great feelings after the coup

When the Swiss national anthem was played after a victory against the Russians competing under a neutral flag, coach Colin Muller, who has been in office since the summer of 2019, was overwhelmed with emotion. The one who has already had a lot of experience in ice hockey and has already celebrated some successes. For example, when the Swiss men won silver at the 2013 World Cup in Stockholm, he was there as an assistant coach. This underscores the importance of this success.

The Swiss showed great morale, as they were 0–2 behind in the 9th minute, and the result lasted until the 50th minute. However, the team continued to believe in itself, although they scored only one goal in four losing group games (in 1:3 against the Russians) and had to do without the first goal-scorer Alina Müller, who was injured. . Ankle

Team leader Lara Stalder said some players saw a resemblance to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, when the Swiss were also 0–2 behind in the bronze medal match against Sweden after 40 minutes. “2-0 is the worst lead in ice hockey,” Stalder said. “Everyone knew that once we scored a goal, we would just keep rolling and no one could stop us.”

In addition, thanks to the special mode, the Swiss women had a quarter-final ticket secured before the start of the tournament, as they played in the more powerful Group A due to the world ranking. So this was the main focus from the start on the sport, and the Swiss women really managed to get ready on day X. “We just had to win this game,” said Evelina Raselli, who made it 2-1.

It is a reward for the fact that since winning the bronze medal in Sochi, women have received more support and various projects have been initiated. Twelve support players have been training since last year at the top center OYM in Cham, where preparations for the World Cup took place. “A lot has happened in recent years,” said Daniela Diaz, manager of the women’s national team. For Mueller, at the moment, when it comes to OYM, “there’s nothing like it in the world.” So the prerequisites for greater width are good.

In the top 4 of a World Cup for the third time

Swiss women finished in the top 4 at the World Championships for the third time after 2008 and 2012. In 2008 they achieved this through a qualifying round of three runners-up in the preliminary round, the quarter-finals being the only since 2011. In the knockout rounds, Swiss women were there for the sixth time, and for the fifth time, the quarterfinal opponent was Russia – as of 2014. And was at the 2018 Winter Olympics. In Calgary, he overcame this obstacle for the third time. After the first two victories at these Games against Eastern Europeans, they later won bronze – at the World Cup in 2012 and the Winter Games in 2014. Is this a good omen?

The women of Switzerland will have their first chance to win a medal this time around in the semi-final against Canada on Tuesday night. The hosts are the record world champions with ten titles, but the last gold medal was nine years ago. Since then, the Americans have always carried the trophy. In the last World Cup two years ago, the Canadians also lost to Finland (2-4) in the semi-finals. They want to bridge this gap completely, while enthusiastic Swiss women can play completely free.