Legend:
Was able to put himself in the limelight
Calvin Thürkauf.
Keystone/Christian Merz
- The Swiss national ice hockey team beat Latvia 3-1 in the second test match in Weinfelden.
- Calvin Thürkauf excels as a double goal scorer.
- Patrick Fischer’s team also wins the 2nd duel with the Latvians and gets the 5th victory in the 6th friendly.
Fischer had demanded a dominant appearance from his team. As such, he could only partially like what he saw. The start in particular did not meet his expectations. From the middle of the first third, the hosts got into the game better, really convincing, but they didn’t know.
It wasn’t until the 30th minute before Calvin Thürkauf scored the 1-0 from close range thanks to preparatory work from André Heim. It was also the center of HC Lugano who was responsible for the final point in the 58th minute with a shot into the empty goal. Thürkauf scored in the 3rd game in a row; in his first 14 international matches he had not scored a goal.
13th win in a row
Shortly after the 1-0 Santeri Alatalo had to take a shower after being hit between the legs. The locals survived the five-minute shortfall without any major problems. And as soon as the penalty was over, Damian Riat made it 2-0 (37 ‘) after he was able to attack the Latvian keeper Davis Grigals alone after a mistake by Arturs Kulda.
In the 45th minute, Thürkauf failed to hit the post, whereupon the Latvians reduced the deficit to 1:2 by Nauris Sejejs (47th), who was last active at La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Swiss, with Reto Berra in goal, didn’t allow more, which is why they defeated the Latvians for the 13th time in a row.
Thanks to the 3-1 win, the Swiss won all three home games in preparation for the World Cup. Overall it was the fifth win in six games.
This is how it goes
On Wednesday, the national team will fly to Helsinki with the first reinforcements from North America and the playoff finalists. A day later they will play the first of three matches of the Beijer Hockey Games in Tampere against Finland. At the weekend, the opponents in Stockholm are the Czech Republic and Sweden. The Swiss will play their first World Cup game on May 14 against Italy.