Allez Les Bleus!

First period was very even allthough Switzerland had their game a bit better in shape and they were able to create more controlled offence. France from their side put up dangerous counter attacks every once and a while. Switzerland tested goalie Cristobal Huet with several quality shots but the best they could get was a shot to the post. Huet was very good and didn't give even rebounds.Then in 16.38 Swiss Matthias Bieber took an offensive zone penalty and after 34 seconds Yohann Auvitu shot from the blueline and Stephan is Swiss goal couldn't see a thing 1-0 to France was done.

In the second period Switzerland continued their slight domination but France played calmly and just threw the puck away from their own zone if the pressure got too high. Little by little Switzerland started to loose their patience allthough it was only 0-1 and most of the game still left. They attacked with high risk and mainly one man rushes and this opened a lot of dangerous scoring chances to France. The longer period last the better France played and they really pushed Switzerland on the ropes. In the middle of the period there was couple of minutes when Switzwerland just couldn't get out of their own zone and Gallian roosters were playing like a hurricane. After 12.44 Teddy da Costa scored second goal for France after superb work from his linemates Charles Bertrand and Antoine Roussle. Then only 30 seconds later when France was still dreaming about their goal Switzerland got via lucky bounce their first goal by Damien Brunner. And now the momentum switched again totally to Switzerland. France was totally in schock and in 15.04 Damien Brunner scored again and equalized the game. Last five minutes game stayed in French zone but luckily they could espace with 2-2 into the break. 

Switzerland opened the last period really determined. They dominated and controlled and pushed France to their own zone. However game's deciding point in 5.21 into the period when Swiss defender Goran Bezina took totally unnecessary match penalty for checking to head of Anthony Guttig. Frenchman stayed for several minutes laying on the ice and seemed to lost his conscious. Luckily he was able to skate out of the when helped but match penalty was the only possible penalty for that. And France didn't wait long with their powerplay goals. In 6.21 Laurent Meunier scored with a slapshot after he crossed the blueline and in 7.05 Stephane da Costa scored after nice puck moving by French powerplay unit. After Bezina's penalty was over Switzerland was forced to open their play and that gave France good opportunities for more goals. Switzerland got their last chance 2-3 minutes before end when they got two men powerplay for over one minute. They also pulled goalie out but that didn't help and 4-2 for France standed as the final score.

Lost was a hard set back for Swiss team regarding quarterfinals. They are now three point behind Slovakia and even a win tomorrow in their game against Slovakia might not help. Anyway France coach David Henderson had planned a great game plan for team France today and they deserve all credit for their win. They let Switzerland control and run around the rink and concentrated on careful defence and counter attacks when the chance came. Furthermore their power play and fisrt of all goaltender Cristobal Huet were absolutely tremendous. This paid off a win today and made standings in Helsinki even more interesting because now France even has a shot for the quarterfinals...

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