Switzerland is preparing to face Canada on Saturday (6:20 p.m.) in the semi-final of the world championship in Prague. Beaten 3-2 in the group stage, Patrick Fischer’s men want to take their revenge. Switzerland obtained the right to play the fifth semi-final in its history at a World Cup on Thursday in Ostrava. She lost those of 1992, the year the quarter-finals were introduced in the form we know, and of 1998 in Zurich, but won the last two in 2013 in Stockholm and in 2018 in Copenhagen.
In Denmark, Patrick Fischer’s team had a strong match against… Connor McDavid’s Canada. Switzerland won 3-2 by limiting the impact of the Edmonton center to one assist. Tristan Scherwey opened the scoring, then Grégory Hofmann and Gaëtan Haas added two power-play successes. The Fribourgeois and the Biennois are still epic in the Czech Republic, just like Roman Josi, Dean Kukan, Michael Fora, Sven Andrighetto, Kevin Fiala, Nino Niederreiter, Reto Berra and Leonardo Genoni. And if we go back to 2013, Josi, Niederreiter and Berra were present, as well as Andres Ambühl.
Intensity and speed
This list of players present six or eleven years ago, Patrick Fischer does not keep it preciously in a corner of his mind. Quite the contrary. For the Zug coach, there is no point in comparing the teams six years apart: “The teams are completely different. What doesn’t change, however, is that Canada has a great team every time. I expect a meeting with a lot of intensity and speed. We will have to be better at fore-checking than during our previous meeting against him.”
“What doesn’t change is that Canada has a great team every time”
Patrick Fischer
If the comparison with 2018 does not convince him, what about the first duel against the selection of André Tourigny? Switzerland lost 3-2 last Sunday in the group stage for its only defeat in the tournament so far. While leading 2-1 in the second third and seeming to gain a little psychological advantage over their opponent, Switzerland conceded two shorthanded goals after Kevin Fiala took a five-minute penalty with a premature return in the locker room for a knee strike on a Canadian. “I think it was a very important lesson for us,” said Patrick Fischer. We’ve seen what can happen when we lose our focus. This was the case for around ten minutes and we saw the result.”
Special situations
Excellent at 5 against 5, Switzerland only conceded four goals in this phase of play: one against Norway in the opening match and three against the Austrians in a somewhat crazy match. Since then, the defensive base has worked wonders. In the last six matches, she has only conceded six goals, all shorthanded.
What to worry about for the coach? “It’s still an important theme,” notes Fischer. We know that playing shorthanded is essential at this moment of the competition. But I think that against Germany we were good. So of course, we take this goal from Kahun at 4 against 5, but it’s after a commitment and we could have conceded it with equal numbers in the same way. It is obvious that against Canada the special situations will be very important and we must do better than in the quarter-finals in power play. ATS
In the program
SATURDAY. Semi-finals:
Sweden – Czech Republic 2:20 p.m.
Canada – Switzerland Sat 6:20 p.m.
Sunday:
Small finale 3:20 p.m.
Finale 8:20 p.m.
ATS
