Switzerland Quarter-Century Team Unveiled: Josi & Fiala Lead A Talented Bunch
In the spirit of the NHL announcing quarter-century teams for each of its 30 franchises that have played since 2000, I thought I’d try a similar exercise by country – first and second teams. It’s not limited to NHL performance, although that carries a lot of weight. International play for the country also weighs heavily. To be eligible, a player needn’t have necessarily played for the country at a major tournament, but he had (or has) to be eligible.
Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala playing for the Nashville Predators in 2018. © Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Countries chosen have to have played in at least four major international tournaments (Olympic games, top-division IIHF World Championships or World Cups of Hockey) since 2000. Based on that arbitrary number, 20 countries qualify. Great Britain barely makes the cut with four top-level World Championships, while Hungary with three, South Korea and Poland each with two, and China with one do not.
I’m revealing them alphabetically starting with Austria, although the four teams in the 4 Nations Face-Off will be held back until the end. Scroll down for links to other teams published so far.
SWITZERLAND
First Team
F: Nino
Niederreiter
F:
Kevin Fiala
F: Nico
Hischier
D:
Roman Josi
D: Mark
Streit
G: Jonas Hiller
Second Team
F:
Andres Ambühl
F: Timo
Meier
F:
Pius Suter
D:
Raphael
Díaz
D:
Jonas Siegenthaler
G:
Martin Gerber
Switzerland’s First Team is pretty straightforward at forward and defense. There might be some disagreement on the Second Team, however. Andres Ambühl – who will retire at the end of this season – never played in the NHL but he holds a ton of IIHF and Swiss domestic records, so he can’t be left off. And Suter has played very little for Switzerland – and maybe this is a bit of recency bias – but has shown to be an excellent two-way center both in the NHL and internationally and is a lock to be on Switzerland’s Olympic team next year.
Hiller and Gerber were by far the most prolific Swiss goalies in the NHL in the first quarter of this century and both played well enough internationally that neither could be knocked out. It was a shame, however, not to be able to pick Leonardo Genoni, who is always great at World Championships and whom Josi said “definitely should have been in the NHL.”
Agree or disagree with the selections? Comment below and check back daily as more international quarter-century teams are revealed.
OTHER TEAMS