I've been wanting to reply to that post since it was posted, but I had a too much of a hard time stomaching that loss. I guess it will take me hoping on a plane to Finland 11 months from now to forget about it. Two years of waiting for something to erase those memories of Severson just to get it again...
Well this was a disappointing loss wich made it a disappointing tournament in general. Loosing against a team like Germany is no shame, but the way Switzerland gave the game away was just so unnecessary. They played pretty cleverly until the second goal but then tried for some reason to hold on to the lead and just play defensively with the occasional counter rush. And then it seemed like they just wanted not to loose the game in overtime instead of winning it. Before the tournament and after the first two games a lot of experts talked about how hot this team is for gold but yesterday they sure didn't play like this. This makes me ask myself where Fischers highly touted motivational skills were yesterday.
I pretty much agree with those points. It's not the first time that Switzerland is being put under pressure and risks allowing a late equaliser. During the two silver medal runs it happened several time (opening game and quarterfinal in 2013, quartefinal and semifinal in 2018), plus of course in 2019 against Canada, though that one can be put on a more talented team relentlessly forechecking a defense missing key players. No such excuse against Germany, they forechecked well but Switzerland should have played a better puck possession game and not played so passively.
Now I am not in favor of putting the blame soley on Fischer as a scapegoat but he did make some significant mistakes. My main issue, besides the passivity yesterday, is that except for a few games against lesser teams only the Bertschy and the Corvi line had decent chemistry. Sure guys like Hischier, Meier and Andrighetto were not in the best shape of their careers but Fischers line composition made them even less effective than necessary. Why would he pair Hischier, whose playing style demands wingers who can put the puck to net and support him in puck battles, with two physically weak playmaking wingers in Ambühl and Kurashev? The Vermin line had similar problems. I dont really see why Fischer didnt even try to break up the lines that worked in one of the low stakes games. Why not at least try lets say Corvi with Meier or Hofmann with Nico?
This works both ways, the Corvi and Bertschy lines worked well, so there was some risk in breaking them up. Meier and Andrighetto not playing as well as they could made the task difficult, and you can argue that they slowed down Hischier early in the tournament, and that he played his best games with Ambühl and Kurashev, although it was probably more him getting in better shape than chemistry. Some other combinations could have been tried, but when the players don't perform it's hard to mask it by mixing the lineup. Player selection made sense too, Nyffeler and Heldner are the only ones I complained about before the tournament, but I have to admit that Heldner was surpringly good. Regarding lineups, I'd have replaced Siegenthaler with a better puck handler, that turnover on the first goal was terrible. And I think that Switzerland lost the game when they let Germany back in late in the 2nd period, had they played these last 5 minutes like the first 15 Germany wouldn't have been able to come back.
At the end of the day I also find it noticeable that this is the third time Fischers team has choked in a win or loose situation in the last three years (not counting 2020 for obvious reasons). Now I am not saying he has to go now, especially since there are probably no better alternatives who want the job, but I also don't think the federation should hold onto him indefinitely just for that one silver medal. In his five other tournaments as head coach he couldn't get his team past the quarter finals despite having the best players the country has ever produced at his disposal. If you look at what the Finns have achieved in that timeframe, often with significantly worse rosters than we had, it kinda makes you wonder...
I can't really agree with you about that part. 2018 was definitely not a choke, the game was close for 40 minutes but Sweden dominated the third period and overtime and deservedly won that game and that tournament. 2018 Sweden is one of the best WC team in recent memory, probably only behind 2015 Canada and 2008 Russia, losing a close game to that team is not choking. In 2019, Canada had a much better roster than Switzerland and put a lot of pressure on a defense not equipped to deal with it. The circumstances hurt, but that loss is not a choke either. Now 2021 is much worse as it wasn't an opponent of that quality, and after Switzerland managed to get 12 points against the four "lesser" teams in both 2018 and 2019 (no small feat, before that it only happened in 2013), it seemed that we finally had reached the point where we'd be past those disappointing losses.
Regarding Fischer, I've always found a lot of criticisms unfair. I can definitely appreciate his work in Lugano, where he was able to sold his project to the point that players like Brunner or Walker, who where both highly sought after at the time, were signed before any other team had a chance to react, where he always had the guts to take difficult decisions that paid off long term, like offloading his top scorer (Domenichelli) when the team was struggling to put the puck in because he didn't suit the style of play, or starting a 19 year old Merzliking over two capable NL goalies, and finally, he built a team that ended up winning 5 playoff series between 2016 and 2018. His biggest weakness was his tactics, as he played naively offensive hockey and ended up beaten in the playoffs by more pragmatic and result oriented teams.
I think he's the right national team coach, and wouldn't hesitate to sign him long term. Those communication, motivational and team building qualities are as important as in game coaching for a national team coach. NHL players are happy to jump on a plane as soon as they are available, and few if any NL player reject selection, even those who had conflicts earlier like Fiala or Herzog, and I think Fischer communication skills play a big part in that. He's also shown that he's not afraid to cut underperforming players or take someone who just happens to perform well at the right time. And things got a lot better tactically since Albelin joined. Plus, as you mentioned, I can't think of anyone who would do better.
Looking at his performances tournament by tournament, 2016 was poor. It was Fischer's Lugano, playing naively offensive and allowing tons of 2 on 1s and 3 on 1s. On the other hand, it was a really weak roster (Trachsler, Walser, Schäppi, Walker center depth) and there was some bad luck involved (4 posts and Berra allowing a once in a lifetime goal vs Kazakhstan, Jerabek's terrible performance having Switzerland shorthanded for the entire third period vs Russia, Denmark lucking out with two points vs Czech Republic). 2017 was an excellent tournament, the roster was underwhelming (many newcomers, Bärtschi and Andrighetto injured in the last regular season game) but managed to play great hockey and finished 2nd in the group stage. The simply didn't have the player material to beat a top team in an elimination game. The only downside was being taken to OT by Slovenia, as the loss against France was very unlucky. The Olympics were a big disappointment, still not sure what happened there. Fischer probably made the mistake of counting too much on the 2017 team and many players underperformed, though it must be said that the tournament has a really stupid format, with 3 games played pretty much for nothing followed by a do or die one. Then there are the last three WC, which I have mentioned already. Playing in the quarterfinals for four consecutive tournaments had never happened before, that's some achievement even if he had better players than previous coaches (the much hyped Simpson had two top 8 finish in 6 tournaments, and had some poor playoff showings during his time at ZSC). He managed to built strong enough rosters to win against the so called weaker teams and was two lucky bounces away from three semifinal appearances, but more importantly, he gave this team a clear identity, an ambitious style of play and an attitude that makes it possible to win any game. I can't think of any other coach that would do better.
Finally a quick word on Finland. What they did in 2019 is one of the biggest upset in international hockey and shouldn't be used as a benchmark. Looking at their previous tournaments during the Fischer era, in 2016 they won a silver medal with a very talented roster, in 2017 they were pretty poor and lucked out by playing a weaker American team in the quarterfinals, and in 2018 they lost three games against arguably weaker opposition with their most talented roster ever. A clear case of a talented team that lacked experience to deal with setbacks. Overall, I wouldn't say they achieved more with significantly worse rosters outside of a once in a lifetime upset in 2019.
