Was it really nearly a decade ago that the Swiss won nine straight games to advance to the gold medal game? Yes, they lost to Sweden, 5-1, but their silver medal was their best result since 1935. That was under coach Shawn Simpson, who left a year later and who was replaced by Patrick Fischer after a middling year with Glen Hanlon. Fischer also took the Swiss to the gold-medal game, in 2018, where they lost again to Sweden, but this time in a shootout. The Swiss spent most of the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s fighting to make it up to the top pool, and they have spent most of the years since fighting to make the quarter-finals for a top-8 finish. But now, they see themselves automatically as quarter-finalists and want to consider a medal as a more common achievement. And now they’re back for a World Championship in the Nordic countries for the first time since winning silver in Stockholm 2013 and Copenhagen 2018.

Goaltending

Reto Berra has been the number-one goalie for the Swiss in their preparations. The 35-year-old was part of those silver-medal teams in 2013 and ’18, and he was the main man last year when the team finished 6th. He has played every year at the World Championship since 2012, excepting 2017, and he will no doubt carry the load this year as well. In all, he has 36 games under his belt, as well as one game from the Sochi Olympics, and he has a goals-against average of 2.54. Leonardo Genoni, who led EV Zug to another Swiss championship recently, is expected to join the roster when the Swiss announce the final version. Sandro Aeschlimann from HC Davos is the third goalie. The 27-year-old will be making his international debut with Switzerland.

Defence

Jonas Siegenthaler had his best NHL season to date in 2021-22, with New Jersey, playing alongside Swiss teammate Nico Hischier. He is a big, strong D-man who played at last year’s Worlds in Riga after three World Juniors and three U18s with the Swiss. Two Olympians from 2022 are also on this team, Michael Fora, 26, and Lukas Frick, 27. They are more defensive-minded but can give coach Fischer some quality minutes of reliable defence. There are two other NHLers joining the team as well, namely Dean Kukan from Columbus and Janis Moser from Arizona. Kukan spent his last junior years in Sweden and played both U18 and U20 with the Swiss before embarking on a pro career in North America, where he has slowly worked himself into a modestly prominent role. Moser, on the other hand, is only 21 years old and just finished his rookie season with the Coyotes. All the same, it will be his third World tournament.

Forward

The big story to start this tournament belongs to Andres Ambuhl. He has 115 World Championship games to his credit and will almost certainly set the all-time record, surpassing German Udo Kiessling (119). He will be appearing in his 17th WM, which will also be a record. Nico Hischier, the first Swiss player to be selected 1st overall in the NHL draft, will also join the team, and he will be counted on to drive the offence. Flashy, skilled, gifted, exciting, he can do it all. Two other NHLers will figure prominently in the team’s success – Timo Meier of San Jose and Pius Suter in Detroit. Meier in particular had a spectacular season with the Sharks, scoring a career-best 35 goals and 76 points in his sixth season with the team. He had been drafted a lofty 9th overall back in 2015 and is now developing into the player San Jose expected, and the Swiss national team will also benefit from his hot hand. Suter had a different kind of success with the Red Wings. Never drafted, he made a name for himself with Chicago last year and this season quietly had 15 goals and 36 points with a terrible Detroit team stocked with prospects that will contend for the Cup in the not-too-distant future. The Swiss also hope to add Philipp Kurashev of the Chicago Blackhawks if he’s healthy. The rest of the forwards come from Switzerland’s National League, including Denis Malgin, who led Zurich in scoring this past season and also played in Beijing. Other players from Beijing include Christoph Bertschy, Enzo Corvi, and Calvin Thurkauf.

Coaching

Patrick Fischer has been the team’s head coach since 2016 and has made the QF every year since 2017, including an 8th-place finish at the Beijing Olympics. The team has the depth and now experience and skill to expect a playoff position, after which it’s tough to say how far they can go. With two gold medal game appearances in the last eight years, winning a medal would be no fluke but the result of a deep and ever richer system of development.

Projected Results

The Swiss will make the quarter-finals and with a bit of good fortune and strong play can make it to the semis. Beyond that might be pushing expectations, but this is an impressive roster.