Keller tries to soak in 'magical' scene despite French loss in Olympics

MILAN -- Antoine Keller remained somewhat philosophical following France's 4-0 loss to Switzerland in the opening game of Group A at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Thursday.

"It's an honor to be here," the 21-year-old French goalie said. "I'm honestly finding it all to be incredible. Whenever the puck wasn't in our zone, I tried to really soak in the atmosphere in the arena. It was truly magical."

His face still dripping with sweat after leaving the ice at Santagiulia Arena, the seventh-round pick of the Washington Capitals (No. 206) in the 2023 NHL Draft had no other choice but to keep his head high; "Les Bleus" would have suffered a far greater defeat without Keller's 39-save performance

Just 3:06 into the game, the Swiss already had a 2-0 lead against their European neighbors thank to goals by Damien Riat and J.J. Moser. In the stands, the large contingent of Swiss fans was already starting the party with chants and dancing.

"At 2-0, we were still in it," said Keller, a native of Dijon, France. "But we got caught out by a nice play from Roman Josi with his pass on the third goal (by Timo Meier). After that, Meier scored another goal by finding a little gap five-hole. When I saw the replay on the big screen, I said to myself, 'Oh damn, that (stinks).' But that's hockey. The Swiss played a good game, but we also worked hard."

French captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare offered several compliments regarding Keller's performance. The two are not only teammates for France at these Olympics, but also for HC Ajoie in the National League, the top professional league in Switzerland.

"I think he's growing as a goalie," said the 40-year-old forward, who played 700 games in the NHL from 2014-24. "He's looking to improve and he doesn't have a big head. He reads the play well. After the start of the game where Switzerland got two quick goals, he found ways to keep his cool.

"It didn't surprise me to see him making big saves. All our goalies know that we're going to need them if we're going to have a good tournament. He had a good game. I would have liked us to reward him by scoring a goal or two to make it a closer game."

Keller is still a long way away from a full-time roster spot with the Capitals. But on the biggest international stage, he showed he has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with top NHL talent like Josi, Meier, Nico Hischier, Kevin Fiala and Nino Niederreiter.

"I liked playing that kind of game, I thought it was amazing," Keller said. "If someone had told me three years ago that I'd be playing at the Winter Olympics in Milan, I'd have laughed at him. But here I am. I'm enjoying myself, but I'm still pretty disappointed with the loss today."

After his first game as French captain, Bellemare can finally call himself an Olympian. The native of Le Blanc-Mesnil, France played 10 NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken.

But when asked about the accomplishment, Bellemare remained stoic.

"I'm in my zone at this tournament," he said. "I'm focusing on our games, I'm not thinking too much about my personal situation. I'm taking some time to open my eyes and appreciate everything, but I also want to know what it's like to win a game here."

Bellemare was sent to the penalty box for tripping just 36 seconds into the game. Riat took advantage on the power play at the 55-second mark.

"I had a play in front of the net," Bellemare said. "I tried to deflect the puck, but I ended up hooking the goalie with my stick and took him down. It wasn't intentional, my stick just got between his legs. The ref didn't care if I was trying to score a goal. It was a penalty."

Alexandre Texier of the Montreal Canadiens led all French forwards with 23 minutes of ice time against the Swiss.

"We're still learning," Texier said. "But as a competitive guy, it's a bit frustrating. We wanted to win. We'll stay positive, but we'll need to get better in a lot of aspects. We just lost 4-0 against a good team. We have a much smaller hockey nation, but despite that, we showed character."

Texier was lacking his usual speed at Santagiulia Arena; before leaving for Italy, he had been ruled out of the previous three games for the Canadiens because of a lower-body injury.

"No, I wasn't where I wanted to be," he said. "I came back and wanted to give it my all. But it's OK."

Switzerland goalie Leonardo Genoni made history in the win; at 38 years and 168 days, Genoni became the oldest goalie to register a shutout in the Olympics since the introduction of NHL players in 1998, breaking the record set by Mike Richter of the United States (35 years, 151 days) in 2002 against Germany. He made 27 saves, including two of the acrobatic variety near the end of the first period to frustrate Bellemare's linemates, Jordann Perret and Dylan Fabre.