.

Which gives Gerber the edge. He said he faced Aebischer four times while playing juniors in Switzerland.

“We both won two, this makes me one up,” Gerber said, smiling.

There have been only three Swiss goalies in the NHL.

*

Duck left wing Kevin Sawyer was given a game misconduct in the first period, after a scrum along the boards that involved several players. Sawyer received a roughing penalty and a major penalty for boarding, as well as the misconduct.

“It’s not like I hit him from behind or something like that,” Sawyer said. “I just finished my check, that’s my job. I didn’t even see the number of the guy, which shows I didn’t hit him from behind.”