Under Patrick Fischer, Switzerland has competed at a World Cup six times. She only made it through to the quarterfinals once. The record is so unsatisfactory that another coach would hardly survive it. The fact that Fischer is different says a lot about Swiss Ice Hockey’s weak leadership.
In the decisive moments without fortune: the coach Patrick Fischer.
Patrick Fischer has been responsible for the Swiss national ice hockey team for six years. He pushed, moved, triggered many things. Outdated thought patterns broken. Giving this team a modern, attractive, bold style of play. His appointment was initially very controversial, but it was worth it.
Part of his achievements is that he always formulates bold goals. He often spoke of titles, of medals. But in six years and at eight World Cups and Olympic tournaments, Switzerland has survived the quarter-finals only once: in 2018, when they stormed into the final in Copenhagen.
Another advantageous constellation not used
It’s not a devastating result, because one can take the view that little Switzerland, with its low number of licencees, is not a top 4 nation. But in a way Fischer has become a victim of the expectations he has fueled himself. The quarter-final entry is no longer good enough, that’s a Fischer sentence.
Anyone who keeps talking about the big hit has to make it at some point, otherwise they lose credibility. Again that didn’t work. Despite the exclusion of the top nation Russia and a quarter-final opponent that was not overpowering again. And although Switzerland benefits from the fact that the World Cup is important to the country’s best players, they travel often and happily, in contrast to the stars of the USA or Canada.
Fischer enjoys a very high standing in Switzerland, he moves in similar spheres as Ralph Krueger, who looked after the national team for 13 years. He is an excellent ambassador and a jovial orator who flies into sympathy and around whom there is little discord. If the coach with this record was called Glen Hanlon or Sean Simpson – the dismissal would be a done deal. It’s different with Fischer, he is by some distance the strongest figure within Swiss Ice Hockey.
His superiors, national team director Lars Weibel, accountant Patrick Bloch, who has surprisingly been promoted to CEO, and controversial president Michael Rindlisbacher, lack the format to question Fischer. Coupled with a lavishly endowed contract until 2024, this actually makes the coach untouchable.
The coach’s doubts
There are reasons why continuing Fischer’s work makes sense. He complements himself well with the assistant coach Tommy Albelin, who costs 130,000 francs and is also tied until 2024. The players like the duo, the atmosphere in the team is good, the results and performances in the group stage at the world championships are almost always pleasant. The growl from the Krueger and Simpson years seems like a vague memory from a bygone era.
In the decisive games, under Fischer, Switzerland often lacks maturity and coolness. That was the case with the avoidable defeats against Canada in 2019 and Germany in 2021. And it was no different in Helsinki against the USA. So it cannot be completely ruled out that Thursday marked the end of the Fischer era. Even after the disappointing tournament in Beijing, he seemed to be asking himself whether he was still the right coach. The doubts should not have evaporated after this new setback.