Switzerland ready to ‘poke the bear’ in Group A matchup against Canada

MILAN -- Pius Suter doesn't remember much from the game, the biggest upset win in Switzerland hockey history, but he does remember the name Paul DiPietro.

"I only know who scored the two goals," said Suter, the forward for Team Switzerland and the St. Louis Blues in the NHL. "I remember the two goals."

It was DiPietro, the Canada-born Swiss forward and 1993 Stanley Cup champion with the Montreal Canadiens who scored both goals against Martin Brodeur in a 2-0 win against Team Canada in the preliminary round of the 2006 Torino Olympics.

Martin Gerber made 49 saves for the shutout on Feb. 18, 2006. Switzerland was outshot 24-1 in the third period and still got the shutout against the world's hockey superpower that had won gold in the previous Olympics at Salt Lake City in 2002.

"That was amazing as a kid watching that," Switzerland defenseman Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators said.

Now Josi gets a chance to play in a game like that.

Switzerland (1-0-0-0) will face Canada (1-0-0-0) in the second game for both teams in Group A in the preliminary round of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at Santagiulia Arena on Friday (3:10 p.m. ET; Peacock, ICI Télé, CBC Gem, RDS, CBC).

The Swiss, who are looking to "poke the bear" in this tournament, according to forward Nino Niederreiter, come in fresh off a 4-0 tune-up win against Team France on Thursday. Canada easily won 5-0 against Team Czechia hours after watching the Swiss take care of the French.

"I would expect a great game," Canada center Connor McDavid said. "They played well (Thursday). They've got a lot of great players too. These World Championships, they've been knocking at the door for a long time. They're going to give us everything we can handle."

McDavid is right. Switzerland has taken silver at the past two IIHF World Championships, losing to Czechia in 2024 and to the United States in 2025.

They're confident and filled with belief about their ability to do some damage at the Olympics.

Now all they have to do is find out who is going to be the Martin Gerber and Paul DiPietro of this year's Olympic team.

"I feel like we just have to go out there and try our best, compete and believe; believe that we're a good team," Switzerland center Nico Hischier of the New Jersey Devils said. "We have to play at our best and if we don't it'll be hard to beat them. But I know everybody is excited for it. I trust these guys completely in the locker room. We've got a great group of guys and we know what to do. It's just about trying to perform."

That win against Canada 20 years ago helped to spark a push for a greater and richer hockey tradition in Switzerland.

It expanded four years later, when the Swiss came oh so close to defeating Canada again, coming back from 2-0 down only to lose 3-2 on Sidney Crosby's shootout winner in the preliminary round of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Switzerland also gave the U.S. a game in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Olympics, losing 2-0 on Zach Parise's goal 2:08 into the third period and his empty-netter at 19:48.

Similarly, in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Switzerland won 1-0 against Czechia and lost 1-0 to Sweden in the preliminary round before being eliminated by Team Latvia in a 3-1 loss in the qualification round.

NHL players are playing in the Olympics for the first time since then, but Switzerland has grown in talent and success on the international stage with 10 NHL players on its roster here, including Josi, who became the first Switzerland-born player to win a major NHL individual award when he took home the Norris Trophy for the League's top defenseman in 2019-20.

"Obviously, look at our group, the accomplishments we have on our team, a Norris winner, I think it's come a long way," Suter said. "Also the last two World Championships, how well some guys have played, getting those medals and in the group stage being in the upper places shows the depth of it. We bought into the system that works for us right now."

Well, clearly Canada has too, and not just now.

Canada has won 14 of 16 best-on-best games and two Olympic gold medals since that loss to the Swiss 20 years ago.

"I mean, I think we all know what we're up against," Josi said. "Canada is an amazing team, amazing players. We're going to need our best."

Maybe DiPietro and Gerber too.