Olympics: Switzerland Roster Discussion (Roster in post 1)

jonas2244

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Olympic-experience is also a big plus for Hiller. He was great 2010, he was huge 2014 (just one goal in the first 3 games). And we all know that the Olympics are a different tournament.
 

stv11

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Olympic-experience is also a big plus for Hiller. He was great 2010, he was huge 2014 (just one goal in the first 3 games). And we all know that the Olympics are a different tournament.

Two consecutive shutout actually, and two goals allowed in three games. Berra played against Sweden.
 
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Speyer

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Olympic-experience is also a big plus for Hiller. He was great 2010, he was huge 2014 (just one goal in the first 3 games). And we all know that the Olympics are a different tournament.

Well I guess either one is a good choice this year. When Hiller is one his game he is better than Genoni but he's also more likely to allow soft goals. With the much more leveled playing field this year due to the absence of the NHL i would start Genoni and let them battle it out in the group stage.
 

jonas2244

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Yeah, selecting the right goalkeeper is mostly a lot of luck anyway, so I'm happy with either choice for the first game. Both choices could be right or wrong.
 

stv11

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Tonight's team:

Hiller (Stephan)

Blum - Untersander
Furrer - Diaz
Geering - Schlumpf
Loeffel

Hollenstein - Haas - Praplan
Moser - Suter - Hofmann
Rüfenacht - Almond - Bodenmann
Scherwey - Schäppi - Herzog

Not dressed: Genoni, Du Bois, Ambühl, Corvi.

I assume the Davos players get some rest because they played on Sunday.
 

stv11

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Poor game, Switzerland was unable to play on its strengths and get some pace into the game. Germany wasn't much spectacular either, but at least managed to defend its blue line well.

I liked Scherwey (well, not really, but you know what I mean) and Suter, but disappointing game by the Haas and Almond lines, and I'm still not sold on Untersander.
 

jonas2244

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Yeah, nothing special, but also nothing to worry about. Just a game to keep the rythm alive and not injure yourself. Both goalies were good, Stephan had some great saves (the one with the blocker was great). Defense overall was solid, Scherwey showed what he has to offer. I think there is a good chance that Bodenmann has watch the games from outside when the rest is healthy and fit. A fast line with Suter, Scherwey and Ambühl might be an idea vs. the slower opponents.
 

jonas2244

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I don't think there was any coverage.
Loeffel and Hofmann not on the roster is no surprise and could be expected. I'm really looking forward to Thursday, this could be an interesting tournament.
 

Jon Riley

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Did anyone manage to watch the match? Except for the univerally reported "they sucked" is there more worth to know?
 

stv11

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I don't have much time for a detailed report, but basically they were overwhelmed by Canada's speed during the first 35 minutes and the defensive coverage was terrible (Untersander skating around instead of covering his guy for the first goal, Blum and Untersander leaving a player alone in front of the net on the 2nd goal, same with Du Bois and Schlumpf on the 3rd goal). Last 25 minutes were a lot better, so at least there is some momentum going into the next game.
 
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stv11

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So, Germany it is, and then a possible quarterfinal against the winner of Sweden-Finland. Definitely not the easiest path, but things are so random with that stupid tournament system that doing better in the first round wouldn't guarantee better matchups (see Sochi).

I'm more worried about how the team is unable to use its speed and the inconsistency there is throughout the games. And what happend to the Praplan-Haas-Hollenstein line?
 

Speyer

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So, Germany it is, and then a possible quarterfinal against the winner of Sweden-Finland. Definitely not the easiest path, but things are so random with that stupid tournament system that doing better in the first round wouldn't guarantee better matchups (see Sochi).

I'm more worried about how the team is unable to use its speed and the inconsistency there is throughout the games. And what happend to the Praplan-Haas-Hollenstein line?

They were the worst line today. Maybe Fischer should explore the possiblity to split them up. I know they have been playing together for some time now, but they were ineffective as hell today.
 

Jon Riley

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By far the worse line. On the bright side, Hiller looks solid as he has been in the last months, I think he earned next start.
Untersander Blum had a couple of brainfarts that I would like not to see anymore. I liked Loeffel, even though that missed puck at the end was ugly.
Last period has been quite good, at least from the energy and pressure point of view.
I guess that the decision to bring Scherwey and Rüfenacht over more skilled players was actually the correct one, though.
Good Ambhül and Suter
 

Jon Riley

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This has been a serious disappointment.
Without talking about who has not been called for the team, the players that came to the olympics were good enough to play better then this.
I liked Rüfenacht, Scherwey, Furrer, Hiller has been quite solid, Moser showed that is basically the only one capable of scoring and Suter&Ambhül have been ok. The rest was very very meh, with the Haas line and the UntersanderBlum couple taking the price for the most disappointing players of the tournament.

This team wasn't lazy, but it looked scared. Outplayed way too easily, they were losing most of the battles, not much forechecking, troubles skating through the neutral zone and atrocious special teams.
I'm not a Fischer basher, but this was too bad of a tournament for just shrugging it off with a "now we start the preparation for the WHC".
Something has to change because these players are much better than this
 

rimpirate

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Nov 19, 2013
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The team's performance really reminded me of EHCB this october and november: You know they could play a whole lot better, but there is zero confidence and most players look like they don't really want to put everything into each shift. And as with Biel, less than a 100% effort just don't cut it at this level.
I think all the medal talk and "Canada sends some scrubs" got to their heads and lead them to think that a semi-decent showing without hard work would be enough to beat Canada. We all know how it turned out.
And same as with Biel, things won't change without new impulses, i.e. a new boss at the bench.
 

stv11

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I'm not sure the players themselves were that much into the medal talk, that's the kind of stuff only blick readers were dumb enough to believe (ok, some players may not be the sharpest tool either).

