Swiss start with victory over Norway

Switzerland enjoyed a comfortable win to start its 2024 IIHF World Championship campaign. Nino Niederreiter and Romain Loeffel had two-point games while the ageless Andres Ambuhl began his 19th Worlds with an assist in a 5-2 victory.

In recent seasons, the Swiss have started strong in World Championship play. In the last two tournaments, Patrick Fischer’s team has topped its group and it 2021 it was second in the qualifying round. However, Switzerland could not clear the QF in any of those events.

Norway, meanwhile, has finished 13th in its last three championships. Last time, scoring was a problem: nine goals in seven games was a tournament low, tied with relegated Slovenia. To fix that, veteran forwards Mats Zuccarello (Minnesota Wild) and Patrick Thoresen (ex-Oilers) returned to the first line after several years away from international play.

For much of the first period, Switzerland dominated the play but found Norwegian goalie Jonas Arntzen in solid form. At the other end, Norway’s veterans posed problems: Zuccarello’s stretch pass offered a great chance for Eirik Solsten on the counter before Swiss pressure told.

The breakthrough came after 11 minutes when great work from Nino Niederreiter set up Sven Andrighetto for an instant wrist shot that ripped past Arntzen. However, Norway continued to battle and tied the scores thanks to that experienced top line. Zuccarello’s determination kept the play alive before Thoresen produced a great pass out of the corner for Markus Vikingstad to score. Then Thoresen had a great chance to make it 2-1 just before the intermission, but he squeezed a shot narrowly wide after a good look from the right-hand circle.

In the middle frame, Switzerland turned its puck possession into goals. Four minutes in, Romain Loeffel unleashed a shot from centre point. His effort evaded Thomas Berg-Paulson’s attempted block and dinged the post on its way into the top corner. The Swiss D-man then made a key intervention at the other end, getting in front of a shot from Stian Solberg as the young defender dithered when well placed.

That miss was not forgiven: Roman Josi’s run around the back of the net disconcerted Arntzen, inviting Sven Senteler to shoot home from the slot. Then Gaetan Haas jumped on a loose clearance, grabbing the puck in centre ice and sending Tristan Scherwey clean through to make it 4-1.

With the game effectively done, the third period saw more Swiss dominance. There was brief respite for Norway with its…