It was an upset to everyone but Team Switzerland.
Sweden came into the game as the top seed of Group B, while the Swiss crossed over as the fourth seed from Group A. Sweden looked dominant in round-robin play, forcing Switzerland into playing the role of the underdog coming into the game.
But the Swiss did not see it that way.
“No, we didn’t think we were the underdog. We had a close game against both Canada and Russia,” said team captain Nando Eggenberger on the huge 2-0 victory his country pulled off.
“We know we have a really good team and we can beat anyone, and now we have done that. It feels great.”
Switzerland had only defeated Sweden once in an elimination game at the World Juniors, 21 years ago in 1998. The odds were on the side of Sweden.
A fast start to the game saw a slight advantage to Team Switzerland. The Swiss showed some pressure against the Swedes, most of it coming while they were on the power play.
It was at even strength however that Switzerland was able to get on the board first. Yannick Bruschweiler sniped a shot from just inside the blueline past Sweden goalie Samuel Ersson to make it 1-0.
Luca Hollensein looked up to the task in the net for Switzerland, turning away all Sweden chances early and the first period finished 1-0 for Switzerland.
In the second, the Swiss were allowed to bang away in the crease for multiple chances and Luca Wyss was finally able to stuff it home for the 2-0 goal at 13:59. It was Wyss’s first game of the tournament, as he was recovering from a concussion in the pre-tournament exhibition.
At the end of the second period, a surprising Swiss team held the lead over Sweden and looked to close it out in the final frame. The Victoria crowd was definitely behind the Swiss team, “It was nice,” said Swiss captain Eggenberger post-game. “It’s always a great feeling if the crowd is behind you. If you’re Switzerland and playing in Canada and the crowd is for you, it’s the best feeling.”
Midway through the third period the Swedish pressure began to come on but the Swiss were able to hold. As the period ran down Sweden could not mount a steady attack and failed to make the most of their chances. As time ran down Hollensein made a final few large saves and the major upset was complete. Team Switzerland sent Team Sweden home from the tournament.
A clearly disappointed Rickard Hugg said post-game of Team Sweden’s effort “We weren’t there today. We didn’t work as hard as the games before and it was our worst game for sure.”
The head coach for Sweden Tomas Monten reflected on the game, “Congrats to Switzerland. They got the game where they wanted. They work really hard and we couldn’t compete at the same level and lost our tempo with the puck.” With the compacted schedule coupled with his team’s sickness, Monten said the lack of practice could have taken it’s toll. “We haven’t practiced with the whole team for five days, to practice the details in our game. It has been only to play games and then rest, then play more games.”
It’s off to Vancouver now for a semi-final matchup against Finland. Team Finland pulled off an upset of their own in the quarterfinals with an overtime win over Canada. When asked about his teams confidence, Switzerland Head Coach Christian Wohlwend said, “Confidence level is huge. The belief level is huge too. We are just riding on the wave now.”
