Switzerland travels home from the World Cup in Finland without the desired medal. 5:39 minutes before the end, the Americans destroyed the last hopes of the national team for a turnaround with the 3rd goal.
For the Swiss, the quarter-final out after the unbeaten group stage with 7 wins from 7 games is a huge disappointment. Patrick Fischer’s team not only did not score a goal, but also could not build on the strong performances from the group phase in terms of energy.
Slapstick goals conceded and Corvi-Out
Only in the middle third were the Swiss superior to the Americans, but they didn’t put the disc in Jeremy Swayman’s goal. The Boston Bruins keeper had a strong day, saving all 33 shots on goal. The Swiss offensive, which was highly praised in the group games, often lacked the playfulness of the preliminary round.
Shortly after the start of the second period, Timo Meier failed because of his goal. After that, Fabrice Herzog had two good chances in the slot. But the EV Zug striker was just as unlucky as Nico Hischier or Denis Malgin, who prevailed against two Americans, but then also found his champion in Swayman.
The first third went according to the motto “if things don’t go well, bad luck will follow”. The two goals conceded by the Swiss in the first 20 minutes deserved the title of slapstick:
- Timo Meier is in the penalty box for kicking. Ben Meyers puts the disc in the slot after a dribble. Calvin Thürkauf does not see the puck while reversing and unhappily shoves it into his own goal with his ice skate – 1:0 USA.
- Adam Gaudette escapes Dominik Egli after a pass via gang. The Swiss defender wants to clarify, at the same time Leonardo Genoni comes out of his box. The Swiss keeper catches the puck, but it jumps over him and lands back at Gaudette, who scores on his knees to make it 2-0.
To make matters worse for the Nati, Enzo Corvi was injured between the two goals and was no longer able to play. The HCD striker crashed into the rink at high speed after being checked by Andrew Peeke. He left the ice with his face bleeding and never returned. Fischer had to change the line early on with Andres Ambühl and Herzog, which had previously worked very well at the World Cup.
Only two outliers upwards
The quarter-final record of the Swiss at world championships is more than mixed. Since the turn of the millennium, Switzerland has contested 13 quarter-finals. She was only able to win two of them. 2013 in Sweden and 2018 in Denmark – both times followed by winning the silver medal. However, the Swiss lost a quarter-final 11 times. 8 times you didn’t make the leap into the knockout phase.