Switzerland wins a ticket back for 2013

Denmark lead by two goals by their super star Nicklas Jensen dressed a full roster today and did a very good game against the Swiss team that once again had to play without their star Sven Bärtschi. Switzerland hasn't been able to play as good as they did against Sweden and Russia against weaker opposition and had problems also today. But in the end it was still Switzerland who won the game after a overtime drama.

"We always play well against the top teams, but against teams of our level or a little lower we don't play as well as we should. It's a mental problem. We have to learn how to play with elite teams. We're a young team, but this will be good for next year", the Swiss head coach Manule Celio said.

It was an entertaining game with many chances at both ends and Denmark got a flying start to the game when Patrick Bjorkstrand found his brother Oliver to the delight of their father Todd, head coach of Denmark.

However the Swiss recovered only 35 seconds later when Cedric Schneuwly picked a rebound after Feuk saved a shot from Lino Martschini and just two minutes later the Swiss also took the lead. Alessio Bertaggia scored after a nice deke.

Denmark came back a tied the game before the end of the first when Jensen scored his first of the game with a shot from the blueline on the power play.

In the second Switzerland regained the lead when Gregory Hofmann scored on a penalty shot with a precise wrist shot. Gaëtan Haas had to leave the game with an injury after crashing into the boards after being hooked on a breakaway in the sitation that lead to penalty shots.

At 27:36 the last game of regular time was scored when Jensen got his second of the game. The Swiss had one puck in goal but it was disallowed for high sticking. Scoring chances were fewer than in the first period that saw 34 shots on goal but teams had the chance to get the winner.

Denmark had most of their chances on power plays and two straight penalties by Samuel Walser in the third almost costed Switzerland the game but Tim Wolf made a couple of nice saves.

Instead Tanner Richard scored the game winner 3:27 into the overtime A goal that takes Switzerland to next year's tournament in Russia while Denmark has to beat Latvia in the last game to stay in the top division.

"Right now we are very disappointed. We feel we could have won this game in regulation. We were the team with the best chances at the end. It's too bad we couldn't win. We have to take the positives from this game and play hard against Latvia. We can't worry about the past. We have to focus on Latvia," said Nicklas Jensen after the game.

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