Sochi 2014 Preview: Team Switzerland

BY: Steven Hindle (@StevenHindle)

Neutral No More

Fresh off of a Silver Medal finish at the recently completed IIHF World Championship, Head Coach of Team Switzerland, Sean Simpson, has high hopes for the upcoming 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Having long been considered a competitive club, Team Switzerland has yet to make a dent among the top nations in International play. Finishing 8^th at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the Swiss are sure to challenge for a better finish this time around.

Despite only 0.35% of the population of Switzerland play hockey, the talent pool has grown exponentially, as witnessed in recent years as Swiss prospects have produced some 1^st round prospects in the NHL.
Building off the development of recent prospects, the Swiss look to ice a club that will not only cause fits for top Nations such as Sweden, Canada, Russia and the U.S., but they will look to cement their place as a legit contender in International competition.

Sure, they’ve pulled off some upsets and caused a few scares in the past, but the outlook is different this time around. Most imagine that Sean Simpson was ecstatic over the Silver Medal earned in Sweden at the World Championships, yet that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Though proud of the accomplishment, internally the Swiss are focused on nothing but winning. Anything less isn’t good enough.
And it is this change of attitude and thinking, internally, which has the elite hockey Nations thinking twice about how to handle Simpson’s Swiss club.

While the projections will remain conservative for the Swiss heading into Round Robin play, the 9^th ranked Nation will be motivated through rivalry as they will share Group C with Team Sweden, Gold Medal winners over the Swiss at the 2013 IIHF World Championships. Included in the group with the Swiss and Swedes are the Czech Republic and Latvia.

Though the odds have Switzerland ranked behind the 3^rd and 4^th ranked Nations (Czechs and Swedes), the Swiss are getting younger and faster and will look to have their most talented and competitive roster on the ice this upcoming February.

Included in the mix for the final cut on Team Switzerland are a few NHL players and prospects, and a dearth of talented players skating across Europe.

Here is a look the players vying for spots on Team Switzerland:

Goaltenders:

Jonas Hiller, Reto Berra, Martin Gerber, Benjamin Conz, Tobias Stephan

Defense:

Mark Streit, Raphael Diaz, Roman Josi, Julien Vauclair, Severin Blindenbacher, Goran Bezina, Robin Grossman, Mathias Seger, Luca Sbisa, Felicien DuBois, Yannick Weber (maybe Mirco Muller)

Forwards:

Bruno Hollenstein, Kevin Romy, Damian Brunner, Sven Bärtschi, Martin Pluss, Nino Neiderreiter, Roman Wick, Andrey Bykov, Luca Cunti, Ryan Gardner, Reto Suri, Simon Moser, Morris Trachsler, Andres Ambühl, Julian Walker (maybe Sven Andrighetto)

With a potent mix of veteran leaders and young, up-and-coming prospects, Sean Simpson will have his work cut when it comes to making the final cut for the opening night roster against Team Latvia.

Beyond Group C, the Olympic Hockey tournament promises to be one of the greatest hockey competitions of all-time. With hosts Russia leading Slovakia, the U.S. and Slovenia in Group A, Group B will offer up Finland, Canada, Norway and Austria. Needless to say, the Swiss couldn’t have picked a better time to begin their rise in Hockey.

Making it to the medal round at the Olympics is quite a different story as compared to the World Championships, but with a roster that exuded great chemistry at the WC and an ability to add to that, Team Switzerland is no longer a team without expectations. Rather they have now entered the realm of great expectations; territory the Swiss hope propels them to a seat among the elite of hockey Nations.

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10 Summer Thoughts

by Louis Moustakas

Although I am preparing to jaunt off for a short vacation to British Columbia, a part of the country I have yet to visit, my mind still finds way to veer towards the Canadiens and the NHL as a whole.

1) People in Montreal are ridiculously harsh on Andrei Kostitsyn. He is a scorer and he is streaky. Get used to it. He also produces 20 goals a year, is big and led his team in hits last season. Forwards like that do not grow on trees. He certainly has untapped potential, but it is nonetheless a mistake for us to take him for granted.

2) Speaking of Andrei, I must admit his performance in this spring's World Championships was a tad worrisome. His 7 points in 5 games may have led his squad, but he was pointless in key games against Switzerland and France, two teams the Belarussian needed to beat in order to avoid the relegation round.

3) Montreal added the Swiss-born Raphael Diaz and Alain Berger in the off-season. Yannick Weber is already on the squad while both David Aebischer and Mark Streit have spent time with the Habs as well. Clearly, the organization is trying to build its presence in the rising hockey nation of Switzerland. And why not? The Swiss men's team is now ranked 7th in the world, ahead of both Germany and Slovakia. Perhaps Montreal can become to Swiss players what Detroit is to Swedes.

4) I have read some rumours that Montreal is considering adding Alexei Yashin. While I feel he does quite not merit the level of disdain he has, he does not truly address any pressing need on the squad either.

5) Speaking of Russians, Alexei Kovalev is still a free-agent. I am midly surprised we have not heard that many Kovalev to Montreal rumours thus far.

