A 4-3 win on Monday evening did not save Switzerland from elimination at the Ice Hockey World Championship in a game that changed quickly from hard-fought to ugly.The Swiss, who needed to beat the United States in regulation time to advance to the semifinal, did not.
Ron Hainsey scored two power play goals for the US in a match that featured punishing hits, flying players, boomeranging broken sticks and percussion section of drums and cowbells in the Swiss capital.
In contrast to their lacklustre loss against Sweden on Sunday, Switzerland played desperate from the beginning, managing several shots on US goalie Robert Esche in the opening four minutes.
But a game that started hard fought turned and featured end-to-d drives decidedly nasty at the 7:15 mark.
With the Swiss pressing in the US end, David Backes of the US slammed Swiss player Julien Sprunger into the boards. The Swiss forward flew back-first into the corner, losing his helmet and collapsing onto the ice.
He remained there for several minutes being attended to by trainers. He was carried off on a stretcher. Backes received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.
First strike
The incident fired up the home squad, playing before a near-capacity crowd of 10,317.
When Dustin Brown of the US was sent off for roughing 30 seconds later, Switzerland took advantage. Andres Ambühl beat Esche at the 9:42 mark, putting Switzerland up 1-0.
Switzerland finished the first period with ten shots on goal versus the US's six.
Ron Hainsey opened scoring to the US at 25:57. With his team on a power play, Hainsey took a shot at Gerber. The Swiss goalie at first appeared to make the save but the puck ended up dribbling through his legs.
With the score even, Switzerland were again under pressure to finish with a win in regular time.
Romano Lemm answered at 31:03. With Sandy Jeannin of Switzerland directly behind Esche, Lemm positioned himself in front of the American goalie. When Jeannin sent the puck to the front of the net, Lemm tapped it in, setting the pro-Swiss audience into a roar.
US strike back
The US, who played more physically throughout the game, did not relent. At 35:08, Chris Higgins drove a slap shot from near the blue line, beating Gerber on his glove side. Keith Ballard assisted.
The US appeared to score a goal minutes later, only to have the goal called back on account of a high stick. That didn't stop them from continuing to hit Switzerland.
With less than two minutes remaining in the second period, Andres Ambühl of Switzerland was sent off the ice for slashing. A minute later, officials called Sandy Jeannin for tripping, giving the US a two-man advantage.
With the Swiss in full defensive mode, Ron Hainsey, mimicked Higgins and drove an almost identical slap shot past Gerber's left side, putting the US up by a goal.
Martin Plüss answered at 49:42 for Switzerland, assisted by Felicien Du Bois and Ivo Rüthemann.
His goal evened the score and brought out the cowbells but fans at the PostFinance Arena in Bern knew it would take more for the Swiss to move on.
The question was: When would coach Ralph Krueger pull Gerber in favour of an extra attacker for Switzerland? The answer came at 58:34.
Gerber headed to the bench and Switzerland went for broke but it was not enough.
The game went to overtime. Roman Wick of Switzerland scored 13 seconds in. It meant nothing.
swissinfo, Justin Häne at the PostFinance Arena in Bern
