Jonas Hiller is steadily transforming Switzerland into a legitimate contender.
The Switzerland men's hockey team sports just eight NHL players and a national population less than the Chicago metro area. Offensively, the Swiss have managed only two goals in three games—a production rate that won't exactly keep up with the likes of Canada or the United States.
Yet Hiller remains perfect on the stat sheet entering the elimination rounds, and Switzerland will emerge as the second seed in Group C after defeating the Czech Republic, 1-0.
The 32-year-old Anaheim Ducks backstop and native of Felben-Wellhausen, Switzerland—a small village that's just minutes from the German border—stopped all 21 shots he faced on Wednesday vs. Latvia and then turned away 26 bids from the Czechs on Saturday.
Backup netminder Reto Berra, a Calgary Flames product, stopped 30 of 31 shots in Switzerland's one loss to Sweden.
In the 2013-14 NHL season, a mere 21 of the 880 games played so far (about 2.4 percent) ended with a final score of 1-0. In the last three Winter Olympics, only three of 13 ...
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Article written by Mark Jones
Switzerland Hockey Emerging as a Medal Contender at 2014 Winter Olympics
February 15th, 2014 by Mark Jones Leave a reply »
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