Criticism of maneuvers after the Karjala Cup: the Swiss biotope does not help

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The good news after the Karjala Cup 2023? Switzerland can participate in the Euro Hockey Tour until 2027 – i.e. in the concert of the major European ice hockey countries Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. For well-known reasons, Russia is no longer there. Although: at the association’s headquarters in Glattbrugg, after the three performances in Tampere, you have to wonder whether you would have been better off at the Germany Cup that took place at the same time. Vice world champions Germany, Slovakia, Denmark and Austria competed there.

After the tournament in Finland, the question arises of the Swiss national team where the self-confidence and dominant performances have gone, for which the Swiss national team was celebrated and even admired during the last two World Cup preliminary rounds.

Cosmetic results, no performance improvement

With a lot of goodwill you could pick a few positive approaches from the last match against the Czech Republic (0:1) – but how can you quantify this result cosmetically, disguised as a performance improvement when the opponent has already been determined as the tournament winner for the match and the two best scorers are not just nominated at all?

In the matches against Finland (0:4) and, at least until halfway through the match against Sweden (3:4), our National League stars will not have access to the matches. This is what it looks like: the defenders are easily outplayed by opposing attackers or are outplayed through physical use, the attackers cannot keep the puck in the attacking zone or do not get the necessary movement towards the goal.

Current reservoir for fishermen? Just the National League

One reason for this: Finns, Swedes and Czechs can use the various top European leagues for these tournaments, but the currently available Swiss internationals play exclusively in the protected workshop of the Swiss National League. An attractive competition with fast ice hockey, but hardly suitable as a reservoir for players who need to be prepared for international intensity in the short term. This is not a major problem for the World Cup, because the national coach has about six weeks to keep the players informed about training and test matches. Then there are the NHL stars who are trained for hardcore intensity.

Is there no room for seriousness in the Swiss biotope?

Perhaps Nati coach Fischer did not do himself any favors with the idea of ​​fielding only serious World Cup candidates for the first tournament of the season. Until now you could spare yourself serious criticism for the maneuvers after the November date, as the selection consisted largely of young players and debutants.

In the biotope of Swiss ice hockey there seems to be no room for the seriousness of an entire international season under constant pressure. Anyone who wants to list the players from the 2023 Karjala Cup squad who may qualify for the World Cup in the spring of 2024 will probably only need the fingers of one hand.

Source : Blick