MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — All the talk of men’s Olympic hockey revolves around the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
Of course, Czechia and Slovakia get some recognition, but not as much as what is considered the “Big Four”. The four who represented the countries competing for the championship last year in the 4 Nations showdown.
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But for St. Louis Blues Forward Pius Suter, who will be among five Blues represented at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in Milan, Italy, with the men’s portion of the tournament kicking off with Dalibor Dvorsky and Slovakia taking on Finland at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, Suter had a simple message before leaving for Italy: Don’t sleep on Switzerland.
“We have a good team,” Suter said. “It’s obviously on paper, but they’re good teams like you mentioned, but we have a good team.”
Switzerland has not won a medal in men’s hockey since 1948, when the Olympics were held on home soil in St. Moritz. The Swiss won bronze, one of two bronze medals ever won by Switzerland (also bronze in 1928 in St. Moritz).
But the Swiss are approaching these Winter Games with full confidence, because they really have nothing to lose. They will be the underdogs behind a lot of teams, but they are coming off two major accomplishments in the last two IIHF World Championships.
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“The guys won back-to-back silver medals (in 2024 and 2025), so it obviously didn’t come out of nowhere,” Suter said. “It’s a game and we’ll see how it goes and we’ll be ready to fight, give it our all and see what happens.”
The Swiss currently have 10 players in the NHL, including Suter. There are the attackers Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils), Timo Meier (Devils), Kevin Fiala (Los Angeles Kings), Nino Niederreiter (Winnipeg Jets) and Philipp Kurashev (San Jose Sharks); defenders Roman Josi (Nashville Predators), Jonas Siegenthaler (Devils), JJ Moser (Tampa Bay Lightning) and goalkeeper Akira Schmid (Vegas Golden Knights). But there are seven others on the roster who were former NHL players, including goalie Reto Berra, who was a fourth-round pick in the 2006 NHL draft by the Blues; defenders Dean Kukan and Tim Berni, as well as forwards Denis Malgin, Sven Andrighetto, Christoph Bertschy and Calvin Thurkauf.
“It will be good to play with all these great Swiss players. I have never played with them,” Suter said. “There’s quite a few guys actually because we always missed each other at Worlds and then I was there and they weren’t and vice versa. I’m looking forward to being on the same team as some of these guys.”
The one guy who paved the way for Suter when he was younger was former NHL defenseman Mark Streit, who played in the NHL from 2005 to 2018 for the Montreal Canadienss, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers And Pittsburgh Penguins. Streit, who played 786 regular season games in the NHL, was part of the roster of Swiss players who made it possible for others to dream of making it to North America in the NHL.
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“He was kind of the first guy to come in until Roman and Nino came and all these guys obviously now,” Suter said of Streit. “He made a breakthrough, played a lot of matches.
“(Hockey) has always been big. I think it’s always been behind football, the second team sport. Obviously there’s skiing and all that, but hockey has always been very popular. It’s always had a lot of fans. People care about it. It’s always been played a lot in history. The Spengler Cup as well. I think people feel that because now more (Swiss) guys are playing here (in the NHL). There’s more of a presence. “
Suter, who represented Switzerland at the U-18 Junior World Championship in 2013, the U-20 WJC in 2015 and 2016 and the World Championship in 2017 and 2022, also competed at the Winter Games in 2018, which took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“It means a lot to represent your country,” Suter said. “Best against best and it’s going to be so close to home. It’ll be nice to have family and friends coming. I guess it’s going to be a little bit of home games for us there. It’s a great honor and a great experience.”
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Drawing on his initial experience, Suter told the Swiss, who open their tournament Thursday at 5:10 a.m. CT against France, that they should just soak it all in for those experiencing it for the first time.
“Honestly, it’s the overall experience,” Suter said. “Just because as a kid you watched the Winter and Summer Olympics. You see everyone walking in the opening ceremony representing your country and all that.
“The last time I was there, we didn’t really have a lot of success on the ice. It’s hard to say, but hopefully we can change that.”
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