Hockey's Future - Switzerland

Game Summary, Sweden vs Switzerland

by pbadmin

December 26th, 1999

Sweden-Switzerland 7-1 (1-1, 2-0, 4-0)

Sweden got off to a good start to this years tournament as they cruised past Switzerland in a 7-1-win. The Swiss took a surprising lead in the first period after a mistake from Swedish goalie Johan Asplund. Asplund was just gonna stop the puck and put his glove on it, but he failed to stop it and Flavien Conne snapped it up and sent it to the net. After the goal the Swedes looked nervous and the passing game didn’t work out as well as coach Lars Molin wanted it to. But the Swedes got an opportunity as the Swiss got a man sent to the box. A misunderstanding between the Swiss defenders on the blue-line saw Christian Berglund skate through and alone with Swiss-goalie Simon Züger he some how managed to score the equaliser. Züger threw himself in front off the stick of Berglund, but he missed the puck, which slid under him.

The second period saw more nervous playing from the Swedes and Switzerland had a few chances to score, including a shot in the bar. But halfway through the period Sweden started to look as the better team and within 41 seconds they went from 1-1 to 3-1, after goals from Henrik Zetterberg and Gabriel Karlsson. Zetterberg did it on his own, breaking in in front of the goal while the Swiss were just looking at him and sent the puck past Züger. The goal from Karlsson on the other hand was a created by Björn Melin who set up Karlsson with a beautiful pass and Karlsson made no mistake alone with Züger.

World Junior Championships Preview

by pbadmin

December 23rd, 1999

Ten years from now, when we look back at this years World Junior Championships, we
will be amazed how many big stars that were present. Sure, a few of the biggest
names are missing because they have not been released by their NHL-clubs, but
many of the players who will battle for the gold-medal will become big stars in NHL sometime down the road.

This years tournament will be held in Skellefteå and Umeå, Sweden. The first game will be played on December 25th and the final will take place on January 4th. The ten teams are divided into two groups with Canada, USA, Slovakia, Finland and Czech Republic in Group A and Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Switzerland in Group B. A difference from last years tournament is that the group-winner will not be automatically qualified for the semi-final. This year the winner in Group A will play the fourth-placed team from Group B, the second-placed team in Group A will play the third-placed team from Group B and so on.

The Swiss 1999 U-20 WJC Roster

by Martin Locher

December 5th, 1999

width:80pt’>

1828;width:38pt’>

width:119pt’>

Swiss National Team Week – U20 National Team

by Martin Locher

November 30th, 1999

The U20 team has won a 4-Nations tournament in the USA. “Partly, partly”, was head coach Jakob Koelliker’s answer. “We have won it, but especially the game against Germany was really bad. We have to win against opponents like Germany.”

Switzerland had many chances to score goals. Koelliker: “We are not cool enough, we should score a lot more goals.” Indeed not only the juniors, but all of the Swiss players need to take better advantage of their goal-scoring
opportunitues.

The tournament

In a preparation game against the Rochester Mustangs, Switzerland took a 4:0 victory. The Swiss goal scorers were Bjoern Christen, Marc Reichert (2 goals) and Loic Burkhalter. Silvan Lussy and Fabian Stephan, each
added two assists. Martin Zerzuben had his first of two shut-outs. The
second followed in the tournament game against Norway.

Switzerland dominated the game and shot out the Mustangs, 22 to 9 shots.

The tournament started with a game against Germany. The game ended in a tie
at 2. Switzerland had 20 shots, while Germany was held to 14.

In the next game Norway was left scoreless. 6:0 was the final score. “Well not really an opponent for us,” coach Koelliker commented on the game. Six different players scored the goals. 35 to 3 shots – Norway is not really on the same level as Switzerland.

Swiss National Team Week – U18 National Team

by Martin Locher

November 24th, 1999

This team has only one aim: The 2000 U-18 WJC! Playing at home will be
great motivation for these kids.

Due to preparation they travelled to the United States for a training
camp and exhibition games against the USA.

Playing without Sven Helfenstein, who is already a member of the U-20
team, they still had enough players to play some pretty good hockey.

“We have between 28 and 35 players on the extended roster. Only 20 of
them will play the World Champs”, coach Beat Lautenschlager said. “We
are very deep up front. A little lack in defense, that’s why we have
two 83 born in there. But they are very good.”


The follwing players are invited to the training camp, which starts on December 16th.
Height in cm, Weight in kg; both is based on club or SEHV information