(Photo: Francis Larrede/flickr)
Well, it was a strong start but an exceedingly weak finish for Switzerland, but at the very least, they made it out with a ticket to Sochi for the 2014 Olympics.
Granted, it’s a ticket with the lowest ranking they’ve managed to receive since 1997 (ninth place, the very last team) after falling to 11th today. The Swiss lost their last round-robin game against the U.S., 5-2, after scoring first and carrying much of the play in the first half of the game. Ivo Ruthemann and Morris Trachsler were the only Swiss goalscorers, while five different Americans — Bobby Ryan, Paul Stasny, Cam Fowler, Alex Goligoski, and Jeff Petry — got on the board, putting the Swiss out of commission. Reto Berra made 19 saves on 24 shots, and Jimmy Howard stopped 25 of 27.
Switzerland was certainly hoping to become a legitimate contender at the Worlds, but unfortunately the numbers and the consistency were sorely lacking. Nothing left to do now but look forward to next year. As for the U.S., they play Finland in the quarterfinals tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. EDT on NBC Sports Network.