6) Florida signed a ridiculous number of players to ridiculous contracts this summer. Mind you, many were good additions and they will probably be a better team. At the same time, it seems like Tallon is throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping it sticks.

7) Chicago made low-key, savvy moves this summer. Andrew Brunette and Rostislav Olesz give them legitimate top-6 threats and fit that role much better than the departed Tomas Kopecky.

8) Lou Lamoriello is past his prime. Coming out of the work stoppage, he gave a first-round pick to the Sharks in order to rid himself of Vladimir Malakhov's onerous contract. He was stiffly penalized by the league for the Kovalchuk deal. In truth, it seems like he has spent each summer since the lockout trying to dump salary and get under the cap.

9) The Caps need to win this year. With character players like Joel Ward, Troy Brouwer, Jeff Halpern and Roman Hamrlik now on the squad, there are no excuses for the team not to pull the pieces together. Anything short of a finals appearance means that both Boudreau and McPhee should be worried about their job security.

10) Chris Osgood, who is tenth all-time in wins with 401, is a hall-of-famer in my books. Stu Hackel, of Sports Illustrated, pointed out that he never had a regular season save percentage above .917. So what? When it counted, he was able to shut the door more often than not. In his last two playoff runs with the Red Wings, he posted phenomenal save percentages of .930 and .926. Oh, and he has three Stanley Cup rings.


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Louis is an editor at HabsWorld.net and has been writing about Canadiens and NHL hockey since 2009. Louis was born in Chicago but grew up in Quebec City where he earned Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Université Laval. He currently lives in Ottawa and works for the Coaching Association of Canada. He can be reached at l.moustakas@habsworld.net.

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Olympic Hockey Updates - Canada, Czechs, Slovaks and Swiss win

Post-Game: Team Canada 8 - Team Germany 2
Iginla sends Canada past Germany

Post-Game: Team Switzerland 3 - Team Belarus 2 (SO)
Swiss eliminate Belarus in SO, Face US

Post-Game: Team Czech Republic 3 - Team Latvia 2 (OT)
Krejci's winner sends Czech past Latvia

Post-Game: Team Slovakia 4 - Team Norway 3
Satan's goal sends Slovakia past Norway
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Olympic Hockey Updates - Canada Wins, US triumphs, Slovakia shock Russia, Swiss, Norway

NHL.com
Crosby's goal gives Canada 3-2 win
http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009090008&navid=DL|NHL|home

Slovakia Edges Russia
http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009090009&navid=DL|NHL|home

USA puts away Norway 6-1 for second win
http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009090007

ESPN.com
Slovakia rallies past Russia in shootout for first group win
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/winter/2010/icehockey/men/recap?gameId=846

Rafalski nets late pair as US routs Norway
http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/icehockey/men/recap?gameId=844

Crosby scores on 2nd SO try to lift Canada over feisty Swiss
http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/icehockey/men/recap?gameId=845

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Men's Olympic Hockey: Team Canada Exorcises Demons Versus Team Switzerland

In defeating Team Switzerland 3-2 in a shootout, yesterday, Canada pulled one out of the fire.

While early on, the game looked like it was going to be a repeat of Team Canada's 8-0 thumping of Team Norway only two days earlier, things changed quickly for the hometown heroes.

Making the score 2-0 only 35 seconds into the second on goals by Heatley and Marleau the Canadians looked in control. Things changed for Canada, however, when Switzerland scored at 8:59 of the second.

Ivo Ruthemann's bullet of a shot from 40 feet out somehow managed to elude Brodeur even though he saw the puck the whole way. You're not going to score too many goals like that on Brodeur but the Swiss will take it!

That goal gave the Swiss the boost that they needed to turn the tide on the Canadians. It was also at that point that the immense pressure that Canada is under started to show.

While Canada outshot the Swiss 17-8 in the first period, the margin was only 10-9 for Canada in the second as the Swiss took the game to a suddenly reeling Canadian team.

The Swiss continued to fore-check aggressively and were rewarded with the tying goal with 10 seconds left in the second period. Patrick von Gunten threw the puck out front and it banked off of Canada's Patrick Marleau's skate and past Brodeur to send the team to their dressing rooms tied at two.

Canada wasn't discouraged however, throwing everything they had at the Swiss in the third. Switzerland's goaltender, Jonas Hiller, was equal to the task however as he made save after spectacular save to hold off the Canadian onslaught.

Hiller had fans remembering about how the Canadian team was stoned by Switzerland's Martin Gerber, only four years prior, in Turin, as Canada lost 2-0. That loss was the beginning of the end for a Canadian that would ultimately finish seventh in the 2006 Olympics and out of the medals.

Hiller's heroics continued to be on display as he made 18 saves in the third period to send the game to overtime.

Overtime failed to solve anything and it was up to the two goaltenders to decide the fate of the game in the shootout.

After neither team was able to score on their three shootout chances -- including Hiller's saves on Crosby, Toews and Getzlaf -- the Canadians sent Crobsy out again, to take the fourth shot.

