A 4-3 victory 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 on Monday evening to advance, did not make the quarterfinal despite holding the lead twice.
Ron Hainsey scored two power play goals for the US in a match that featured punishing hits, flying players, boomeranging broken sticks and a percussion section of drums and cowbells in the Swiss capital.
"We battled to the end, had a little low in the second period, they took advantage of it we came back in the third, but it just wasn't good enough to win after sixty," said Swiss captain Mark Streit.
"Whether we win or lose on overtime, it doesn't matter because we're out now. We had our chances, yesterday and today, we just couldn't put it together," he added.
"The pain of this loss is great," said Swiss coach Ralph Krueger. "The line between success and failure is extremely narrow at this level."
In contrast to their lacklustre loss against Sweden on Sunday, Switzerland played desperately from the beginning, managing several shots on US goalie Robert Esche in the opening four minutes.
But the game, which saw a clean start and end-to-end drives, turned decidedly nasty at the 7:15 mark.
With the Swiss rushing into the US end, David Backes of the US slammed Swiss player Julien Sprunger into the boards as Sprunger was getting up from a previous fall. The Swiss forward flew back-first into the corner, losing his helmet and collapsing onto the ice.
He was carried off on a stretcher and later to the hospital with a neck injury. 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 US captain Dustin Brown was sent off for roughing 30 seconds later, Switzerland gained a two-man advantage and made the most of it. Andres Ambühl beat Esche at the 9:42 mark, putting his team up 1-0.
Switzerland finished the scrappy first period with ten shots on goal versus the US's six.
"We found a way to survive the first period, then I think we controlled the game the rest of the way," said Ron Wilson, the US coach.
« Whether we win or lose on overtime, it doesn't matter because we're out now. We had our chances, yesterday and today, we just couldn't put it together. » Mark Streit Ron Hainsey opened the scoring for 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 get even
The US, who played more physically throughout the game, did not relent. At 35:08, Montréal Canadien 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 with a wrist shot at 49:42 for Switzerland, assisted by Felicien Du Bois and Ivo Rüthemann.
« The line between success and failure is extremely narrow at this level. » Ralph Krueger 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 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.
Both goalies recorded 21 stops and Julien Sprunger was reported to be doing well.
Mark Streit, Martin Gerber and Sandy Jeannin were named the best players of the tournament for Switzerland.
swissinfo, Justin Häne at the PostFinance Arena in Bern
