For the second year in a row, and the fourth time in 13 years, the Swiss are silver medalists at the IIHF World Championship, following Sunday’s 1-0 overtime loss to the USA in the final.
Several of the players on this Swiss team have experienced this feeling before. For 41-year-old Andres Ambühl, who announced earlier this season that he was retiring, it was apparently his last chance.
“It really hurts,” Ambühl whispered, in a scene painfully reminiscent of last year in Prague. “I mean, we wanted to take the final step and again we couldn’t make it.”
"We don't have it in our heads,” said Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Janis Moser according to Hokej.cz, presumably referring to the mindset of a winner. “It’s hard to win the final, you’re always up against a very strong team, but we’ve been there so many times that we have to have enough courage to handle it.”
Switzerland’s first final appearance, in 2013, was their first medal in 60 years and they felt just happy to be there, losing 5-1 to Sweden. But 2018 was a 3-2 shootout loss to Sweden, and last year was 2-0 to Czechia – a game that remained scoreless until midway through the third period.
This year remained scoreless even longer.
“It was a tight game, 50-50 and could have gone either way,” said Kevin Fiala, according to HockeyNews.se. “I don’t think we played like we usually do and should. We played too defensively and didn’t attack much. We played more to not lose.
An experienced NHLer, the Los Angeles Kings forward prefers NHL playoff-style overtime to the IIHF format.
“It’s a little strange,” Fiala said of 3-on-3 overtime in the final. “I don’t decide but I would have loved if it was 5-on-5 and golden goal – no shootout. I think 5-on-5 is more hockey and 3-on-3 is more… regular season. This is the World Championship final.”
“Overtime is one shot and they scored, and unfortunately we didn’t score,” said Denis Malgin, who had a great chance in the overtime. About a minute before Tage Thompson’s game-winner, Malgin circled the US net and fired a shot that goaltender Jeremy Swayman barely got a glove on to deflect out of play.
“Our goal was gold, not silver,” Malgin shrugged. “We’ve just gotta work harder next year.”
Next year the World Championship is in Switzerland, which would be a great time for the Swiss to finally break through.
“If you have the chance to play in the World Championship, it’s a huge thing,” said Moser. “Everyone has extra motivation – we have a great hockey year ahead of us.”
“I hope so,” said Ambühl, who does not intend to play next year. “I wish it to the group because they deserve it.”