The team was sloppy over the entire season, poor play at the Karjala cup, wins against opposition that was far from Olympic caliber at the Spengler cup (in hindsight it was probably a mistake to replace the December international tournament by the Spengler cup), and a poor game against Germany two weeks ago. And we're talking about the same players and the same tactics that worked well throughout last season.

Not that different from Sochi, when you think about it. The most offensive minded team Switzerland ever, made of the same players that had all the pucks go in in 2013 played three consecutive 1-0 games and shot at a 3% efficiency in 2014.
 

jonas2244

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It's a tough thing to take. The talent was there, the skills were there, the goalkeeper was at his best, they just didn't perform. Blaming the coach is always easy, maybe you can blame him, I wouldn't be too sure that it would have been much different with another coach.

The D-corps was not good enough. Blum is far away from the best Blum and Untersander was nowhere near the game he played at the last WC. Diaz was good, but he's no Josi. And he gets compared with him. Selecting Du Bois was a mistake, but Genazzi wouldn't have made much of a difference. Schlumpf played what he's able to play, as Loeffel did. And Furrer showed how much more he could have achieved in his career without his injury-proneness.

Praplan was the big disapointment, of course. He didn't look like an NHL-player which he wants to be. Hollenstein was better, but if you want to be successful at this level you need 3 linemates in shape. I really liked the Suter-line and I hope we can see them again at the WC. The third line around Scherwey was solid, but they're no difference-maker. And the 4th line only had Rüfenacht in shape, Schäppi and Almond were also far away from their WC-play. As is Herzog who has all the tools for a great career but just plays without any confidence right now. I really like him, his play, his skills, his strength and I really hope he can find it again.

If you want to get better you have to focus on developing young players. Changing coaches brings shorttime success sometimes, if you want to grow the game and close (or shorten) the gap there are other things to do. Switzerland had great success with continuity in the last 2 decades, let's bring this back. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose, that's part of the game. If you want to get better you have to agree on a plan and follow that without discussing about single games. If Switzerland would have scored in that overtime vs. Germany everyone would be happy.
 

rimpirate

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It's a tough thing to take. The talent was there, the skills were there, the goalkeeper was at his best, they just didn't perform. Blaming the coach is always easy, maybe you can blame him, I wouldn't be too sure that it would have been much different with another coach.

The D-corps was not good enough. Blum is far away from the best Blum and Untersander was nowhere near the game he played at the last WC. Diaz was good, but he's no Josi. And he gets compared with him. Selecting Du Bois was a mistake, but Genazzi wouldn't have made much of a difference. Schlumpf played what he's able to play, as Loeffel did. And Furrer showed how much more he could have achieved in his career without his injury-proneness.

Praplan was the big disapointment, of course. He didn't look like an NHL-player which he wants to be. Hollenstein was better, but if you want to be successful at this level you need 3 linemates in shape. I really liked the Suter-line and I hope we can see them again at the WC. The third line around Scherwey was solid, but they're no difference-maker. And the 4th line only had Rüfenacht in shape, Schäppi and Almond were also far away from their WC-play. As is Herzog who has all the tools for a great career but just plays without any confidence right now. I really like him, his play, his skills, his strength and I really hope he can find it again.

If you want to get better you have to focus on developing young players. Changing coaches brings shorttime success sometimes, if you want to grow the game and close (or shorten) the gap there are other things to do. Switzerland had great success with continuity in the last 2 decades, let's bring this back. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose, that's part of the game. If you want to get better you have to agree on a plan and follow that without discussing about single games. If Switzerland would have scored in that overtime vs. Germany everyone would be happy.

The thing is, under the current management - from Kohler over Raffainer to Fischer - I just don't see anything that even vaguely resembles a plan, a concept or at least a vision of Swiss hockey for the next few years. Granted, the diffuse concept of «swissness» has a nice ring to it, but there is no follow-up, no commitment.
Sure, blaming the coach generally is a cheap out in any discussion, but what has Fischer brought to Swiss hockey so far? After the completely botched 2016 WHC campaign, the federation had to add Albelin to get at least some tactical know-how into the coaching mix. I would be much more inclined to put more blame on the player's atrocious choke-job if Fischer had shown any capability of being a good NT coach. The issues run much deeper than just Fischer, granted, with statements such as "The results don't matter." from Raffainer, but realistically, we won't get rid of Kohler or Raffainer in the near future.
As for continuity, in hindsight, it very likely would have been better for all parties involved if Sean Simpson had been kept on as NT coach.
 
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rimpirate

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I hope the Swiss players and staff take a long and hard look at Germany's performance to realize what could have been with the proper mindset.
 

jonas2244

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I agree on Sean Simpson. But also, it wasn't all fancy and shiny with him. There were bad tournaments with Simpson. There was Sotchi 2014 with the best Swiss team ever, with a great Jonas Hiller and the team failed to beat Latvia and just scored 3 goals in 4 games.
I did see a good Swiss team at the last WC. With a lot of passion and offensive drive. It didn't work out this time, sometimes you have to accept the sport. I just want to say, it's hard to loose vs. Germany, but it's nothing that's impossible or whatever. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. You can never plan success, you can try to, but good plans sometimes fail and bad plans are sometimes successful.

We should focus on improving the development of young players than focus on endless discussion about the National coach. That's the most important thin. We should try to raise the skill level, the shot quality, develop good goalies again.

And I still think it's very difficult to judge how good Fischer is from the outside. Being successful is not always the same as being a good coach and having good knowledge. He's a smart guy and sometimes this is the most important point for a national coach. I don't know if Krüger was more. I once had a coaching-workshop together with Marcel Jenni. He said about the same we hear now about Fischer about Krüger.
 

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