Late comeback gives Switzerland its first win

It's been a bad time for the Swiss. After two losses after regulation time, both against opponents deemed easy to defeat (Kazakhstan and Norway), the team trained by Patrick Fischer had to struggle to reach the middle part of the Group A placement table: while the first target were the quarterfinals, suddenly everything became a desperate attempt to prevent the danger of relegation.

Despite all this, the "Nati" was on the verge of yet another defeat, after that Frederik Storm scored the first goal for the Danes assisted by Jensen and Nielsen. After many penalties on both sides, Nikolaj Ehlers scored another goal for his team, which was, in terms of defensive organization, solidness and inventive, simply the best one on the ice. The second priod was scoreless, but Switzerland remained ineffective and basically inconclusive, even in front of their opponents' goal. 

Jesper B. Jensen injured. Photo Michal Eger

After a hard (but clean) check by Ambühl, Denmark's defender Jesper Jensen had to leave the ice, thus giving a bit of bravery to the Swiss who, thanks to NHL superstar Nino Niederreiter, scored two goals in succession, the first one signed by Yannick Weber and the second one by the very same "El Nino". Thus, an overtime was forced, for the third time in three games. The whole Swiss bench was fearing yet another disappointing defeat but this time Eric Blum came to help: the Swiss-Japanese player scored, indeed, the last goal of the match with less than a minute left, saving the day and giving to his team two important points. 

Happy Swiss players after the 2-2 goal. Photo: Michal Eger

Notwithstanding this, Switzerland's game is still to be reviewed: for more than 50 minutes the Nati played a very ugly match, lacking motivation, concentration and skills. Tomorrow's clash with Latvia (headed by Lugano's goalie Elvis Merzlikins) will tell us if this was the beginning of a new phase or just a temporary comeback.  

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