- The Swiss national ice hockey team is eliminated by Finland in the quarter-finals in Beijing.
- Coach Patrick Fischer’s team made too many individual mistakes in the 5-1 defeat.
- Finland meets Slovakia in the first semi-final on Friday (5:10 a.m.). Afterwards (2:10 p.m.) the Russian selection will be measured against either Canada or Sweden.
Goalie Leonardo Genoni shone against the Czech Republic on Tuesday and played a huge part in Switzerland reaching the quarter-finals. The next day coach Patrick Fischer stuck to his castling and gave preference to Reto Berra. But the working day of the Gottéron keeper was already over after the 0:3 in the 24th minute. The change should serve as a wake-up call; Berra was not to blame for the 3 goals conceded.
wakes up too late
The exchange did not fail to have an effect. The longer the second third lasted, the more actively the Swiss acted. The reward followed in the form of a goal in the 38th minute: veteran Andres Ambühl succeeded in the power play after a clever submission by Enzo Corvi.
In the final third, the Fischer team upped the ante again: they managed to literally encircle the Finns at times. And the danger in front of the “Suomi” box also increased drastically. Denis Malgin (42′) rattled the post, Raphael Diaz’ shot hissed just over the crossbar (47′).
The Finns thanked the ice hockey god and were able to score the decisive 4:1 in the 56th minute with an empty netter. Fischer took a full risk in a Swiss outnumbered game and replaced Genoni with a sixth field player. A minute later, Teemu Hartikainen doubled into the empty net to make it 5-1.
Blundered too early
Switzerland had given the game away in the first third. The two goals conceded within 120 seconds were due to serious personal errors.
- 9 minutes: After Gaëtan Haas lost the puck while attacking, Niklas Friman tested Berra with an ambush shot. His defense to the side is the perfect template for Miro Aaltonen, who only needs to net.
- 11 minutes: Mikko Lehtonen takes a shot from the blue line. The puck bounces from Santeri Alatalo’s stick onto Berra’s helmet and flies into the housing from there. It is the 4th “own goal” of the Swiss in the 5th game of the tournament.
Switzerland could have steered the duel in other directions. Fabrice Herzog missed a top-class chance to equalize immediately after the 0:1.
And so the northern Europeans will reach for the Olympic medals while the Swiss team starts their journey home. The next big event is on the program in May: Then the World Cup will take place in Finland of all places (May 13th to 29th).