The Swiss crew has by no means been extra outstanding because the 2018 Olympic event. The expectations are correspondingly excessive. It is sensible to speak about successful a medal. The sequence of 13 defeats from the take a look at matches has been forgotten.
Kevin Fiala scored twice in opposition to the Czech Republic. He had arrived in Prague simply hours earlier to refine the Swiss squad.
Petr David Josek/AP
The Swiss nationwide ice hockey crew bought off to an nearly good begin to the A World Championship in Prague and Ostrava. The two anticipated successes in opposition to Norway (5:2) and Austria (6:5) had been adopted on Monday by a 2-1 victory in a penalty shootout within the third group sport in opposition to the hosts and co-favorites Czech Republic. The match winner within the intense sport was Kevin Fiala, who shot the Swiss into the lead within the first third and later scored a second time within the penalty shootout.
The 27-year-old from Eastern Switzerland with Czech roots had solely arrived in Prague hours earlier than the match and bought into his ice hockey gear kind of straight from the airplane. Just a few days earlier, his spouse had given beginning to a baby. Fiala’s first ideas after the match in entrance of the Swiss tv cameras had been about his spouse and daughter.
Fiala performed this season for the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL; He scored 30 objectives and assisted 45 extra in 87 video games. Fiala is the sixth participant within the Swiss World Cup crew to earn his cash abroad and refines the already appreciable offensive potential in coach Patrick Fischer’s crew. Whenever the nationwide crew calls: Kevin Fiala is there.
The who’s who of Swiss ice hockey
After Fiala’s arrival, Fischer and his help workers in Prague have one thing just like the who’s who of Swiss ice hockey at their disposal. Of the potential everlasting starters, solely Denis Malgin is lacking. The ZSC Lions striker with a historical past within the NHL suffered a knee damage within the final ultimate sport in opposition to Lausanne HC and due to this fact needed to miss the journey to the Czech Republic.
In addition to the present NHL professionals, six different gamers from the Swiss squad have already gained expertise on this planet’s most vital league. Fischer’s crew has by no means been higher staffed because the 2018 Olympic event in Pyeongchang. The expectations are correspondingly excessive. It hasn’t been extra sensible to speak about Switzerland successful a medal in a very long time than it was this 12 months.
The temper across the nationwide crew has modified considerably in the previous couple of days. The discrepancy from the take a look at matches, wherein the Swiss had 13 defeats in a row, couldn’t be higher. During that meaningless part, the strain on Fischer grew from defeat to defeat.
The crew administration of Swiss Ice Hockey, led by sports activities director Lars Weibel, demonstratively stood behind the coach. She repeated a number of occasions that they had been heading in the right direction and pushed for an early contract extension with Fischer till the 2026 residence World Cup in Zurich and Lausanne.
The rhetoric of the “proper path” wears out when a sequence of defeats units in. The profitable begin to the World Cup reveals that the rhetoric was not basically incorrect. The match in opposition to the Czech Republic was one thing of a primary actual take a look at. The high quality of the opponents was larger than ever because the final World Cup. And the Swiss handed this take a look at in opposition to their bodily robust opponents.
Compared to the match in opposition to Austria, they confirmed huge enchancment defensively. Leonardo Genoni from EV Zug was most popular in aim over Akira Schmid from the New Jersey Devils and offered proof that NHL expertise will not be the one high quality function. At 36 years outdated, the Zurich native remains to be probably the most dependable amongst Swiss goalies.
But there is no such thing as a cause for untimely euphoria. The Swiss ice hockey crew had a equally good begin to the final two World Cup tournaments as they did in Prague. A 12 months in the past they made it by means of the group stage undefeated earlier than falling to eventual silver medalists Germany within the quarter-finals. Nothing has been gained this 12 months both.
A detailed one! Rewatch Czechia’s shootout win over Switzerland! #MensWorlds @SwissIceHockey @czehockey pic.twitter.com/w4CCAFDfyr
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 14, 2024
Memories of Sean Simpson, the favourite Brit
For the Swiss, the event continues on Wednesday night with the sport in opposition to newly promoted Great Britain. The British are actual ice hockey exotics and began the event with two defeats in opposition to Canada and Finland. At the start of the twentieth century, they had been nonetheless an precise ice hockey energy, no less than in Europe.
In 1910 they gained the primary European Championship forward of Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. The British determined not to participate within the 1932 Olympic event in Lake Placid for value causes, however 4 years later they gained Olympic gold in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in spite of everything video games in opposition to non-European groups in Nazi Germany had been eradicated from the rankings. On the best way to successful the event, the British inflicted their first defeat on the Winter Olympics on the Canadians.
But these are occasions from a time lengthy since pale. Today the British not play a job in worldwide ice hockey. In the NHL, an Australian, a Dutchman, an Austrian and a Slovenian had been among the many 18 registered nationalities, however a Briton was lacking, though many Canadians and Americans could have British ancestors.
The most well-known and doubtless hottest British ice hockey participant in Switzerland is Sean Simpson, who was born in Essex in 1960 and coached Switzerland to World Cup silver in 2013. Patrick Fischer was an assistant on Simpson’s workers on the time.
The comparability with Great Britain must be a formality for Fischer’s crew, as a stopover on the best way to the quarter-finals. You will not discover a participant of Kevin Fialas’ caliber within the British squad.