Due to a rash of injuries, HC Lugano defenceman Riccardo Santori is taking on a greater role on the team. He spoke after Tuesday's first-leg victory over HC Pilsen.

by Maurizio Urech

LUGANO – HC Lugano were strong in the CHL Group Stage against Tappara Tampere and Adler Mannheim, but a rash of injuries, particularly on defence, slowed their progress and they stumbled out of the gate at the start of the Swiss NLA regular season. 

With defencemen Clarence Kparghai, Julien Vauclair and Philippe Furrer all out of the lineup, the rest of the defensive corps have had to carry more weight, and the team responded with three straight wins – two in the NLA and Tuesday's 4-1 victory over HC Pilsen in the first leg of the CHL's Round of 32. 

One of the d-men who has stepped up and played a larger role is 22-year-old Riccardo Santori. The Lugano native is currently playing on the team's top defensive pair with Ryan Wilson, and and they were rock-solid against Pilsen. 

Sartori spoke after the game. 

“I felt pretty good and I think we played a good game,” he began. “For me, the last couple of games were important and I feel more comfortable game after game. Because of the injuries, I've had a lot of ice time.”

Lugano won the last two games in the NLA and added one more tonight, which has to be good for your confidence.

“Obviously, even though we have still a lot of defencemen out, but tonight we played the right game for the first leg. We conceded only one goal and were able to score four, which gives us a good basis for the second leg we’ll play in one week.”

Due to the special situation, forward Raffaele Sannitz was playing defence tonight. Was that an easy adjustment for him?

“I think he’s the right person to help out in this situation. He reads the game well and plays simply, so we’re happy to have him to give as us a big hand.”

Even if at the end the difference was three goals, Pilsen showed that they can be very dangerous, so you guys have to be careful in one week.

“Like tonight, we need to play smart defensively. I know that everybody is focused on the defence, but we defend in five and that’s what we have to do in the second leg. We don’t want to allow them to create too many chances. They are a good team, they deserve that we respect them.”