COACH’S GRIPES ARE NO MERE BIT OF SWISS CHEESE
Wohlwend says team has no hope against Canada, but it has nothing to lose either
Dillon Dube thought it was a joke. It had to be, right?
How else to explain the twominute rant from Switzerland’s Christian Wohlwend on Sunday, when the brutally honest head coach said his team had virtually no chance in their world junior hockey championship quarterfinal game against Canada on Tuesday? The Canadian team is not only faster, bigger and stronger, Wohlwend said, but “they can shoot better, they can pass better — they can do everything better.”
“What do I want to say?” Wohlwend added. “They have how many first-rounders? (Eight.) And the rest in the second round, and the one in the fourth round (Victor Mete) who has played the most NHL games so far — what am I going to the tell the guys? We have one in the fourth round — one. The rest is not drafted.”
The clip ran all day long on TSN, which might have been exactly what Wohlwend wanted.
“I watched it a couple of times laughing a little bit,” Dube said. “To be honest, I think everybody did. I think that might have been a little reverse psychology or something like that — but you know, maybe he’s an honest coach.”
Indeed, it’s not like what Wohlwend said was hyperbole. Canada, which finished first in Group A, heads into the quarterfinal as the overwhelming favourite against the last-seeded Swiss. The Canadians have never lost to Switzerland at the world juniors, going 21-0.
The last time the teams played was in a pre-tournament exhibition game in Hamilton, where Canada won 8-1.
Since then, Canada has outscored its opponents 21-5, having defeated Finland, Slovakia and Denmark, with the only loss coming in a 4-3 overtime shootout to the U.S. in an outdoor game. Switzerland, which lost to Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic, picked up its only win of the tournament in a 3-2 nailbiter against Belarus, a team that was outscored 20-10.
In other words, this should not be a close game.
Wohlwend knows it, which is why he is overplaying the underdog role — both to take the pressure off his young players and to lull the Canadians into underestimating a team that has nothing to lose. The challenge for Canada’s players is to not take the bait.
“I don’t know if he’s trying to play mind games or whatever, but it’s funny,” forward Sam Steel said. “We have to go out there with the same attitude.”
“He’s obviously sending a message to his team,” Dube said.
“I feel like there’s something completely different going on in the background. I don’t think they’re worried about that at all. I think part of it was overconfidence, because we dominated them in the exhibition and they’re going to try to catch us sleeping.
“That’s why we have to focus on our game and know what to expect. They’re going to come out hard.”
The Canadians do not have to look far into the past to be reminded of that. It was two years ago when they overcame a 2-0 deficit to Switzerland, requiring an overtime shootout to escape what could have been an embarrassing upset. As defenceman Dante Fabbro warned: “It’s a knockout game and anything can happen in this tournament.”
“They’re the underdogs and they have nothing to lose,” Canada defenceman Cale Makar added. “I don’t think it’s a game we can overlook.”
To Canada’s credit, the players have not taken anyone in this tournament lightly. While Slovakia surprised the U.S. with an out-of-nowhere win, Canada has kept its foot on the gas from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer, as evidenced by a 6-0 win against Slovakia and an 8-0 win against Denmark.
“Even against the teams that we had bigger leads against, we’ve continued to do what we’re good at,” Steel said. “I think we are confident right now. I wouldn’t say we’re overconfident, because we know that we haven’t played a perfect game yet and that’s what we’re striving to do.”
Perfection might not be needed to defeat Switzerland, but Canada will have to be a lot better than it has been if the team hopes to get back to the championship final and avenge last year’s defeat to the United States. The quarter-final is a first step and a chance to send a message — not to their opponents, but to themselves as they go on their quest for gold.
“I think we’ve been relentless,” Dube said. “We have four lines and every single line has been contributing, and it’s not just goals — it’s hard hockey. We’re really playing the way we want to.”
If so, then the Swiss truly have no chance.