Lara Stalder ‘Definitely Not Happy With My Performances’

It was a disappointing IIHF Women’s World Championship for Switzerland and for Lara Stalder personally.

The Swiss team only managed to score one goal across its first five games, culminating with an embarrassing 7-0 defeat to host Czechia in the quarterfinals. Individually, the longtime Swiss national team’s all-time leading scorer and longtime was fighting illness, played in only three games and was held off the scoresheet entirely.

“We knew what was coming with the top group and I thought we battled well against the top teams in the world,” Stalder began. “We know how to play them. You have to play structured defensively but I think the biggest mistake we made was, when we (gave up) one, we kinda lost it. Not just one but two, three goals against us and then it’s hard to bounce back from that.

“That sums it up. Otherwise, I think we fought well and tried our best.”

As for the team’s offensive woes, she said, “I think we had great chances all tournament but if you don’t score on on the power play, don’t score on your chances, you’re not going to win.”

Andrea Brändli Says PWHL ‘Definitely Not A No – It’s A Maybe’ 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.

Stalder played in Switzerland’s first two games against Czechia and Canada but then missed the last two group-stage games against Finland and the USA. Probably still not 100 percent, she played nonetheless in the quarterfinals.

“It sucks,” she said. “I was sick there for a couple of days. It’s not the ideal thing if you want to play at the best level against the best players in the world. I did my best, or what I could, but I’m definitely not happy with my performances.”

Despite the impending format change in the Women’s Worlds, the playoff game for fifth place remains on the schedule. In this past, this was important to determine which team would join the four semifinalists in Group A the following year. This year, the Saturday morning game between Switzerland and Sweden will be worth a few IIHF World Ranking points and the opportunity to finish the tournament on a positive note.

“We’ve gotta bounce back to at least save our heads for this tournament and show that we can do much better,” said Stalder.

Hilary Knight Breaks Wickenheiser’s World Championship Career Assists Record Entering the very last group-stage game of the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship between the USA and Switzerland, Hayley Wickenheiser’s career total of 49 assists was in serious jeopardy. The USA’s Kendall Coyne-Schofield trailed her by only one point and Hilary Knight by two. A third player, Canadian Marie-Philip Poulin, also trailed by two but was idle on this day.