MILAN -- Team Switzerland got its first look at Rho Arena here in Milan on Monday. Known as HC2 for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, it's the smaller, more out-of-the-way rink for the men's and women's ice hockey tournament.
It's really an ice rink inside a giant warehouse, and the seating capacity is less than half the capacity of the 14,000-seat Santaguilia Arena -- known as HC1 -- where most of the men's games are being played.
And though it was very quiet Monday with just the Swiss and Team Finland holding practice, it's expected to be an absolute zoo on Tuesday.
That's when Switzerland, seeded fifth, will take on No. 12 Team Italy here in a qualifying playoff game (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, ICI Tele, CBC Gem).
"It's going to be an electric crowd," Swiss defenseman J.J. Moser of the Tampa Bay Lightning said.
It's been that way for all three of Switzerland's preliminary games, with the Swiss border about an hour away from Milan and the city of Bern just a three-hour train ride.
"It's going to be fun playing the home team," Swiss captain Roman Josi said. "Hopefully we'll have a lot of people from Switzerland too; it's pretty close. So, it feels like we've had some home games, too, so we'll see how many people show up. But yeah, it's going to be fun."
Fun, yes, but also important. Though each of the 12 teams had some room for error in the preliminary round, the men's tournament is entering the single-elimination stage. One bad shift, bad goal or bad game, and you're going home.
But you wouldn't know it from lively, loose practice the Swiss held Monday.
"Obviously, we know what's at stake tomorrow," forward Nino Niederreiter said. "We have to play a good game, but I wouldn't say in a loose way. But today was more of a getting a feel for the arena, getting a feel for the ice, and more than that."
Switzerland had perhaps the most up-and-down run of the preliminary round.
It opened with a 4-0 win against Team France on Feb. 12, but not only lost 5-1 to Team Canada the next day, it also saw forward Kevin Fiala fracture his left leg in the third period and get stretchered off the ice. On Sunday, with second place in Group A at stake, Switzerland defeated Team Czechia 4-3 in overtime, a back-and-forth game that provided a lift heading into the knockout stage.
"There were a lot of different challenges throughout the game," Josi said. "It was a high-stakes game; there was a lot on the line. They tied it up, we scored again, they tied it up again. There was a lot [of] ups and downs, and at the end we found a way to win it, which is great character win for our group and definitely a lot of lessons to be learned from that game."
One lesson Josi and the rest of the Swiss hope to reinforce Tuesday is to not look past Italy. With a quarterfinal game against Team Finland looming if Switzerland defeats Italy, it's going to be key to focus on the task at hand.
