Canada defeat Swiss; Russia stuns Finland

Going into every international tournament my favorite underdog team is always the Swiss and occasionally the Germans. Both teams always fair well against the Canadians, they rarely win but they always manage to keep it close. The Swiss program has developed so well over time now sitting seventh in the the world, Germany sits ninth, and they've done this with players that have gone mostly unnoticed, until now.

Jonas Hiller, Martin Gerber, Nino Niederreiter, Mark Streit, Luca Sbisa and Yannick Weber are all playing in North America and with the performance Benjamin Conz has put on in this tournament it may be safe to suggest that another Swiss-born goalie could play over seas as well. Conz is currently the ranked as the fifth best international goaltender but has gone undrafted in both the 2010 and 09 NHL Entry Drafts. Something tells me that won't happen again this year in Minnesota.

On to the game...

After Mark Visentin let in that atrocious looking first goal a cold feeling came up the back of my spine, a feeling I quickly shrugged off. While the Swiss netminder stopped 50 shots against the Russians and another 42 against Slovakia, I was confident in Canada's scoring depth and was sure we would come right back. Canada fired 23 shots at Conz in the first period. It would be almost 14 minutes before the Canadians would respond, it seemed like a lifetime.

Still, I expected the flood gates to open and for Canada to start pouring it on but the Swiss played extremely tight defensively and established a decent forecheck on a battered Canadian defence. It took Canada 17 minutes before they would take the lead and unlike shot-heavy the first period, Canada directed eleven shot on Conz with the Swiss getting nine on Visentin. The Swiss were doing it again! They won't go away! Love these guys...

It wasn't until after Louis Leblanc potted home his third of the tournament that I was able to breathe.

For those unfamiliar with the Swiss program you should familiarize yourself pronto because they're only going to get better and better. Here's hoping they have a strong showing at the World Championships.

Canada is now set to play the United States tomorrow night in the semi-finals and the HSBC Arena is going to be LOUD. Game is scheduled for 7pm et/ 4pm pt. Go Canada!

Russia vs. Finland

The Russians tied it up with a late flurry in the third to produce overtime. I'm actually watching the game right now and I can't help but notice how good this Finland team is. Wouldn't mind seeing a Finland vs. Sweden Semi final.

Unfortunately for Finland, Russia is too strong and just scored the winning goal! Kuznetzov ended it in overtime for the Russians and celebrated the goal by diving stomach first onto the ice! What a comeback for the Russians!

Despite me wanting to see a Scandinavian semifinals, Russia will give Sweden all the they handle and then some. It doesn't matter who wins Canada/USA or Sweden/Russia, the gold and bronze medal games will be outstanding to watch. It's hockey at its best! Stay tuned, I know I will.




photo credit: (Rick Stewart/Getty Images) and CBC