Already needing a miracle in order to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League, the Belfast Giants were unceremoniously dumped out of Europe after another hammering in Switzerland, this time by Bern.
Adam Keefe's side were hoping for a morale-boosting performance at the PostFinance Arena that would keep their chances to reaching the last-16 alive but were instead served a lesson by their Swiss hosts, who were better in every aspect on the night.
Bern were out of sight by the first intermission as Swedish forward Emil Bemström struck a hat-trick, with Alain Graf, Marco Müller, Benjamin Baumgartner and Nils Rhyn adding on.
It's the third time the Giants have conceded seven in a CHL game this season, having done the same against Ilves and Zug, and it leaves them having conceded an eye-watering 30 goals in five games as their defensive woes continue early in the season.
The defeat also drops the Giants to 0-4-1 in the CHL and bottom of the 24-team standings, meaning Tuesday's final regular season game against Swedish side Brynäs at the SSE Arena is nothing more than a chance to at least put one win on the board, even if it is guaranteed to be their last game in this year's tournament.
Worryingly, Belfast has now lost nine of its first 13 games this season and while they were always considered outsiders to make the knockouts in Europe given the quality of their opposition, the fact that that form has bled into their domestic campaign will be of more concern to Keefe.
The head coach will hope there will be no hangover as they resume their Challenge Cup bid this weekend with a trip to the Glasgow Clan on Saturday and they will certainly hope to start better than they did in Bern, where their hosts were a goal up just 37 seconds in when Bemström's shot hit the post and was then put in his own net by Nicolas Guay.
Bemström would add his second at 7:19 off a nice feed from Miro Aaltonen, and then Graf got their powerplay goal at 13:59 after Guay was called for tripping, the Swiss winger forcing the puck in at a scramble at the net with Jackson Whistle stranded.
That already looked like game over, but Müller's fine turn and shot at 8:46 of the second period that came back out off the back bar and fooled everybody was the one that really sealed the deal, with Baumgartner's rebound effort off Levin Moser's initial shot at 13:53 was further confirmation.
Alexis Gravel replaced Whistle for the final period but he was powerless to stop Bemström completing his hat-trick exactly two minutes after the restart when a kind bounce off the backboards fell right onto the stick of the Swede, and there was even time for Rhyn to rifle in a one-timer for the seventh with 7:49 remaining, compounding another tough European night at the office for the Giants.