U18: 2024 WJC18 Switzerland roster talk

[Hinterland]

This is gonna be interesting. Ottawa67s eliminated as well. So both Ponzetto and Körbler's club season in North America ended. Ponzetto missed all the games lately and Körbler only returned from injury during playoffs. Together with Reber and Domenichelli's injuries that's a lot of question marks. Assuming the other three lines are locks it's gonna be interesting to find out who's gonna start the tournament alongside Forget. I could be wrong but I still think that Giger is expected to be on that line. As for the 3rd member of that group it's anybody's guess now. Getting at least one of those four would be important, getting two would be huge.

 

[Hinterland]

Reber in the lineup I believe. As expected, Kirsch in goal, Lachat backing up. Will try to confirm and post the rest of the lineup later.

 

[Speyer]

Reber in the lineup I believe. As expected, Kirsch in goal, Lachat backing up. Will try to confirm and post the rest of the lineup later.

Great, I hope its true. Even though he might not be the best skater on the team he might be the most important one, as he is pretty much the only guy on the roster that can pull of game breaking plays on a semi regular basis. And that goes a long way in junior hockey. Especially if the rest of the team is already pretty solid regarding their fundamentals. Should be a big factor on the PP too.

 

[Hinterland]

Ok. So another weird lineup today. 7D/13F:


Kirsch
Lachat

Muggli, Geisser
Blessing, Ustinkov
Johnson, Kurt
Sansonnens

Steiner, Reber, Forget
Weber, Tarchini, Cattin
Antenen, Grossniklaus, Wey
Borradori, Mottard, Haas

Scratched: Neuenschwander; Van der Kaaij, Meier, Richard; Aebi, Bosson, Giger



Some thoughts on this:

Reber not taking faceoffs. I don't think he's anywhere near 100%. Sansonnens and Wehrli barely playing. I saw Sansonnens on the ice once, Wehrli on the bench only. Might be just precaution in case they have to take Reber out of the game. On defense, I think Van der Kaaij is the obvious cut. I think the top6 should be safe as well. Then they're probably gonna select 2 of Sansonnens, Meier and Richard. Anybody's guess who is gonna get cut. Upfront, Aebi not playing is weird, probably means he's out. I think Bosson and Giger are rested while Steiner, Weber and Haas are the ones battling for spots. The question is for how many spots. Maybe just one or none at all. Steiner and Weber are totally not gonna start in the top6 so I think Steiner is a placeholder for either Körbler or Giger while Weber is a placeholder for Bosson.

 

[Hinterland]

Score 2-1 btw. Kirsch not seeing lots of pucks, didn't have a chance on the Slovak's goal. Funny bounce of players in the slot, he made the save but was unable to control the rebound and the Slovaks got to it first. Grossniklaus (PP) and Haas scored for Switzerland.

 

[Hinterland]

Oh my. I thought goaltending was gonna be a strength of this team but in these exhibition games it's been horrible. Kirsch just got beaten cleanly by a sharp angle shot. Is it too late to fly in Laurin Solèr? Seriously. Probably too early to panic but the goalies have to get their shit together. They're better than that. Make some saves, for goodness sake.

 

[Speyer]

Oh my. I thought goaltending was gonna be a strength of this team but in these exhibition games it's been horrible. Kirsch just got beaten cleanly by a sharp angle shot. Is it too late to fly in Laurin Solèr? Seriously. Probably too early to panic but the goalies have to get their shit together. They're better than that. Make some saves, for goodness sake.

Might have something to do with them not being challenged enough in the U20 league. And because of that they might not be not up to the speed/skill of the international stage. Hopefully we will see some improvement once they get a few games under their belt.

 

[Hinterland]

Might have something to do with them not being challenged enough in the U20 league. And because of that they might not be not up to the speed/skill of the international stage. Hopefully we will see some improvement once they get a few games under their belt.

U20 playoffs are highly competive though with lots of players joining from SL and NL.

Switzerland lost 2-4. Kirsch only made one mistake but that was enough for Slovakia to win it.

Skaters pretty underwhelming in both games as well but goalies were the main problem. Also, Switzerland was called for like 10 penalties in both games. While Swiss teams traditionally do tend to lack discipline I noticed that almost all penalties called in these two games were either incredibly soft or just made up. Some pre arranged PK practice maybe? At least, special teams were looking really good. I think they gave up one PP goal vs Finland and none today. They didn't even bleed lots of shots. They also scored a PP goal themselves today on what was the only PP they had in both games I think. Those penalties no doubt stopped them from creating offense themselves though.

