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2026 Olympic
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Switzerland opened its Olympic hockey tournament on Thursday with a workmanlike win over France. Now comes a Friday night clash with powerhouse Canada. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
MILAN — Bring on Team Canada.
Switzerland opened its account at the men’s Olympic hockey tournament with a workmanlike, 4-0 win over France, and now comes the quick turnaround with a Friday night clash with powerhouse Canada.
Swiss captain Roman Josi was 15 years old when the Swiss shocked Canada 2-0 at the Torino Olympics 20 years ago.
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“I remember the game in 2006 (at Torino) when we beat Canada,” said Josi. “That was amazing as a kid watching that.”
Canada outshot Switzerland 49-17 in that game 20 years ago but Martin Gerber stood on his head while former 1993 Stanley Cup champion Paul DiPietro scored both goals for Switzerland.
“Oh, I remember it like it was yesterday,” smiled Swiss veteran Nino Niederreiter postgame Thursday. “Paul DiPietro scored two goals for us. He was a player I was actually looking forward to playing with on the national team, but we just missed each other. …
“Those guys 20 years ago paved the way for us; it’s doable to poke the bear,” added Niederreiter.
It was dubbed in Switzerland as their own Miracle on Ice. But showing how far its national program has come in those 20 years, it wouldn’t be a shocker if Switzerland beat Canada on Friday. A mild upset? Sure. But the Swiss now are a deeper, more talented program.
“Absolutely, but we also know the powerhouse that Team Canada are,” said Niederreiter, who also reminded us that the Swiss lost in a shootout to Canada in a qualifying round game at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
“A lot has changed (with Swiss hockey), but they’re still No. 1 or No. 2 in the world,” star Swiss winger Kevin Fiala said Thursday of Team Canada. “We’re the underdogs, there’s no question. But we’re very excited for that game to see where we stand. We’ve beaten them in world championships (2024 worlds semifinals) and all that, but now it’s best-on-best, you know? We’ll see where we are.”
Ralph Krueger was the longtime head coach of the Swiss national team and was behind the bench in Torino. Reached in Davos on Thursday night, the former Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres coach said it is impossible to overestimate the impact on Swiss hockey of that win 20 years ago.
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“That was a game-changer, an absolute paradigm shift for the national team,” Krueger, who coached current Swiss head coach Patrick Fischer, told The Athletic. “That game changed everything. I was just talked about it with (former NHLer) Mark Streit the other day. We didn’t win a medal in Torino but that win over Team Canada at best on best was something so important.”
This is a seasoned Swiss roster featuring the likes of Josi from the Nashville Predators, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler from the New Jersey Devils, J.J. Moser from the Tampa Bay Lightning, Fiala of the Los Angeles Kings, Philipp Kurashev of the San Jose Sharks, Pius Suter of the St. Louis Blues and Niederreiter from the Winnipeg Jets.
But also quality Swiss League veterans who help make up rosters that help Switzerland win back-to-back silver medals at the men’s IIHF world championships the last two years.
“We’re a very tight group. We love each other,” said Fiala, MVP of the 2024 IIHF world championships, said. “We’re like a family, we take care of each other like a family outside of the ice. On the ice, you can see it: We block shots, like today was crazy, we defend well, when there’s mistakes we go help each other out. We track back. We have dirty workers, skill guys, we have a good match.”
The best Swiss team Josi has been part of?
“I think so,” said Josi. “It’s the first time we’re all together. We’ve had some really good world championships. This really is the first time we’re all playing together. We have a lot of really good players. Just looking how we play as a team, it’s pretty exciting.”
Can the Swiss surprise one of the big boys here? I believe so, which is why the matchup with Team Canada is so intriguing Friday night. The Swiss believe they can do something special in this tournament.
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“Yeah, that’s the goal obviously,” said Josi, the Predators captain. “We know what we’re up against. We know the teams and the players that are here. But I think we can have a lot of confidence in our game. Obviously this is different than the world championships, but we’ve played some good world championships, got some momentum. We have a lot of confidence in our team.”
Thursday’s win wasn’t overwhelming but it was also typical Swiss hockey, giving the opposition very little and capitalizing on chances for their offense. They were up 2-0 just 3:06 into the game on goals from Damien Riat and J.J. Moser before France settled itself and made it a game for a while. Meier scored twice in the third period to seal the win.
“It’s great to start off the tournament with a win, that’s what we came here to do,” said Niederreiter. “I wish we could have played 60 minutes the way we started off the first 10. It’s human nature you let it up a little bit. But at same time, we got the job done and that’s all that matters.”
“I would expect a great game,” Team Canada superstar Connor McDavid said after Thursday’s 5-0 win over Czechia. “They played well today. They got a lot of great players too. Beat us at world championships, they’ve been knocking on the door for a long time. I would expect a similar game (tomorrow).”
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Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
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