🇨🇭 Switzerland 3-2 Canada 🇨🇦 (SO)
World Championship Semifinal
O₂ arena, Prague 🇨🇿
Saturday, 25 May 2024

Switzerland remains on course for a first ever IIHF World Championship Gold medal after a nerve-jangling victory over Canada in Saturday’s World Championship semi-final in Prague.

Sven Andrighetto’s shoot-out decider, coupled with Leonardo Genoni’s save to deny Dylan Cozens, edged the win. It was a repeat of the 2018 semi-final, with the teams tying 2-2 in regulation. Canada rallied from 0-2 to tie the game on a late John Tavares goal and take its championship defence into the extras. But the Swiss held on and clinched the shoot-out to advance.

Genoni was the Swiss star, stopping 42 shots through 70 minutes. Although his team dominated the first period, he found himself under increasing pressure as Canada battled back.

And game-winner Andrighetto paid tribute to the man between the pipes: “He’s been outstanding all tournament. He steps up in big game moments, keeps us in the game, gives us the saves we need.”

For Canada, the fightback fell just short. Captain John Tavares, whose late goal tied it up in regulation, said: “That’s as close as it gets. It’s still hard to believe really. A lot of credit to the guys for sticking with it, battling back.

“It comes down to that circumstance and unfortunately we didn’t come out on top.”

Switzerland took the game to Canada from the start. The group stage meeting suggested that there was little for Patrick Fischer’s team to fear if it could stay out of the box. Moreover, everyone knew that the Swiss power play had the potential to cause trouble.

And that was exactly how it played out. After dominating much of the play, Switzerland grabbed two power play goals in two minutes late in the frame to open a 2-0 lead. Oddly, the PP was not entirely convincing, with Canada’s Brandon Tanev forcing a big save from Leonardo Genoni.

But when play went down the ice, Kevin Fiala exchanged passes with Romain Loeffel before slamming a one-timer over Joel Binnington’s shoulder. That made it seven goals in seven games for Fiala.

Fiala turned provider on the next power play, teeing up Roman Josi for a thunderous point shot that Nino Niederreiter tipped past Binnington to double the lead. Switzerland moved to 12 power play goals for the tournament, matching Canada’s PP tally in its imperious 2015 campaign here in Czechia. It also represents a 50% increase on last year’s tournament leading eight power play tallies from the Czechs.

“Our power play was good in the first,” Josi added “I thought we played well in the second but they scored one and after that we sat back a bit. But it’s Team Canada, they’ve got some great weapons. A great offence.

“We just defended really hard and Leo made some really great saves. We wanted to play more offence when we had the lead but it’s not easy against guys like that.”

A successful kill gave Canada a boost early in the second, and soon the roles were reversed when Jonas Siegenthaler sat for cross-checking. In the group game, all three Canadian goals came on the power play and penalty killing has not been a Swiss strength this year. The extra man could not generate a goal but did start to move play to the other end of the ice.

That pressure eventually paid off. There was another unsuccessful PP, but shortly after returning to equal strength Tanev got Canada on the board. After six games without allowing a goal in five-on-five play, Switzerland was undone by Olen Zellweger’s point shot. It skittered through a crowd of tumbling bodies in front of Genoni’s net, presenting Tanev with a tap-in after 34 minutes. Suddenly the game was right back in the balance.

Canadian forward Michael Bunting felt his team did enough to take the verdict after a slow start. “I think five-on-five we dominated play,” he said. “It sucks that it comes down to a skills competition at the end but give credit to the Swiss. They played a great game.

“They’re a high-offence kind of team and I feel like we were able to shut them down five-on-five, but they’re really reliable in the defensive zone.”

Canada’s momentum carried into the start of the third period, with a huge chance in the opening seconds. Tavares saw a shot saved, then Genoni produced heroics to stop Hagel’s wraparound attempt before Tavares fired wastefully over the top with goalie lying prone.

And the tributes to Genoni continued. Captain Roman Josi said: “Every Worlds I play with him, he’s amazing. I’ve been saying for a long time, I don’t how he’s not in the NHL. Every World Championship, he’s one of the best goalies. He’s clutch, he’s an amazing goalie. I don’t want to make him feel bad, but he should definitely have been in the NHL.”

Defender Jonas Siegenthaler added: “He’s so calm, nothing brings him out of his zone. He’s been a great goalie for the last 15 years and if he’s there, you feel safe. Tonight he showed it again. He’s a little older, but he’s still got it.”

After killing another penalty, Switzerland finally got its own attack into the game again. Fiala had a couple of good looks, and the second of them required a brilliant stick block from Colton Parayko to deny a certain goal. Then came a Swiss power play as Canada’s control began to fade slightly.

