🇨🇭 Switzerland 4-1 Great Britain 🇬🇧
World Championship Preliminary Round
Swiss Life Arena, Zürich 🇨🇭
Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Switzerland eased to a fifth successive victory, dominating winless Great Britain to stay out in front in Group A at the 2026 IIHF World Championship.

Nino Niederreiter’s goal separated the teams at the first intermission, and the Swiss built a 3-0 lead on further tallies from Nico Hischier and Simon Knak. Great Britain, with veteran Rob Lachowicz wearing the ‘C’ to mark his 100th game, pulled one back in the second period from Josh Waller, but Niederreiter had the final say in the third to make the final 4-1.

“Tonight I thought the first period was good, but after the second period we got away from our game a little bit,” said Swiss captain Roman Josi. “Every team here is good. They’re going to make you pay. I think we got back to our game and endured a huge kill (at the start of the third) and then played great after.”

The two teams came into the game in vastly different moods. Switzerland, undefeated in four, was on a high after thrashing Austria 9-0. Britain, meanwhile, suffered a limp 0-5 loss to Hungary and had consistently allowed five goals in each of its three games to date.

So it was little surprise that the first period saw the host nation dominant. An 18-3 shot count, with the Brits limited to a miserly 25 seconds of offensive possession, highlighted the gulf between the teams.

Yet it was just 1-0 at the intermission. Switzerland got the early goal through Niederreiter, after Roman Josi’s pass sent him goalside of David Clements and he raced through to score after five minutes.

After that, the Brits dug in. It wasn’t always pretty, but Mat Robson came up big in net. There were some kind bounces: half the arena thought Josi had doubled the lead in the 15th minute with a shot off the inside of the post that flew to safety.

There were even half chances for a British goal: Ben Davies on the counter, stoned by Reto Berra with record-breaking goalie Leonardo Genoni rested tonight. Liam Kirk, a decent look on a three-on-one rush, but Berra was big again.

That gave the Brits something to build on in a frustrating tournament.

“It’s disappointing at the minute, but you know we’ll look back on it and think that’s the way we want to play every game, which we haven’t been doing so far,” said Lachowicz. “We’re still growing in the tournament, and you know we’ve got to bring that fight to the rest of the games.

“That’s how we got up into this pool, playing careless and bodies on the line. That’s our identity, and that’s how we want to play.”

However, early in the second, the Swiss struck again. Hischier increased the lead a minute after the restart. Pressure on Nathaniel Halbert beside the wall saw him fire a clearance straight onto Hischier’s stick in front of the net, and the Devils forward made no mistake.

And there was more to come as Switzerland continued to dominate. A long spell of pressure saw Damien Riat’s shot ripple the outside of the twine. Knak battled behind the net, and got the bounce when another Riat effort deflected off Mark Richardson’s skate into his path. The Davos winger collected his first goal of this year’s tournament, making it 3-0.

The Brits then had to dig deep on a huge penalty kill: hamstrung by the long change, the PK unit spent almost the full two minutes on the ice after Halbert’s holding call. Then, after returning to full strength, Great Britain grabbed a goal back. Switzerland possibly overplayed a little, allowing a breakaway that saw Kirk race down the left. His shot was saved, but Berra was powerless to deny Waller on the rebound.

It felt like a consolation, but early in the third a five-on-three power play offered hope of something more for Pete Russell’s team. Switzerland produced an energetic penalty kill, though, limiting Britain to just one clear chance when Berra padded a Kirk shot to Cade Nielson. But the centre was unable to really work the goalie from close range.

Stung by that scare, Switzerland looked to finish the job. Robson was forced into a big glove stop to deny Denis Malgin. Then a power play had the British defence scrambling desperately to keep the margin to 3-1. Timo Meier then lasered a wicked shot from a tight angle that dinged the angle of post and bar; the on-ice call gave the goal, but a review called it back.

The fourth goal came in the 53rd minute on a breakaway. Meier twice tested Robson, Niederreiter converted the second rebound for his second of the day.

Meier is enjoying playing with Niederreiter, but added that scoring is a joint responsibility on a roster that has 14 different goal scorers so far.

“It’s nice to see him score,” he said. “But I think you can tell we need everybody on our team to contribute. We roll four lines, so it’s nice to see that everybody gets involved and gets on the scoresheet.”

In the closing moments, Britain had the puck in the net once more after Berra fluffed Kirk’s dump into the zone and steered it into his net. But a retreating forward was offside and there was no goal for the Brits, who continued playing six-on-five until the end.

Despite that lapse, Berra’s first appearance at this year’s Worlds got the thumbs-up from his captain Josi.

“It’s amazing, everything he’s done for the national team, and just this year winning the title with Fribourg,” he said. “Then, unfortunately, getting sick right before the World Championship. But he just loved to be in net tonight at a home World Championship and he played great.”

Great Britain continues tomorrow against Finland, while the Swiss are back at it with Hungary on Saturday.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
02:46 – 🇬🇧 PEN – Shudra, tripping
05:05 – 🇨🇭 GOAL – Neiderreiter (Josi, Egli)
14:11 – 🇬🇧 PEN – Clements, delay of game

2nd Period
21:02 – 🇨🇭 GOAL – Hischier
22:44 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Egli, tripping
28:01 – 🇨🇭 GOAL – Knak (Riat)
32:18 – 🇬🇧 PEN – Halbert, holding
34:53 – 🇬🇧 GOAL – Waller (Kirk, Richardson)

3rd Period
42:37 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Neiderreiter, tripping
43:15 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Riat, delay of game
46:42 – 🇬🇧 PEN – Dowd, hooking
52:53 – 🇨🇭 GOAL – Neiderreiter (Meier, Hischier)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇭 Berra (12-13)
L: 🇬🇧 Robson (37-41)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇭 18+11+12 = 41
🇬🇧 3+6+4 = 13

ROSTERS
🇨🇭 Goaltenders: Sandro Aeschlimann, Reto Berra. Defence: Tim Berni, Dominik Egli, Lukas Frick, Roman Josi (C), Sven Jung, Dean Kukan, Christian Marti, Janis Moser. Forwards: Sven Andrighetto (A), Christoph Bertschy, Attilio Biasca, Nico Hischier (A), Ken Jäger, Simon Knak, Denis Malgin, Timo Meier, Nino Niederreiter, Damien Riat, Théo Rochette, Calvin Thürkauf.
🇬🇧 Goaltenders: Ben Bowns, Mat Robson. Defence: Travis Brown, David Clements, Nathanael Halbert, Joe Hazeldine, Brad Jenion, Mark Richardson (A), Liam Steele, Josh Tetlow. Forwards: Ollie Betteridge, Ben Davies, Robert Dowd, Bayley Harewood, Liam Kirk (A), Robert Lachowicz (C), Sam Lyne, Cade Neilson, Logan Neilson, Brett Perlini, Cole Shudra, Josh Waller.

Article Credit: IIHF Worlds 2026
Photo Credit: IIHF Worlds 2026 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC