Nickname(s) Eisgenossen | General Manager Raeto Raffainer Most games Ivo Rüthemann (233) Location Switzerland | |
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Association Swiss Ice Hockey Federation/Ligue suisse d'hockey sur glace | ||
The Switzerland men's national ice hockey team is a founding member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and is controlled by the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. As of 2016 the Swiss team was ranked 7th in the world by the IIHF. From a bronze medal at the 1953 World Championships until the silver medal of 2013, Switzerland did not win a medal at a major senior ice hockey tournament, coming close in 1992 and 1998, when they finished in 4th place at the World Championships both years.
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Before the 2013 IIHF World Championship, the Swiss national hockey team scored two historic upsets at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, defeating the Czech Republic 3–2 and shutting out Canada 2–0 two days later. They finally fell to Sweden in the quarterfinals. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Swiss nearly stunned Canada again in round-robin play, taking the heavily favored Canadians to a shootout, which they lost 1–0 for a narrow 3–2 loss.
World Championship
European Championship
The head coach is Patrick Fischer.
Current roster
Roster for the 2016 IIHF World Championship.
Head coach: Patrick Fischer
U-20 team
Switzerland made their U20 debut in 1977 at the A Pool championships held in Montreal. Their first game was an 18–1 loss to the Soviet Union. Switzerland was relegated to the B Pool, but were promoted back to Pool A after posting a 4–0 record with wins over the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and France. This began a consistent cycle of relegation and promotion, and Switzerland did not win their first A Pool game until 1991 when they defeated Norway 2–1 to avoid relegation.
Switzerland's presence in the A Pool became more consistent after the IIHF changed its format to include a medal round after the round-robin in 1995. The new format allowed 2 new teams to join Pool A, which were Slovakia and Switzerland. In 1998, the Swiss won their first-ever quarter-final game over Sweden in a shootout, thanks to stellar play from goaltender David Aebischer. The team lost 2–1 to Finland in the semi-finals but rebounded to win the bronze medal with a 4–3 win over the Czech-Republic. In 2002, Switzerland upset Slovakia in a shootout in the quarter-finals on the back of great play from goaltender Tobias Stephan. Switzerland lost to Canada in the semi-finals, and faced Finland in the bronze medal match. The Swiss were optimistic, having recorded a 3–0 win over Finland in their opening game of tournament, but they lost the match 5–1 for a 4th-place finish.
Switzerland was relegated in 2008 along with Denmark. Switzerland hosted the 2009 Div I tournament and were promoted back to Pool A.
In the 2010 tournament Switzerland earned a spot in the quarter-finals against a heavily favored Russia. The Swiss pulled off a major upset by beating the Russians 3–2 in overtime. Nino Niederreiter scored twice in the game, including the OT winner. Switzerland lost 6–1 in the semi-finals to Canada and then 11–4 to Sweden in the bronze medal match for a 4th-place finish, their highest since the 2002 tournament. The lopsided score was the highest margin of victory in a medal game since the new format took place in 1995. In an interesting twist, Switzerland was originally to host the 2010 tournament, but withdrew their application due to fear of being relegated based on their poor performance in recent tournaments. The host city was rumored to be Bern or Lugano.