The Switzerland World Junior team wore “black mourning armbands” on Friday during its game against Czechia to honor those who were killed and injured in the fire at the Swiss ski resort bar on New Year’s Eve.
More than 40 people were killed and over 100 more injured in the incident.
“We're a nation,” said Swiss captain Leon Muggli. “It was important for us to show our pride to them, show our support to the families through the hard times. It was beautiful to see that we did that.”
The players wore the armbands on their left arms.
“What's the most important is to show our respect and sympathy for all the families that were that were touched by this tragedy,” said head coach Jan Cadieux.
He acknowledged that the Crans-Montana part of the country, where the incident took place, is a big hockey area.
“The message to the guys were to, ‘Hey, be grateful that we are where we are today, and try to share and give something back to some people [who] maybe watched this game tonight back home,’ ” Cadieux added. “Because it was tonight that they get some energy and we wanted to share our passion that we had since the beginning of the tournament, but unfortunately, we weren't able to go all the way.”
Switzerland lost in the World Juniors quarterfinals, capping off one of the stronger tournaments for the team in recent years.
They held a lead midway thought the second period of Friday’s game, before the Czechs took control.
Swiss forward Jamiro Reber, who’s hometown is just two hours from where the incident took place, scored in the loss.
“I mean, what happened is tragic,” said Reber. “It’s not nice to see at all. That's why we had these black things around our arms. We wanted to give something back to them, to their families and our country. But today, we didn't win, but I hope they still got some energy from us, by how we played.”
-- NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor Adam Kimelman contributed to this report
