WC: 2017 Team Switzerland

[Remix]

Diaz is a lock for the first power play unit. For the second unit, Untersander took the spot from Loeffel when he joined the team.

The first PP against Canada was
--------- Rüfenacht ---------
Brunner - Almond - Ambühl
----------- Diaz ------------

I can't remember the 2nd unit but I'm sure Untersander was on the blue line and Malgin was playing.

Has this still been the first unit in the first few games?

 

[stv11]

Has this still been the first unit in the first few games?

During the last game it was still Diaz at the blue line, Brunner left and Ambühl right, but with Suter in the slot and Almond in front of the net.

 

[Jon Riley]

Soo, now there is a little break and the matches against the smaller teams in the group are gone. From now on every point taken is a good point.
I am not the biggest fan of Fischer's offensive hockey and sketchy defense, but I have to say that so far the team looks good.
The d pairings have been found and seem to work quite good.
The "fourth" line is playing beyond amazing, Schäppi, Rufenacht and Almond have been consistently dominant, let's see how they'll do against Canada.
The Haas line has been very solid and produced.
Malgin and Suter showed some good things but I think good do better, they played safe. Richards is a faceoff machine and plays with hearth, but did not impress me much.
Brunner kinda meh, but he hasn't been playing much this season. He should play more simple, he is trying too much. Ambhül is not trying enough, though. Very good goals but he can do more, same with Bodenmann, kinda invisible.
All in all I liked what I saw, with a couple of NHLers more (or even Moser) this team could have been very very fun, with a much better pp.

More Untersander on the pp and less fear in the third periods, the future looks bright, all in all.

 

[stv11]

I thought Brunner played well today. Bodenmann not so much though.

The style of play is more balanced than last year, probably thanks to Albelin. The power play could be a lot better, but I guess that missing Moser and Niederreiter plays a big part. Almond and Schäppi are doing their best around the net but are not as efficient.

 

[jonas2244]

Zaugg reports that Suri and Schlumpf will get nominated and will also get some playing-time.

Canada will be a difficult game, no question, but they could see ice vs. Finland and the Czech Republic if they play like vs. Belarus and/or Norway.

 

[jonas2244]

So it seems that Suri will replace Malgin for the game vs. Canada.

 

[Jon Riley]

https://twitter.com/giempi68/status/862989360043634689

He says that Schäppi is probably out due to some back problems and Malgin 13th player, replaced by Suri.
I'm not a fan, Suri has been very meh this year. But then again, I prefer to hace Schäppi healthy for Finland and Czech Republic

 

[stv11]

It seems that Hiller will play, and the forward lines will be

Suter - Ambühl - Brunner
Hollenstein - Haas - Parplan
Suri - Almond - Rüfenacht
Bodenmann - Richard - Herzog
Malgin

Diaz also practiced normally.

http://heshootshescoores.com/schappi-in-dubbio-potrebbe-debuttare-suri-hiller-in-porta/

 

[jonas2244]

So with France winning after shootout Switzerland very probably needs two more points (assuming FRA will beat SLO and will lose vs. CZE).
Seems possible.

 

[chokei]

So with France winning after shootout Switzerland very probably needs two more points (assuming FRA will beat SLO and will lose vs. CZE).
Seems possible.

I think so too. Two overtime losses or an overtime win, or one of both. Best case is one win after 60 minutes to seal the deal.

The way I see it, with one more point for Switzerland and one less for France in the Sui-Fra game it would be 10 Sui / 6 Fra now; it wouldn't have changed that much for Switzerland as the main threat is Norway and not France as of now. They still would have needed (multiple) points from the remaining games.

The more important game will obviously be the Finland game. I'd take a point against Canada though.

 

[smitty10]

Can anyone here tell me about Loeffel? Apparently the Leafs are very interested in him, which means I now want to know about him. Is he an NHL quality Defenseman? How's his shot? How is he in the defensive zone?

 

[Hinterland]

Can anyone here tell me about Loeffel? Apparently the Leafs are very interested in him, which means I now want to know about him. Is he an NHL quality Defenseman? How's his shot? How is he in the defensive zone?

