Outspoken Switzerland coach Wohlwend marvels at effort vs. Canada

Christian Wohlwend — a converted Canadian that now coaches the Swiss national junior team — loves to talk up the disadvantage the Swiss have against Canada when given his chance in front of the cameras during competition at the world juniors.

It last year that he famously buried his own team before they took the ice, suggesting that they had no chance of winning and that Canada does “everything better.”

Remember:

This year? He used the talent disparity to uplift his side … sorta.

Said after a hard-fought 3-2 loss to Canada, in which the Swiss pressed for the equalizer in the dying seconds, via TSN’s Frank Seravalli:

“I’m proud. Very proud … That’s CRAZY. We have 16,000 players. You guys have 440,000 … We have good players, but not enough who make a difference.”

I suppose he means well, here, but with “not enough” players to make the difference, what was it then?

Good coaching?

Maybe that’s not a fair criticism of Wohlwend, who has been absolutely spot on with assessment of his team’s chances, historically.

The Swiss were no match last year, losing 8-2. And before the Canada clash this time around he did suggest that his team would be much more competitive.

He said this morning, speaking to the growth of his group, “Last year, we had 14 under-agers. In this age group, in 12 months, (the difference) is huge. You can grow (physically), you can grow tactically, you can have way bigger roles than they had last year. They play men’s hockey (now).”

Canada has never lost to the Swiss at the world juniors, winning 22 consecutive times in the history of the tournament.

So when he does call for the upset, expect history, we guess.

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