After Saturday’s convincing 8-0 win over Denmark, Switzerland has now taken 14 out of a possible 15 points from its first five games. Leading the way offensively are defenseman Roman Josi with 10 points and center Nico Hischier with nine.
After the Denmark game, Hischier was asked if Josi was the best defenseman in the world.
“I think he is, yeah,” Hischier said flatly. “It’s the second time I’m playing with him in the World Championship and it’s fun playing with him.”
Does he make it easier to play?
“Oh, 100 percent, yeah. He’s such a smart player. You’ve just gotta find open space and you know you’ll get it from him. It’s definitely a lot easier playing with him than against him.”
And you scored the first goal for the second game in a row. How do you feel you’re playing?
“I feel good. I feel comfortable on the ice and my body feels good, and obviously, it’s great to help my team scoring goals but I try to do more than that.”
Why is it that all the best Swiss players always come to this tournament? Is there a rule that you’re banned from the team if you don’t?
“Um, I don’t know. I don’t think we’ve had that before. We love playing for our country. We’re all proud to be Swiss and if we’re able to represent our country, we always come. It’s an honor for us and if you’re healthy enough to come play, I think everybody wants to.”
Over the past few years, it seems that Switzerland has joined the group of top hockey-playing nations in the world. What has changed?
“I don’t know if anything’s changed. We’re still Switzerland but we do feel that we have a good group. We need to trust in each other but we also know there are some really good hockey teams out there as well. We’ve just gotta play for each other and work as hard as we can, and see where that takes us.”
The past couple of years, Switzerland has done really well in the group stage and then lost in the quarterfinals. How do you make sure that doesn’t happen again?
“We’re not trying to look at the quarterfinals right now. We take it game by game. We’ll go home, relax, eat, sleep, then we focus on the Canadian game. We’re just trying to build our group, build the momentum, and when the game comes, make sure we’re 100 percent ready.”
Were you surprised to see so many Swiss fans here today?
“No, we knew this weekend there were going to be a lot of Swiss fans here and they didn’t disappoint. It’s always huge when you have support like that. It feels like a home game.”
How does the atmosphere compare to the NHL?
“It’s always different. The World Championships are a huge cultural festival with all the fans (from different countries) coming together. In Switzerland, we have great support. They’ve been travelling to all the games the last few years and you an see it again here. It pushes the team, gives you the momentum, and it’s just fun playing in front of them.”