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Mark Streit battles Shane Doan for the puck. |
Swiss precision
has arrived in hockey
By Rich Libero | NHL.com
Feb. 18, 2006
TORINO, Italy - Swiss time pieces are valued
for their precision and, judging by the way their boys
played in a 2-0 defeat of Canada Saturday, so is their
hockey team.
"Obviously little Switzerland is not that," team
captain Mark Streit said.
The shocking upset of Canada was the second in as many
games for Switzerland as they upended the Czech
Republic Thursday. Like the workings of a fine watch,
the Swiss game has many parts. The tandem of
goaltenders Martin Gerber and David Aebischer,
provides a rock-solid foundation of experience and
talent.
"It started with the goaltending and the guys up front
did a heck of a job," Streit said.
Carolina's Gerber, who is having an excellent NHL
season with a 28-9-0 record and a 2.73 goals-against
averages, stopped all 49 Canadian shots to record the
shutout. Gerber's NHL experience and confidence left
him calm in the face of Team Canada's awesome
potential.
But this Swiss team has been playing together on the
international circuit for a few years, and Gerber
pointed to that as a key for their success in this
tournament.
"I think we got better mentally because we got to a
higher level step by step," Gerber said. "It's a
tournament and things can be decided in 60 minutes.
It's not like a season, it's easy for us to work hard
against a team like Canada."
The other parts of the Swiss watch include former
Montreal Canadien Paul DiPietro who has spent the last
seven seasons in Switzerland playing mostly with Zug.
His last appearance in the NHL came in the form of a
20-game stint with Toronto.
"He finishes every hit," said defenseman Goran Bezina.
DiPietro, a 5-foot-9 mighty mite, is a team leader,
setting examples with his hard work, heavy hits and
timely goals. He notched two goals against Canada and
set examples for the other medium-sized forwards that
dot the Swiss roster. When DiPietro lays a solid hit
on a bigger defenseman such as Adam Foote, those kinds
of plays tend to have ripple affects along the bench.
"We've got small guys and we can all play physical,"
Bezina said.
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This is getting to be a familiar site for Swiss hockey fans at these Olympics.
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The Swiss are hard to knock off the puck. They
forecheck well and have the unnerving ability to play
with the puck in their feet along the wall. Canada's
hulking defense couldn't seem to pin their forwards
and while there were times when Canada used its size
and speed to impose its will on the Swiss defense, the
Swiss were often able to get control of the puck long
enough to get it out of the zone or start a
counterattack.
"When we got the puck we got good transition and got
the puck behind their defensemen," Bezina said.
The most telling reason for the Swiss' success is
consistency. While some teams have managed to put
together respectable moments, they often make a
mistake that hands the game to Canada. As Saturday's
game wore on it became clear that perhaps the Swiss
weren't going to experience a breakdown.
"We had another unbelievable game and a perfect game
and we had to have that against the Canadian team,"
Streit said.
Perfection often comes with practice and this Swiss
team has used international tournament pressure to
hone their skills.
"Those games on the international level are very
important because in the Swiss league it's not as
intense and not on the same level," Streit said.
Switzerland's next game against Germany is sure to be
intense. The Germans needed a late goal against Italy
to forge a 3-3 tie. Germany set a personal goal of
reaching the quarterfinals, viewing their matches
against Group A opponents Italy and Switzerland as
critical to their success. In fact, the Germans
planned their goaltending rotation around the
schedule. But that plan was based largely on the
assumption that Canada would automatically beat
Switzerland. Now that the Swiss have scored two
unlikely victories, they can deliver the knockout blow
to their rivals and advance to the quarterfinals.
The Swiss face the Germans Sunday at 6 a.m. ET (CNBC)
and finish up against Italy Tuesday at 6:30 a.m.
(MSNBC) where they will once again apply their
precision game plan with a positive outlook.
"See everything is possible," Streit said. "You don't
have to be a player in the NHL, you just have to have
heart."
That keeps on ticking like a Swiss watch.
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