Six months before the home World Championships, the national team will play its main Olympic rehearsal at the home tournament of the Euro Hockey Tour in Zurich. The squad for "Milano 2026" must be announced by the end of the month.
11.12.2025, 04:30
11.12.2025, 07:22
SDA
A week has passed since the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation clarified the coaching position and presented Jan Cadieux as the successor to Patrick Fischer, who is stepping down at the end of the season. The second tournament of the Euro Hockey Tour 2025/26 marks the start of the final chapter of an era that has been a success story with three World Cup finals in ten years. What is still missing is the crowning glory in the form of a World Cup title or an Olympic coup.
The foundations for this have been laid, now there is only time for touch-ups. This applies even more to the Winter Games in Milan than to the home World Cup, which Switzerland will open on May 15 with a rematch of this year's World Cup final against the USA. The Swiss will play all their World Championship games in the 12,000-capacity arena in Zurich-Altstetten, which is also the venue for the four-nation tournament this week.
In the ZSC Lions' home stadium, the Swiss will play their last international games against Sweden (Thursday), the Czech Republic (Saturday) and Olympic champions Finland (Sunday) before the Olympic tournament begins in two months' time. Before the first preliminary round game against France on February 12, only one more test is scheduled, but it will take place without a match clock and in camera. The opponent will be Latvia.
Twelve World Cup players called up
While Fischer included numerous promising players in the first squad in November, the current squad has significantly more experience. Twelve players who took part in the World Cup in Denmark and Sweden in May are part of the squad.
In addition to the six players who played in North America (Moser, Siegenthaler, Fiala, Hischier, Meier and Niederreiter), the players from Davos (Fora, Knak) and Fribourg-Gottéron (Bertschy, Schmid) as well as Nicolas Baechler (ZSC Lions), the injured Ken Jäger (Lausanne) and the retired Andres Ambühl are missing from the World Championship silver medal team due to the upcoming Spengler Cup. The record-breaking international will be honored before the second Swiss game on Saturday; his number 10, which will no longer be assigned, will be symbolically pulled under the roof of the arena.
In the goalie position, Fischer is relying on the World Championship duo from last spring for the Olympic dress rehearsal with Leonardo Genoni and Stéphane Charlin. While World Championship MVP Genoni has practically secured his place in the Olympic squad and Akira Schmid, who is established in the NHL, is also considered a starter, Charlin will get another chance to force his way onto the team. He is competing with Fribourg's Reto Berra and Sandro Aeschlimann of HC Davos, who completed the goalie trio at this year's World Championship, for the third spot.
How the selection process works
Fischer must announce the Olympic squad of 22 outfield players and three goalies (including NHL players) by December 31 in accordance with the guidelines of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). After that, players may only be replaced for medical reasons.
With Roman Josi, Siegenthaler, Fiala, Hischier, Niederreiter and Meier, Switzerland, like all other teams, has already nominated six players in the summer. Philipp Kurashev, Janis Moser and Pius Suter, the other three Swiss NHL players, are also likely to join the sextet. Lian Bichsel, who is "internally suspended" from the national team until after the home World Championship and is currently injured, is not an issue for Fischer.
Fischer: "Mentally not an easy task"
Players such as Théo Rochette, Dario Rohrbach, Calvin Thürkauf, Dario Simion and Gaëtan Haas and Romain Loeffel, who have been out for a long time due to concussions, will get the chance to recommend themselves for an Olympic squad this week in Zurich. "It's not an easy task mentally, everyone is trying to make the team. You have to be able to cope with this pressure," says Fischer, referring to the squad places that are still open.
He already has the majority of the Olympic squad, "maybe 70 to 80 percent", in mind. "It's also a trial run this week. We want to test what works."
At the same time, Switzerland will be looking to improve their modest record at home tournaments on the Euro Hockey Tour. With just one win from nine games, their record is sobering. The first opportunity comes on Thursday evening (7.45 pm) against Sweden. The Scandinavians will be looking to make amends after their 3:8 defeat at the Karjala Cup in November.
