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2024 mwc can sui matchup

Men’s Worlds Preview: Canada vs. Switzerland

Saturday, May 25 | 12 p.m. ET | Prague, Czechia | Semifinal

Jason La Rose
|
May 25, 2024
|

Canada’s National Men’s Team is set for a semifinal showdown with Switzerland on Saturday at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, two wins away from a 29th world title.

Last Game

Canada punched its ticket to the semis with a 6-3 quarterfinal win over Slovakia on Thursday. Nick Paul led the way with a goal and an assist, Dylan Guenther added one of each and the Canadians took a two-goal lead before the five-minute mark of the first period and never looked back.

The Swiss moved into the final four for the first time since they won silver in 2018 – and gained a measure of revenge in the process – by beating Germany 3-1 in their quarterfinal. Christoph Bertschy opened and closed the scoring for Switzerland, which lost at the same stage (by the same score) to the Germans a year ago.

Last Meeting

It’s been six whole days since the Canadians and Swiss clashed at Men’s Worlds. In a preliminary-round meeting last Sunday, Canada got three power-play goals – two from Dylan Cozens and one from Paul – in a 3-2 victory, handing Switzerland its first loss while keeping its unbeaten record intact.

What to Watch

Paul is best known to Team Canada fans for his overtime winner in the gold medal game at the 2021 IIHF World Championship, giving Canada the unlikeliest of world titles, and he has picked up right where he left off in Riga. The Mississauga native has found chemistry between Jared McCann and Connor Bedard (with Dylan Guenther sliding in on the right side on occasion), recording six points (3-3—6) in eight games. Paul, who had a terrific year with Tampa Bay, setting career-highs in goals (24), assists (22) and points (46), is in search of a third gold medal in as many tries; he was also part of the National Junior Team that won World Juniors gold in Toronto in 2015, scoring a goal in the gold medal game win over Russia.

A late addition to the Swiss lineup, Kevin Fiala has made a major impact. Since he was added two games in after his Los Angeles Kings were eliminated from the NHL playoffs, all Fiala has done is score six goals and add five assists, tying him for the team scoring lead with Nico Hischier (6-5—11) and Roman Josi (3-8—11). He scored in regulation and the shootout in his debut against Czechia, had two goals against Denmark, one against Canada and two more against Finland, leaving him two back of Dylan Cozens for the tournament goal-scoring lead. Fiala has been an integral piece of the tournament’s highest-scoring power play (Switzerland is 10-for-34, a 29.4% success rate), scoring three times with the man advantage

A Look Back

It’s meeting No. 36 between the Canadians and Swiss, with Canada laying claim to 27 wins from the first 35 (with two ties).

The most recent medal-round matchup came in the quarterfinals of the 2019 tournament in Kosice, Slovakia. With an early exit less than a second away, Damon Severson tied the game with four-tenths remaining before Mark Stone gave Canada a dramatic 3-2 overtime win. It’s the second time the countries will meet in a semifinal; in 2018, Bo Horvat and Colton Parayko scored goals, but Canada dropped a 3-2 decision in Copenhagen, Denmark.

All-time record: Canada leads 27-6-2 (4-2 in OT/SO)
Canada goals: 172
Switzerland goals: 56

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

emadziya@hockeycanada.ca 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

ssharkey@hockeycanada.ca

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

jknight@hockeycanada.ca

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