On a positive note, Reber started taking faceoffs in the 3rd. Curious to see what the roster looks like. I don't think Ponzetto or Domenichelli are gonna play but Reber being in the lineup today hopefully means he's in. I'm hoping for Körbler to join as well. This team could sure use some reinforcements. I'm wondering if they'd, because of those injuries upfront, consider going with a 7/13 split but I guess they're gonna gonna go with 8/12 and just move Geisser, who so far in exhibition games has played defense only, to the wing if needed. He's played a bit of both anyway in recent years.

 

[Hinterland]

Game 1 of the WJC18 to start in 48h we still don't have a clue who's gonna be on the ice. The SIHF hasn't updated the initial camp roster even once and in all exhibition games we've spotted players who weren't listed on that initial camp roster

Does the SIHF even know who's gonna play? Hopefully by now they should have a plan but health has certainly let down lots of those 06 kids at the worst time possible. Not ideal.

 

[Speyer]

Game 1 of the WJC18 to start in 48h we still don't have a clue who's gonna be on the ice. The SIHF hasn't updated the initial camp roster even once and in all exhibition games we've spotted players who weren't listed on that initial camp roster

Does the SIHF even know who's gonna play? Hopefully by now they should have a plan but health has certainly let down lots of those 06 kids at the worst time possible. Not ideal.

No one cares about this tournament in Switzerland except for the team, their families, the coaching staff, Roost, and the two of us. So I guess the responsible office worker can't be bothered to upload the roster. I mean its not like his superiors would even notice if he doesn't.

 

[Hinterland]

No one cares about this tournament in Switzerland except for the team, their families, the coaching staff, Roost, and the two of us. So I guess the responsible office worker can't be bothered to upload the roster. I mean its not like his superiors would even notice if he doesn't.

That may well be true but they don't normally post the roster this late. We usually also get regular camp roster updates. I really think it has to do with too many question marks surrounding the roster. Domenichelli, Reber, Körbler, Guignard, Ponzetto and Körbler are/were confirmed injured during camp and I strongly suspect that at least a few more guys (Giger and Meier for example) are at the very least banged up as well. So I guess they're just having a hard time figuring out who's actually gonna be able to play.

 

[jonas2244]

And there is a roster. With Reber, with Körbler, with Ponzetto.

 

[Kuracmugger]

And there is a roster. With Reber, with Körbler, with Ponzetto.

Seems like everyone‘s there after all

 

[Hinterland]

Ponzetto is very surprising. He can't possibly be fully healthy. Hasn't played in a while. Didn't play at all in the Titan's last series and even before his TOI was drastically reduced. My suspicion is he's played hurt for quite a while already. I wonder if this also confirms he's done in Bathurst. If he's in their plans I don't think they'd release him for the WJC18 after being unable to finish playoffs with them.

Also strange the roster is only 22 players. They can list 23 at least, I believe. There must be some even bigger question marks than Ponzetto. Looks like I could be right that Giger is banged up. Maybe a chance they're waiting on Guignard or Domenichelli as well. Other players cut include Van der Kaaij, Richard, Steiner, Johnson, Aebi, Weber and Steiner.

I think cutting Johnson is a mistake. He's better than Blessing at the very least. I'd have liked Steiner on the roster as well. Very talented kid. Don't think he's as much of a loss as Johnson but he's better than Borradori at least.

Since Ponzetto clearly isn't anywhere near 100% my guess is he's gonna play a limited role. Expecting something like this:


Kirsch
Lachat
Neuenschwander

Ustinkov, Kurt
Muggli, Geisser
Sansonnens, Meier
Blessing

Körbler, Reber, Forget
Bosson, Tarchini, Cattin
Antenen, Grossniklaus, Wey
Borradori, Mottard, Ponzetto


At some point they're probably gonna add either Guignard/Richard/Johnson on defense or Giger/Domenichelli upfront with Borradori playing 13th forward. That's also a possible explanation re why Borradori was preferred to Steiner.

 

[Hinterland]

Pretty much the expected lineup with Kirsch starting but it's Ponzetto on the topline and Körbler on the 4th. A few months ago I wouldn't have had any problems with this but now I find it hard to believe that Ponzetto is actually healthy. We'll see I guess. I'll probably miss a good part of game 1 though.

