| rdfs:comment
| - The Swiss Mens national junior ice hockey team represents Switzerland at the World Junior Championships. Switzerland made their U20 debut in 1977 at the A Pool championships held in Banska Bystrica, Czechoslovakia. Their first game was an 18-1 loss to the Soviet Union. In the end, Switzerland was relegated to the B Pool, where the Swiss stormed back to Pool A with a 4-0 record with wins over Holland, Denmark, Italy, and France. Despite the repeated returns to the A Pool; Switzerland did not win their first Pool A game until 1991, where the Swiss edged Norway 2-1 to avoid relegation, which went to the Norwegians.
|
| abstract
| - The Swiss Mens national junior ice hockey team represents Switzerland at the World Junior Championships. Switzerland made their U20 debut in 1977 at the A Pool championships held in Banska Bystrica, Czechoslovakia. Their first game was an 18-1 loss to the Soviet Union. In the end, Switzerland was relegated to the B Pool, where the Swiss stormed back to Pool A with a 4-0 record with wins over Holland, Denmark, Italy, and France. Despite the repeated returns to the A Pool; Switzerland did not win their first Pool A game until 1991, where the Swiss edged Norway 2-1 to avoid relegation, which went to the Norwegians. Switzerland became more present in the A Pool when the International Ice Hockey Federation changed it's format from "only round-robin" to "round-robin, quarter-finals, and medal round". The new format allowed 2 new teams to join Pool A, which were Slovakia and Switzerland. In 1998, the Swiss won their first-ever quarter-final game over Sweden in a shootout, when Swiss goaltedner David Aebischer led his team to the semi-finals. Their gold medal hopes were dashed by Finland in the semi-finals losing 2-1. Switzerland would not go home without a medal as they won bronze over the Czech-Republic. In 2002, Switzerland upset Slovakia in the shootout in the quarter-finals to lead Switzerland to the medal-round, but Tobias Stephan was the hero with his heroics. Switzerland would lose to Canada in the semi-finals, but would end up finshing fourth as Finland claimed bronze, despite the Switzerland recorded a 3-0 win over Finland in their opening game of tournament. Switzerland would face difficulties and nearly being relegated, until the Swiss were relegated in 2008 along with Denmark. Switzerland played host to the Div I tournament in Herisau, Switzerland. Switzerland made a predicted return to top division for 2010. Switzerland was well-predicted to finish 7th or 8th place avoiding relegation. But with a surprising win over Slovakia, Switzerland earned a spot in the quarter-finals against Russia, where the Swiss would do the unthinkable knocking out Russia in overtime, where Nino Niederreiter was the hero scoring the overtime-winning goal. Switzerland's of winning the gold medal was dashed by Canada, when they lost 6-1 in the semi-finals. Sweden would win the bronze medal by a score of 11-4 over Switzerland - the highest margain of victory in a medal game since the new format took place in 1995. Notably, the country of Switzerland were to host the 2010 IIHF World Junior U20 Hockey Championships, but withdrew their application because of the fear of being relegated because of their poor performance in recent tournaments. The hosts cities were rumoured to be Bern, or Lugano. Davos could not host the World Juniors because of the Spengler Cup. It has been rumoured that Switzerland has considered sending an application to host the 2014 World Junior Hockey Championships.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)