Revamped Swiss team take on the world
Switzerland's national hockey team will open their world championship campaign against France on Saturday, with a few new faces taking part.
The Swiss are expected to overcome the French on their way to the quarterfinals in Quebec, but they won’t be overconfident, as they have learnt from bitter experience.
The Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 were a slap in the face for Switzerland, the last time a major competition was played on the smaller North American rinks.
The Swiss were unable to adapt to the reduced dimensions – four metres less in width – and lost to Ukraine while scrambling to a draw against the French. They finally finished 11th in one of Swiss hockey’s worst performance in recent years.
Six years later, the French are again in their way in Canada. While France is not among the favourites, it does have a few talented individuals, most of whom have played or are playing in the Swiss league.
The goalkeeper for the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals, Cristobal Huet, spent four seasons with Lugano. Sébastien Bordeleau is one of Bern’s key players, as is Laurent Meunier for Geneva’s Servette club.
For the Swiss any other result than a win against the French would be considered a failure. Switzerland will then play against Belarus and Sweden – one of the favourites – in the group A round robin phase.
Preparations
Switzerland has spent the past month preparing for these championships, hoping to get past the quarter-finals, a feat it hasn’t managed since its fourth place in 1998 on home ice.
The players selected for the training sessions that begun at the end of March have been made to work hard.
Coach Ralph Krueger has made some tough decisions, sending home some of his hardened veterans and keeping some fresh blood for the trip overseas.
The season is over for Martin Hoehener, Martin Plüss and Patrick Fischer, while young guns Raphael Diaz, Philippe Furrer, Roman Wick and Peter Guggisberg will get their chance in Quebec.
“All the players in the dressing room can legitimately claim a place in the team and are ready to give their all to go to the world championships,” said defender Julien Vauclair a few weeks ago.
Experienced hands
Krueger is betting on experienced hands for goaltending though. Goalies Martin Gerber and Jonas Hiller caught up with the team in Canada for the last two preparation matches after their NHL teams – the Ottawa Senators and the Anaheim Ducks – were eliminated from the playoffs.
Despite their presence, Switzerland lost their first game in Quebec against Russia – a team that is trained by former Fribourg star Slava Bykov.
“The Russians’ speed on the ice caused a lot of problems for us, but we weren’t mentally ready for this game,” said Krueger after the match.
Fortunately for the Swiss, the second preparation game ended on a much better note, with an easy win against Denmark. This will be enough, hopefully, to build up their confidence before their first match against France.
swissinfo, Mathias Froidevaux
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.