 

[Speyer]

Just started watching. Swiss trailing 0: 1. Czechs mostly dominating possesion.

Edit: Switzerland the more dangerous team in the second. Mottard and Antenen with high danger chances. The players need more resolve infront of the net though. Seems like they are waiting to long for an opening. Also not the best game from Muggli so far. Not a performance you'd expect from a guy with as much pro experience as he has.

Edit 2: Major penalty and game misconduct against Reber, the prototypical goon. Haven't seen the play as it happened seconds before the break and I was already of to the toilet. Apparently the it was for cross checking.

 

[Speyer]

Swiss down 0:3. Czechs score on the major and on another minor against Usinkov. I think thats it for me. Its not like I don't have other things to do...

 

[Hinterland]

I was only able to watch parts of the game. Was unable to watch the 1st and I'm now travelling. Would have time to watch now but the only stream I found keeps on freezing so I gave up eventually. From what I saw Switzerland was carrying play 5vs5 but like you said they were shorthanded quite often. We saw much of the same in exhibitions already but those penalties where mostly made up. Can't say much about today's penalties though. My stream was always frozem when the refs called them...

 

[Kuracmugger]

Swiss down 0:3. Czechs score on the major and on another minor against Usinkov. I think thats it for me. Its not like I don't have other things to do...

I liked how they played until the start of the third period but after the goal on the major it was over. I just hope we get a goal and then win against kazakhstan. This team seems better than the ones in the last two years and maybe we can get an upset but czechia would habe probably been the team for that, altough swedens 06 year i said to be below average so maybe there‘s a chance there. I didn‘t even notice the major at first because it was at the end and the 49ing live stream has no sound which made watching the game really weird. I assume reber is suspended for the next game which is not good but they should handle KZH without him.

I was only able to watch parts of the game. Was unable to watch the 1st and I'm now travelling. Would have time to watch now but the only stream I found keeps on freezing so I gave up eventually. From what I saw Switzerland was carrying play 5vs5 but like you said they were shorthanded quite often. We saw much of the same in exhibitions already but those penalties where mostly made up. Can't say much about today's penalties though. My stream was always frozem when the refs called them...

The 49ing stream works fine i don‘t know if you have access to that but they have all games of the tournament available and that‘s the only legal way to watch in switzerland i think.

 

[Hinterland]

I mean it's probably for the best of everybody involved since Reber is clearly injured and Switzerland should beat Kazakhstan even without him. I also haven't seen the crosscheck but but unless he was trying to chop someone's head off it was probably not as bad as Celebrini's boarding at the WJC20...which was really bad but didn't even earn Celebrini a suspension. Boardings are easily among the most dangerous plays in hockey (every Swiss hockey fan knows that) so I'm wondering if the IIHF may be applying double standards here and there.

Also, no explanation given for the Reber suspension. He's just suspended. I know the turnaround is just 24h but that's still weak.

Looks like all three CHLers on the same line. I get why you'd wanna load up the topline with Reber out but icing a line of three wingers while also icing a line of three Centers is kinda stupid in my view.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Just tuned in and saw the 1:0 for the kazakhs, wtf was Ponzetto doing.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Ok so now it‘s 2:0 for kazakhstan swiss are playing poorly

 

[Speyer]

Can't watch the game as I am working. Hope they can turn it around though. This is a must win game for a Swiss age group that is considered above average in comparison to other years.

 

[Kuracmugger]

Can't watch the game as I am working. Hope they can turn it around though. This is a must win game for a Swiss age group that is considered above average in comparison to other years.

2:2 currently and the 3rd is starting after i started watching again in the second period the game looked like it should swiss dominated kazakhstan and were pushing for the goals. The start was just extremly terrible but the kazakhs played a lot better in the beginning i think they are gassed at this point. We miss a lot of chances tough.

 

[Hinterland]

Can't watch the game as I am working. Hope they can turn it around though. This is a must win game for a Swiss age group that is considered above average in comparison to other years.

Can't watch either. I see they pulled Lachat and now the game is 2-2. Shots 24-14. Should be able to save this one. But yeah. A loss here and I'd be calling for heads to roll. It's the SIHF so that's never gonna happen anyway but still...must win.