The Swiss team wants to celebrate its first home victory in the Euro Hockey Tour in Friborg. And why not from Thursday against Sweden at 7:45 p.m.
ats
Seven victories for 23 defeats, the Swiss record since their integration into the Euro Hockey Tour hardly inspires joy of life. Worse, in eight matches in front of their home crowd against the Czechs, the Swedes and the Finns, the Helvetians have recorded eight losses.
Often infuriating defeats, by one goal, in overtime or on penalties. So, before the Friborg tournament which starts on Thursday, Patrick Fischer and his staff display relative optimism.
To compose his selection, Patrick Fischer relied on 11 players present last May when he won the silver medal in Prague. Conjured, Tristan Scherwey and Gaëtan Haas unfortunately cannot be present and Romain Loeffel must deal with a problem in private.
Two Romands on goals
In goal, the Zougois called on the two Romands Stéphane Charlin, 24 years old, and Ludovic Waeber, 28 years old. Along with Langnau, Charlin is simply the best goalkeeper in the National League in terms of save percentage with 95.21%, while Waeber helps Kloten navigate the top 6 in the championship. This makes it possible to test new players and prepare the succession of Leonardo Genoni, injured for a long time and who has only played three games this season, and Reto Berra, announced ill by Friborg during the match in Berne.
“The situation regarding goalkeepers is much rosier than two or three years ago,” dares Fischer, while emphasizing that the door remains open for Berra. With national team director Lars Weibel, Fischer is also planning for the longer term with the World Cup at home in 2026.
The national team staff also takes club calendars into account, notably the return of the Champions League quarter-finals for Geneva and Zurich, as well as the Spengler Cup for Davos and Fribourg.
Real ambitions
The silver medal solidified Patrick Fischer’s position, but the Zougois is not satisfied with that. He obviously aims to win more preparation matches: “We want to win more matches during the year, because these good results are very important.”
During the tournament in Finland in November, Switzerland defeated Sweden (4-3 tab). A relief after 16 consecutive losses. Fischer had not liked the 5-2 defeat in the last match against the Czechs, knowing that the Zurich team, Malgin, Andrighetto, Kukan and Marti had left the day before due to a Champions League match.
For this home tournament, Switzerland faces Czechia again on Saturday (6 p.m.) and Finland on Sunday (3:30 p.m.). “This team has the potential to win all three matches,” says Fischer with conviction.
