Karelia Cup in Finland –
Fischer’s Switzerland wants to rekindle the flame of this spring
Finalist of the last World Cup, the Swiss team launches its 2024-2025 campaign on Thursday at the Karjala Cup in Helsinki, first stage of the Euro Hockey Tour.
Published: 04.11.2024, 6:01 p.m.
A few months after reaching the final of the World Championship in Prague, coach Patrick Fischer (standing, right) wants to rekindle the flame of the last World Cup by participating in the upcoming Karjala Cup in Helsinki.
KEYSTONE/Peter Schneider
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- Switzerland will compete in the Karjala Cup in Helsinki, Finland on Thursday. This is the first stop of the Euro Hockey Tour.
- This tournament marks the start of the preparation phase for the 2025 World Championship in Sweden and Denmark. Patrick Fischer’s selection will face Finland on Thursday, Sweden on Saturday and the Czech Republic on Sunday in Helsinki.
- Six players from Lausanne HC and Genève-Servette were called up to the Swiss team to play in the tournament in Finland.
A few months after flirting with a world crown in Prague, the Swiss team launches its 2024-2025 campaign in Helsinki as part of the Karjala Cup (November 7 to 10), first stage of the Euro Hockey Tour.
Before challenging the Czechs in the final of the World Championship last spring, the “silver heroes” had just collected eleven defeats in a row in this same preparatory tour.
Switzerland must do much better this time, a question of standing, even if it has demonstrated that even a failed preparation does not call into question its chances at the World Cup nor undermine the legitimacy of Patrick Fischer at the head of the selection.
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As proof: last February, while the accumulation of setbacks aroused concerns and ridicule, the Swiss Federation sent a strong signal by extending the coach’s contract until 2026, including the Milan-Cortina Olympics and the World Cup in Zurich and Fribourg.
“It was a huge mark of confidence,” remembers Patrick Fischer. Others might have parted ways with me in this situation. And it would have been legitimate at that time. I couldn’t even really argue.”
A competitive team
In Helsinki, Fischer put together a competitive team to successively face Finland (Thursday at 5:30 p.m.), Sweden (Saturday at 12:30 p.m.) then the Czech Republic (Sunday at 12:30 p.m.).
The two Lake Geneva clubs, who meet in Lausanne on November 12 in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions Hockey League, are well represented with six players called up: attackers Théo Rochette and Damien Riat, defender Fabian Heldner on the Lausanne side, backs Tim Berni and Giancarlo Chanton (first call-up) as well as striker Marco Miranda from Genève-Servette. However, they should benefit from a lighter program due to the CHL.
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Future goalkeeper of the Eagles currently in the pay of Langnau, the Genevan Stéphane Charlin is also in the selection, as is the defender Iñaki Baragano (Rapperswil), expected at the LHC in 2025.
Getting into the habit of beating (more regularly) the big nations during the Euro Hockey Tour is a necessary step to hope, one day, to win a world title after three lost finals (2013 and 2018 against Sweden, 2024 against the Czech Republic).
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Patrick Fischer has firmly believed in this since his appointment in December 2015: “It is so important to have faith and conviction. This is what I try to convey to the national team, recalled the 49-year-old from Zug in the “SonntagsZeitung”. Let’s be honest: when I said eight or nine years ago that we wanted to become world champions, many didn’t take it seriously. Now, everyone knows that this team can do it if everything comes together at the right time.”
Switzerland expected
The Euro Hockey Tour, which begins with the Karjala Cup in Helsinki before stopping in Friborg in mid-December, will serve as a foundation for the 2025 World Cup in Sweden and Denmark. Switzerland, which will be based in Herning (Denmark) next spring, will be eagerly awaited there this time as world vice-champion.
The Swiss selection at the Karjala Cup
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Guardians: Stéphane Charlin (Langnau), Gilles Senn (Ambri).
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Defenders: David Aebischer (Lugano), Iñaki Baragano (Rapperswil), Tim Berni (Genève-Servette), Giancarlo Chanton (Genève-Servette), Michael Fora (Davos), Tobias Geisser (Zoug), Fabian Heldner (Lausanne HC), Dean Kukan ( Zurich Lions), Romain Loeffel (CP Berne), Christian Marti (Zurich Lions).
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Attackers: Andres Ambühl (Davos), Sven Andrighetto (Zurich Lions), Thierry Bader (CP Berne), Nicolas Baechler (Zurich Lions), Attilio Biasca (Zoug), Enzo Corvi (Davos), Fabrice Herzog (Zoug), Mike Künzle (Zoug) , Denis Malgin (Zurich Lions), Marco Miranda (Genève-Servette), Tyler Moy (Rapperswil), Damien Riat (Lausanne HC), Théo Rochette (Lausanne HC), Sven Senteler (Zoug), Dario Simion (Zoug).
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