Your typical offensive defenseman. Knows how to run a PP. Great passer with a decent shot. I don't think he's NHL quality though. Not smart enough against the puck to make up for the lack of size. Looking at the Leafs defense, they may still give it a try.

 

[stv11]

Can anyone here tell me about Loeffel? Apparently the Leafs are very interested in him, which means I now want to know about him. Is he an NHL quality Defenseman? How's his shot? How is he in the defensive zone?

Great PP player but not much else. He's poor at covering opposing forwards and easily overpowered, and has poor timing. No way he ever plays in the NHL.

 

[smitty10]

Your typical offensive defenseman. Knows how to run a PP. Great passer with a decent shot. I don't think he's NHL quality though. Not smart enough against the puck to make up for the lack of size. Looking at the Leafs defense, they may still give it a try.

Great PP player but not much else. He's poor at covering opposing forwards and easily overpowered, and has poor timing. No way he ever plays in the NHL.

Thanks for the replies! I'm going to keep an eye on him during the game against Canada today. Just wanted to now more about him as anyone can lookeep great or terrible in a one game sample.

 

[jonas2244]

But he's playing very solid here, much better than I ever expected. He and Genazzi are a very solid third pairing.

What a game, and what a decision by Fischer to pull Hiller and to bring in Herzog. And Genoni was unreal.

 

[stv11]

I expected worse from him, but he didn't look good on the 2nd goal and has taken a few penalties because of his awful timing.

Anyway, this is not a time to bash the players! Crazy game tonight, they need to forget it and concentrate on Finland. Nothing is done yet.

 

[jonas2244]

Time to praise players.

Untersander really looks better each game. Very solid in the own zone and I really like how he uses the boards to put the attackers in a good position.

And Praplan is outstanding, what a tournament, he's really up there, great skater, great fighter. Still young.

 

[SwissLeaf]

Loeffel is a good NLA defender, would love him on my Swiss team (Ambri,) but not on my NHL team (Leafs)!

 

[Natt]

I noticed that it read "Suisse" at the jerseys of your players, how come its only Suisse and not Suisse on one arm and Schweiz on the other? I mean, why is the name in French and not also in German?

 

[BruinLVGA]

I noticed that it read "Suisse" at the jerseys of your players, how come its only Suisse and not Suisse on one arm and Schweiz on the other? I mean, why is the name in French and not also in German?

Why not in Italian and Rumantsch too, then? We have four official languages.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Loeffel is a good NLA defender, would love him on my Swiss team (Ambri,) but not on my NHL team (Leafs)!

Ticinese?

 

[torero]

Ticinese?

Ambri fan = ticinese ?

Not necessarily ... Ambri has a huge fan base accross Switzerland.
Ambri and Piotta villages have less than 2000 inhabitants !

Most ticinese are in favor of Lugano ... and winning helps to sustain it's fan base. In this, Ambri is a miracle on ice. I believe that, if they went down to NLB, they would never come back to NLA again.
The Gods of hockey want them in the "big league".

 

[Jon Riley]

Just finished watching the match, yesterday I missed it due to a eurovision song contest party (I know, I know)...what a match.
Fischer is forcing me to eat back some of my doubts, he read the match greatly. Pulling Hiller wasn't an obvious thing, and neither was benching Malgin. Both moves paid back.
Schäppi is quickly becoming one of my favourite players. He has been beyond perfect until now.
Suter, Praplan and of course Herzog played wonderfully. Young, skilled and determined.
And then Untersander, Loeffel, watching some defenders that know how to skate and move the puck not called Josi is a very very pleasant thing.
This team is playing hockey.
And all the big NHL stars are missing...nice

 

[stv11]

I noticed that it read "Suisse" at the jerseys of your players, how come its only Suisse and not Suisse on one arm and Schweiz on the other? I mean, why is the name in French and not also in German?

This is also the case in other sports (even in handball, which strangely is way more popular in German speaking Switzerland and has no media coverage in the French part).

But I have no idea why this is the case.

 

[Jon Riley]

I'd go full old people italian with the prosthetic "i".
Team Isvizzera