Through two games at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship, Switzerland has fallen to Czechia and Canada and the team has so far failed to score a goal. The team’s last line of defense, goalie Andrea Brändli, has been in goal both games.
“I’m proud of my team,” she said after the 4-0 loss to Canada. “We’ve faced a lot of adversity and I’m proud of how everybody always gets up from the ground. Even today, after that short period where we were really struggling, we came back as a team, we fought together and then we finished strong in the last period.
“You always want to finish a game strong and that’s what we did,” she continued. “There are a lot of things to improve upon, but overall, I’d say I’m pretty satisfied with how it went at the end.”
Ann-Renée Desbiens: ‘I Was Pretty Confident’ About Getting A Chance To Play
She’s been Canada’s starting goalie for the last few years, but
when Ann-Renée Desbiens suffered a
lower-body injury in a PWHL game on March 18, her status was unclear
heading into this year’s IIHF Women’s World Championship, with
the door possibly opening for 27-year-old Kristen Campbell or
21-year-old Eve Gascon to audition for the job.
Since finishing her college career – which was split between Ohio State and Boston University – in 2023, Brändli has played two years with MoDo in Sweden, with many wondering whether next season will be the year when she finally jumps to the PWHL.
“It’s not off the books,” the Swiss goalie responded. “It’s hard to answer that because there’s so much going on in the hockey world right now – a lot of uncertainties – but it’s huge what they’re doing in the PWHL and I’m super pumped to maybe play there. Who knows? But for right now, I’m still looking at all the options for next year because it’s an Olympic year, you know, it’s a little special.
“But it’s definitely not a no. It’s a maybe.”
It has been speculated that whether or not the North American circuit expands will play a role in whether Brändli goes overseas. But while she sees PWHL expansion as a logical and positive step for women’s hockey, she seems to reject the notion that it will affect her personally.
“Expansion means more room for everyone, players and goalies,” she said, before adding, “I know I can get a spot over there because I know my abilities, I know how good I am and I think I could fight for a starting position over there, even with the six existing teams.
“But, of course, expansion would help everyone and it would help grow the game too.”