Team Switzerland Makes it Difficult, But Canada Advances to Semis
In quarter-final action, Team Canada went into their matchup with Switzerland heavily favored, the odds set at -50,000. Switzerland has exceeded expectations in this tournament, even though they lost every game with the exception of their win against Austria. But in each of their games against Sweden and Germany, they kept things tight every step of the way. Something tells me Canada might face some resistance, at least in the early goings.
Starting goaltenders:
Canada: Dylan Garand
Switzerland: Noah Patenaude
Canada would waste little time before getting the scoring started, when Logan Stankoven (DAL) carved through the Swiss defense, finding Tyson Foerster (PHI) on the wing just over a minute into the game:
Foerster is on a three-game goal streak, he has really exploded onto the scene the last few games for Team Canada. Switzerland hasn't really been a pushover all tournament, and they weren't about to start now. Quickly after surrendering the opening goal, Simon Knak (assisted by Brian Zanetti and Vincent Despont) responded for Team Switzerland, tying the game at one:
If Switzerland is going to work out a miracle against Canada, they are going to have to score blue collar goals like that one. Oddly enough, Switzerland outshot the Canadians though the first twelve minutes. On top of that, they were devoted to clogging passing lanes and blocking shots; every time they would block a Canadian shot you could hear the entire bench start hooting and hollering. Very cool.
Team Canada is still fully loaded with talent and can strike at any moment. After a couple consecutive cycles, one of Switzerland's shot blocks would bounce the puck right to an open Jack Thompson, who buried it in the open net:
Mason McTavish looks like a different breed out there, prancing around and playing with the Swiss defense. Very fun to watch. Also noticeably a step faster than the rest is Logan Stankoven (DAL). Stankoven was setting up teammates and creating chances all game long and decided he was going to take care of things himself with an absolute beauty:
Stankoven's goal marked the end of the night for Swiss G Noah Patenaude. Nathan Gaucher (ANA) would add another, upping Canada's lead to 4-1. Switzerland wasn't even playing overly poor at this point, Canada's surgical offense held true, scoring four goals on 10 shots. Attilio Biasce added a goal for Switzerland with under ten seconds in the period, cutting Canada's lead to two.
End of 1st Period: CAN - 4 :: SUI - 2
Canada would continue to push Switzerland, but this Swiss team just does not relent. They blocked all the shots they could, laid hits, took hits, anything to keep themselves in it.
Olen Zellweger made a brilliant cross-seam pass, finding Will Cuylle, who buried Canada's fifth shortside on Patenaude's replacement, Kevin Pasche:
Attilio Biasca's second of the night kept things interesting. I wonder if 'Attilio Biasca' is a name to remember, he has had a strong tournament for Team Switzerland.
End of 2nd Period: CAN - 5 :: SUI - 3
The third started off tightly contested and would continue as such throughout the period. One would think that by this point, Canada would have the game in the bag, but it just does not feel that way.
Switzerland has stayed with the Canadians every step of the way. Halfway through the third, shots were 29-22 in favor of Canada, which is much tighter of a gap than I was expecting. It feels like anyone's game.
But Canada wouldn't budge, closing out Team Switzerland by a final score of 6-3. Most of Switzerland's team will be back this winter for the 2023 World Juniors, so they can hold their heads high. They pushed some of the world's best to the brink, and with some work they can do some serious damage in December and January.
As for Team Canada, F Ridly Greig left the game in the second period and did not return after taking a check. It looked like his shoulder was the area of concern, and his status for Canada's semi-final match is unknown. For now, they await the result of Team USA vs. Team Czechia this evening. If the US wins tonight, the semis will be:
Canada vs Finland
US vs Sweden
If Czechia wins:
Canada vs Czechia
Sweden vs Finland
Players of the Game:
Canada: Logan Stankoven
Switzerland: Attilio Biasca
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Patrick Maroon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Lukas Reichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Travis Konecny | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Anze Kopitar | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Quinton Byfield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Noah Cates | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marcus Johansson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Adrian Kempe | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kevin Rooney | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bobby Brink | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kevin Fiala | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Justin Kirkland | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Daniil Miromanov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Murphy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Travis Sanheim | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||