Russia too strong for young Swiss Team

29 Dec 2014 | Andreas Reiner

With a 7-0 loss to Russia, Switzerlands Junior Squad was put in it's place in a quite harsh way.

After the win against the Czech Republic that was the first since 17 years, the Swiss had high expectations against a Russian team that struggled against Denmark, only winning in a shoot-out. But by mid-period the Russians struck a first time, Rushan Rafikov got his team on the scoreboard a first time on a powerplay. With 90 seconds left in the starting period, Alexander Dergachyov scored the second Russian goal and if that wasn't enough, Pavel Buchnevich took the hopes of the young Swiss squad by scoring a third with 23 seconds left on the clock.

The second period offered the Swiss a chance for redemption as the Russians took 4 penalties in a row. Anatoli Golyshev's hit to Phil Baltisbergers hit might be reviewed by the IIHF Board as the Swiss forward had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. Golyshev was assessed with a Game misconduct penalty. The Swiss had to get their mind off that horrible hit while struggling to get into the game. But again, the Russians scored with 36 minutes played, this time Sergei Tolchinski had the puck on his stick. A minute later, Kevin Fiala took a 10 minute Misconduct penalty but the Swiss could continue play with 5 players but Alexander Sharov found a way past the defensive lines and scored the 5th goal for Russia even though Switzerland had 14 shots compared to Russia's 2 in the second period.

At the beginning of the 3rd period, Swiss head coach John Fust replaced Gauthier Descloux with Ludovic Waeber. He was able to keep his net clean for 15 minutes, then it was Vladislav Kamenev on a powerplay opportunity who scored the 6th goal and within 42 seconds Vyacheslav Leshenko increased the score to 7-0. Two shorthanded goal post shots by the Swiss were the finishing point to a disappointing game for the Central Europeans who are now 1 and 1 after two games.