Shannon Coulter
GAME NOTES: CANADA VS. SWITZERLAND (DEC. 19)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Canada’s National Junior Team takes to the ice for the first of its three pre-tournament games when it meets Switzerland on Thursday ahead of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Last Meeting
It’s been almost a year since Canada and Switzerland met in a pre-tournament tilt in Ängelholm, Sweden, ahead of the 2024 World Juniors, with the Canadians earning a 6-3 win. After a back-and-forth first period that ended 2-2, the Canadians exploded in the middle frame with four unanswered goals, including two by Owen Beck—one only 28 seconds into the period and a shorthanded effort to close out Canada’s scoring. Twelve Canadians recorded a point, Mathis Rousseau made 26 saves, and Canada racked up 39 shots.
What to Watch
New this year for IIHF events, the roster size has increased by three players to 25. Among the Canadians suiting up for the tournament are four returnees from the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden (Bonk, Cowan, Rehkopf, Yager), one player who was named to the 2024 roster but missed the tournament through injury (Molendyk) and seven who won gold at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship (Beaudoin, George, Ivankovic, Luchanko, Martone, McKenna, Schaefer). In addition, three players captured gold at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup (Ivankovic, McKenna, Schaefer), marking the first time since 1991—when it was Eric Lindros, Martin Lapointe and Scott Niedermayer—that Canada has had three 17-year-old players on its roster.
Switzerland named 28 players to its pre-tournament roster, including nine returning from last year’s tournament. Defenceman Leon Muggli is the team’s highest NHL draft pick after being selected 52nd overall by the Washington Capitals in 2024. The 18-year-old is playing this season with the Swiss National League’s EV Zug after signing his NHL entry-level contact in July and has a goal and four assists across 21 games so far this season. The Swiss have additional NHL draftees to watch at each position: goaltender Christian Kirsch (116th overall, San Jose, 2024), defender Basile Sansonnens (221st overall, Vancouver, 2024) and forward Rico Gredig (191st overall, New York Rangers, 2024).
A Look Back
Canada has dominated the head-to-head history since the first meeting in 1980, winning all 25 meetings – 24 of them in regulation time.
While they have been frequent foes in pre-tournament play in recent years, the last official tournament matchup came at the 2022 World Juniors in Edmonton; in that one, Canada used a four-goal first period and two goals and an assist from Logan Stankoven to a 6-3 quarterfinal victory en route to gold.
There’s also one semifinal showdown in the record book; in Saskatchewan in 2010, after Switzerland stunned Russia in overtime in the quarterfinals, Canada got two goals from Taylor Hall and a shorthanded game-winner from Marco Scandella in a 6-1 victory.
All-time record: Canada leads 25-0-0 (1-0 in OT/SO) Canada goals: 160 Switzerland goals: 43