Everyone knows that Switzerland is a growing hockey nation. But did anyone expect the team to win a group that included the likes of Canada and Sweden? The Swiss will look to continue their tremendous run at the IIHF World Championships when they face the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.
The Swiss are probably thrilled knowing that they destroyed the Czechs in their lone meeting in the group stage by the score of 5-2. New York Islanders' prospect Nino Niederreiter scored his third of the group stage for Switzerland while Jiri Hudler scored the two goals for the Czechs in the loss. Swiss goalie Reto Berra stopped 37 shots in the win while Czech keeper Alexander Salak only stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced.
The Swiss earned all but one point in the entire tournament. The team won six games in regulation against Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, Belarus and Slovenia. In their seventh game, Switzerland defeated Canada in the shootout. Niederreiter leads the team with four goals while Denis Hollenstein was the Swiss points leader with three goals and four assists. Roman Josi also put up two goals and five assists in the group stage. Goalie Reto Berra played 180 minutes and allowed only four goals; he holds a 1.33 goals against average and a 95.70 save percentage.
The Czechs opened their tournament with a 2-0 win against Belarus. After two straight losses to Sweden and Switzerland, the team managed a shootout win against Demark. The joy of a 4-2 win against Slovenia quickly dissipated when the team lost 2-1 to Canada. Fortunately, the team ended its group stage run with a 7-0 win over Norway.
Prediction: Switzerland wins 4-2.
Start Time: 8:30 AM EST
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