As an aside, you should know that in international ice hockey, unlike the NHL, teams can repeat shooters after the third man has taken his shot. As such, Babcock gave Crosby another crack at it.

They say that you win with your best and you lose with your best and Babcock must have known that Crosby, who was held off the score sheet and had a frustrating game, wanted to be a difference maker. He wanted that goal and he wanted the win.

The look in his eyes, as he skated to the puck at center ice, was of a focused young man who had had enough.

This time, instead of trying a deke, Crosby did a quick fake and fired a wrister past Hiller on the short stick side. That left it up to Brodeur to stop Switzerland's Domenichelli, which he did as the Swiss player tried to go up high glove side.

The save won the game for Canada and allowed fans in attendance and watching on TV to breath a sigh of relief.

By almost duplicating their effort of four years earlier, against Canada, Team Switzerland continued to show that while they are not yet part of the top six international teams -- Canada, USA, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic -- they are certainly not far behind.

Almost more importantly than the win, for Canada, was the fact they have seemed to have exorcised their shootout demons from Turin. In addition, maybe this game provided the Canadian team with that little bit of adversity that they needed to really bump their game into gear.

There is no question that the Canadian team still has a lot of things to improve on, but we must give credit where credit is due in acknowledging that the Swiss hockey program is one that seems on the cusp of greatness.

Up next for Canada is the greatly anticipated Sunday game versus the United States. The US currently has one more point in the standings (six) than Canada (five) in virtue of their 6-1 regulation win over Norway.

Sunday's game will decide the winner of the Group A pool and determine the placement going forward into the elimination rounds. So hold onto your hats, ladies and gentleman, because Sunday's game could be one for the ages.

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Men's Olympic Hockey: Team Canada, Team Russia, Team USA

After all of the anticipation and the months, if not years, of waiting, we got to watch some Men's Olympic Hockey yesterday, and what a treat it was!

The three games on the menu showcased three Olympic hockey contenders: Team USA, Team Russia and Team Canada.

No disrespect intended to any of the other teams out there, but there are only a few medal hopefuls in this 2010 Olympic Hockey tournament and they are Canada, Russia, USA, Czech Republic and Sweden. All things considered, the Czech's and the US team are likely at the bottom of that list.

Things started off with the US taking on Switzerland in game 1 of the Group A pool. While you would expect that game to be a blow out, Switzerland actually stood their ground relatively well limiting the US to three goals in their 3-1 loss.

One thing that was evident about the US is that they intend to bring a physical brand of hockey to the rink. In addition, they intend on making things difficult for opposing goaltenders by crowding the crease and running goaltenders.

This is a Brian Burke team—who is the GM of Team USA—who intend on grinding down and physically punishing their opposition. Watching this team on the ice yesterday, they look like a team that was put together specifically to stop the Canadians.

Speaking of the Canadians, fans watched with bated breath, as Norway matched Canada's game in the first period. Sure, their goaltender, Grotnes, played great, but you could see that Canada was still feeling each other out. They were trying to get a sense of each other and find that chemistry that was so elusive in Turin.

I'm sure the anxiety continued for Team Canada's fans as Canada came out of the first intermission with a 0-0 tie and seemed to be firing blanks on the powerplay. Shades of Turin: pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. Someone needs to shot in order to score.

Canada didn't keep their fans waiting too much longer though as they got on the board with a powerplay marker at 2:30 of the second. The goal was scored on a rifling shot from Iginla—who had a hat-trick on the night—off of a soft Crosby feed. From there, Canada started to drop the hammer on Norway, scoring two more 5-on-5 goals to end the period 3-0.

Things really turned around for Canada when Coach Babcock took Bergeron off of Crosby's line and replaced him with Iginla. Those two created the spark that ignited the whole team, setting the stage for a five goal outburst in the third and an 8-0 Team Canada win.

If there was one thing the Canadians will want to fix, going forward, it is that they took too many penalties with many of the "bad" and/or offensive zone variety. It's one thing to give Norway five powerplays but it is a completely different—and infinitely more dangerous—thing to give Russia, for example, that many chances.

Unlike Canada, Team Russia was rolling right from the drop of the puck as their offensive prowess was on display versus Latvia. With players like Ovechkin, Semin, Datsyuk, Kovalchuk and Malkin up front and Gonchar and Markov at the back end, this is a team with considerable offensive power, as the Latvian's learned in their 8-2 drubbing.

Russia will definitely be a team to look out for during this tournament, as they look hungry and ready to challenge for the gold. Them, along with Sweden, present the two biggest challenges to Team Canada in their quest for gold.

As the tournament progresses and the various teams continue to gel and find chemistry, the play will peak into a crescendo of awe inspiring skill and pace, the likes of which we haven't seen in decades, if ever.

If the first day of the Men's Olympic Hockey tournament is a sign of things to come, this tournament will produce some of the best hockey that has ever been witnessed. So enjoy and try to soak up the history as it's being written right before of your eyes!

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