But with more than ten to play, the Canadians had time to resume the surge. Kaiden Guhle had a couple of attempts charged down as the Swiss were pushed into deep defence. Frequent icings took their toll, and when Andres Ambühl fired the puck over the glass in the closing moments, it was time for the big guns to fire.

And they did. Owen Power (#1 draft pick, 2021) got the puck to Connor Bedard (#1 draft pick, 2023). The youngster, quiet in the first two periods, danced his way in from the point and set up Tavares (#1 draft pick, 2009) for a lethal shot from the circle to force the game into overtime.

That OT began with Canada enjoying a four-on-three power play after a too many men call against the Swiss late in the third. André Tourigny sent out four forwards for that PP, but they could not fashion the chance they needed for a quick win. Then Switzerland had its own power play chance but was also unable to settle the outcome before the shoot-out.

“We had our chances, even at the end of regulation, and we started the overtime with a power play,” reflected Andrew Mangiapane. “It would have been nice to score, but give them credit. We dug ourselves into a hole early on and couldn’t get ourselves out.”

---

BOXSCORE
1st Period
05:54 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Tanev, high sticking
13:07 – 🇨🇦 PEN – McCann, tripping
15:06 – 🇨🇭 PP GOAL – Fiala (Loeffel, Andrighetto)
16:57 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Oleksiak, slashing
17:16 – 🇨🇭 PP GOAL – Niederreiter (Josi, Fiala)

2nd Period
23:24 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Tavares, holding
26:17 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Siegenthaler, cross checking
31:44 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Loeffel, hooking
34:07 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Tanev (Zellweger, Dubois)

3rd Period
44:03 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Thürkauf, cross checking
47:49 – 🇨🇦 PEN – McBain, interference
56:54 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Ambühl, delay of game
57:53 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Tavares (Bedard, Power)
59:21 – 🇨🇭 PEN – team, too many players

Overtime
64:00 – 🇨🇦 PEN – team, too many players

Shootout
🇨🇦 Bedard scored
🇨🇭 Senteler stopped
🇨🇦 Dubois stopped
🇨🇭 Fiala scored
🇨🇦 Severson stopped
🇨🇭 Loeffel stopped
🇨🇦 Power missed
🇨🇭 Andrighetto scored
🇨🇦 Cozens stopped

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇭 Genoni (42-44)
L: 🇨🇦 Binnington (28-30)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇭 17+6+4+3+1 = 31
🇨🇦 8+13+20+3+0 = 44

ROSTERS
🇨🇭 Goaltenders: Leonardo Genoni, Akira Schmid. Defence: Michael Fora, Andrea Glauser, Roman Josi (C), Sven Jung, Dean Kukan, Romain Loeffel, Christian Marti, Jonas Siegenthaler. Forwards: Andres Ambühl, Sven Andrighetto, Christoph Bertschy, Kevin Fiala, Gaëtan Haas, Fabrice Herzog, Nico Hischier (A), Nino Niederreiter (A), Tristan Scherwey, Sven Senteler, Dario Simion, Calvin Thürkauf.
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Jordan Binnington, Nico Daws, Joel Hofer. Defence: Bowen Byram, Kaiden Guhle, Jamie Oleksiak, Colton Parayko (A), Owen Power, Damon Severson (A), Olen Zellweger. Forwards: Connor Bedard, Michael Bunting, Dylan Cozens, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Dylan Guenther, Brandon Hagel, Andrew Mangiapane (A), Jack McBain, Jared McCann, Dawson Mercer, Nick Paul, Brandon Tanev, John Tavares (C).

🇨🇭 SWITZERLAND	vs.	CANADA (C) 🇨🇦
new champion (previous 23 May 2023)	Last Title	reign ends (since 27 May 2023)
74	All-Time Wins	338
8 wins	Head-To-Head (+ 2 ties)	40 wins
First IHLC Meeting (SUI vs. CAN) 🇨🇦 CAN 33-0 SUI 🇨🇭 – 30 Jan 1924 – OG – Chamonix 🇫🇷
Previous IHLC Meeting (SUI vs. CAN) 🇨🇦 CAN 3-2 SUI 🇨🇭 – 19 May 2024 – WC – Prague 🇨🇿
Last IHLC Game 🇨🇦 CAN 6-3 SVK 🇸🇰 – 23 May 2024 – WC – Prague 🇨🇿
Next IHLC Game 🇨🇿 CZE 2-0 SUI 🇨🇭 – 26 May 2024 – WC – Prague 🇨🇿 🏅

Article Credit: IIHF Worlds 2024
Photo Credit: IIHF Worlds 2024 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC