Semi Final Saturday. Winner of this game plays the Czechs for the Gold. Losers play Sweden for the Bronze.
There are 4 first round NHL draft picks playing in todays game. 3 For Canada John Tavares (2009), Owen Power (2021), and Connor Bedard (2023). One from Switzerland in Nico Hischier who went first overall to New Jersey in 2017.
Kevin Fiala opened up the scoring for the Swiss on the power play at 15:06 of the first period from Romain Loeffel and former Montreal Canadien and Colorado Avalanche forward Sven Andrighetto. Right after Brandon Tanev missed for Canada on a shorthanded break away.
On the Power Play again after a soft Jamie Oleksiak penalty the Swiss scored again to make it 2-0. This time Winnipeg Jet Nino Niederreitter at 17:56 of the first period. The assists on the goal went to Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala.
Shots on goal in the first period were 17-8 for Switzerland
Brandon Tanev puts Canada on the board at 5:53 of the second period from Pierre Luc Dubois and Olen Zellweger.
Shots on goal in the second period were 13-6 for Canada
John Tavares ties the game up from Connor Bedard and Owen Power at 17:53 of the third period. Thats all first overall NHL draft picks combining for the tying goal
Shots on goal in the third period were 20-4 for Canada
The Swiss took a too many penalty towards the end of the third period. Canada will start the overtime with a 4 on 3 advantage for a little over a minute.
Then Canada got a too many men penalty which was a tad weak but then again they sort of had to make up for the Swiss call. This is not looking positive. But the overtime period continued and was awesome play for both sides. It looks like this is going to a shoot out and I still think along with many others I imagine is a very stupid way to decide such a great game. In that case there is no loser, but then there really isn’t a winner either. Continuous OT should always be the way to decide the result of a game when a teams game life is on the line.
Shots on goal in the overtime period was 4-3 for the Swiss. Canada outshot the Swiss 44-31 in the game.
| CAN | Bedard | ✔️ | SWI | Senteler | ✖️ |
| CAN | Dubois | ✖️ | SWI | Fiala | ✔️ |
| CAN | Severson | ✖️ | SWI | Loeffel | ✖️ |
| CAN | Power | ✖️ | SWI | Andrighetto | ✔️ |
| CAN | Cozens | ✖️ |
Switzerland wins the game in the shootout 3-2.
Leonardo Genoni made 41 saves on the 43 shots that he faced for the win for the game. For Canada Jordan Binnington made 26 saves on the 28 shots that he faced.
For the Swiss was goalie Leonardo Genoni (as if there would be any doubt, guy was awesome) . For Canada player of the game was John Tavares.
Canada will play Sweden tomorrow for the Bronze medal game. The Swiss will play the Czechs for the gold.
FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS 2019 NHL DRAFT PREVIEW ISSUE
