Junior Hockey World Championship 2022: Preview Team Switzerland, squad
Switzerland was unable to impress the public with its appearance at last year’s Junior World Championship. After a decent start and a loss to a Slovak team that held their own against both Germany and Canada, things quickly went wrong for the Alpine country.
Together with neighboring Austria, Team Switzerland ended the tournament without points, after losing in two digits to the group-dominating Canada. Could this year go better for the Swiss? It is possible, but in a group where the US, Russia and Sweden are destined for the top three places, Switzerland will have to fight Slovakia again for fourth place.
Preliminary round team Switzerland
# | player | position | league | Current Team (NHL) |
---|---|---|---|---|
# | player | position | league | Current Team (NHL) |
30th | Loic galley | G | U20 elite | Gottéron U20 |
32 | Andri Henauer | G | U20 elite | Bern U20 |
29 | Kevin Pasche | G | USHL | Omaha Lancers |
1 | Noah Patenaud | G | QMJHL | Saint John seals |
6th | Lian Bichsel | D. | SHL | Leksands IF (2022) |
4th | Noah Delémont | D. | NL | EHC Biel-Bienne |
16 | Vincent Despont | D. | QMJHL | Saint John seals |
5 | Damian Gehringer | D. | SL | EVZ Academy |
24 | Noah Meier | D. | SL | GC Küsnacht Lions |
11th | Arno Nussbaumer | D. | SL | EVZ Academy |
21 | Dario Sidler | D. | SL | EVZ Academy |
26th | Maximilian Streule | D. | WHL | Winnipeg ice cream |
9 | Brian Zanetti | D. | OHL | Peterborough Petes (PHI) |
12th | Dario Allenspach | F. | NL | EV train |
25th | Nicolas Bächler | F. | SL | GC Küsnacht Lions |
10 | Jérémie Bärtschi | F. | NL | EHC Biel-Bienne |
17th | Attilio Biasca | F. | QMJHL | Halifax Mooseheads |
14th | Lorenzo Canonica | F. | QMJHL | Shawinigan cataracts |
23 | Christophe Cavalleri | F. | NL | Genève-Servette HC |
22nd | Keanu Derungs | F. | WHL | Victoria Royals |
18th | Joshua Fahrni | F. | NL | SC Bern |
28 | Raymond Fust | F. | USHL | Sioux Falls Stampede |
fifteen | Lilian Garessus | F. | NL | EHC Biel-Bienne |
20th | Marlon Graf | F. | SL | GC Küsnacht Lions |
7th | Joel Henry | F. | SL | GC Küsnacht Lions |
13th | Valentin Hofer | F. | NL | EV train |
8th | Simon Knak | F. | NL | HC Davos (NSH) |
19th | Fabian Ritzmann | F. | SL | HCB Ticino missiles |
27 | Louis Robin | F. | QMJHL | Rimouski Oceanic |
Strengthen
For a team that is sure to get a lot of shots, head coach Marco Beyer has to rely on his defense to cope with the task and keep the goal area clean. If not, then each of the four goalkeepers that Beyer chooses as his starter faces an almost impossible task against snipers like Matvei Michkov, Alexander Holtz and Chaz Lucius.
Last year, Noah Patenaude (the only goalkeeper in the squad with experience from last year’s tournament) showed what a revolving door policy in defense can do for a goalkeeper’s confidence when he conceded ten goals in the aforementioned game against Canada. Patenaude saved a whopping 42 shots but got no further chance to play for his team.
This year there is at least a decent core on the defensive side, highlighted by the 2022 draft candidate Lian Bichsel in combination with the three returnees Giancarlo Chanton and the two Noahs: Delémont and Meier.
Keep an eye on defenseman Brian Zanetti, who was born in Italy and currently plays OHL hockey in Peterborough. On this list, he is one of only two players currently drafted by an NHL team.
weaknesses
Who will score the goals? Players like Nashville, who drafted Simon Knak, and Shawinigan, the outstanding Lorenzo Canonica (who I beat the drum for in the Team Switzerland preview last year) are good players at this level, but they enjoy it a lot more that To be a fitter than to exploit your chances yourself. For a team that is in all likelihood struggling for clear scoring chances, it is an issue that no one on the roster is a projected sniper. Closest to a real goal threat comes Victoria Royal Keanu Derungs, currently sixth in the goals of one of the worst-placed teams in the WHL.
Getting the puck out of your own zone will be difficult enough. If players like Knak and Canonica can actually do magic, there is still no one to bury the puck in the opposing net.
In 2021, Switzerland averaged 1.25 goals per game and played in a weaker group. Chances are the offensive will look even grimmer this Christmas.
X factor
In a team that lacks top talent, there is only one way with the X factor. Two Swiss players were drafted last year, with the aforementioned Canonica being someone who could qualify as an obsolete player to watch in 2022.
However, Lian Bichsel from Leksand is a different kind of talent on a team like this. In May 2021 he left the U20 team at EHC Biel-Bienne in order to develop further in the Swedish U20 league. After impressing at summer camp, Bichsel was instead given the chance to play with the first team in one of the best leagues in European hockey.
The head coach of Leksand was quoted in the Swedish media as saying: “I’ve been fortunate enough to coach a lot of talented youngsters, but I’ve rarely seen anyone as talented as Lian Bichsel.” Your managing director Thomas Johansson goes one step further, Comparison of Bichsel with two-time NHL champion Victor Hedman.
Whether Bichsel will be as big an NHL star as the Swede is in the stars, but he will certainly stand out in an otherwise overwhelming Swiss talent pool, as he has been the first player with first-round draft potential since Nico Hischier.