Swiss captain Roman Josi (#90, left) celebrates after scoring in a 3-0 win over host Italy in the qualification playoffs of the 2026 Olympic men's hockey tournament.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
Assistant captain Nico Hischier shone with a goal and two assists as Switzerland earned a 3-0 qualification playoff win over host Italy on Tuesday. Swiss goalie Leonardo Genoni made 20 saves for his second Olympic shutout.
The Swiss will face the Olympic champion Finns in the quarter-finals. Underdog Italy's journey ends here.
Of taking on Finland, defenceman Janis Moser said: "You know their quality, you know their skill. We have the same. So it's just going to come down to who's more disciplined, who can bring more energy."
Versus Italy, Philipp Kurashev and captain Roman Josi also scored, and Timo Meier added two assists to increase his team-leading points total to seven. The Swiss power play clicked twice.
"I think for us, we would like to capitalize on some more chances," Meier said. "But we're happy. We're moving on and it's a good start."
Switzerland outshot Italy 51-20. It was a fine display of patient hockey based on defence and puck possession at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena. Despite a hard-working effort, the Italians got shut out for the second straight game.
Shutouts are old hat for Genoni, the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship MVP. He set a new shutout streak record of 243:27 at that tournament. The 38-year-old EV Zug star was only occasionally challenged here. Conversely, Italian starter Damien Clara had to shine from puck drop.
The Swiss are eager to reach new heights at these Olympics. After settling for the silver medal at the last two World Championships, they're seeking their first modern-era Olympic medal as the Winter Games welcome back NHLers for the first time in 12 years.
Italian bench boss Jukka Jalonen, who coached his native Finland to its first Olympic gold medal ever in 2022, is famous for getting nice results out of not-so-star-studded rosters. However, the 63-year-old Riihimaki native couldn't produce any upsets in Milan. In the preliminary round, the hosts battled bravely in losses to Sweden (5-2) and Slovakia (3-2) before getting blown out by Finland (11-0).
"We've been battling hard for a couple of weeks now, and we laid it all out the best we could," said Italy's Alex Petan. "We had a couple chances to maybe make the game a little more interesting midway through, but it didn't go in for us. But I'm still pretty proud of our group today, and all the best to Switzerland."
The Italians had a rough start. Centre Matt Bradley, who leads Italy with two goals, fell heavily into the boards in the first minute and was helped off. And at 1:19, Kurashev opened the scoring, converting a juicy rebound into a wide-open net.
Josi made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:25 with a wrister over Clara’s glove.
Without Clara’s strong goaltending, Switzerland could have grabbed a even bigger lead. Late in the first period, the 21-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect stopped Calvin Thurkauf on a breakaway. First-period shots were 18-2 Switzerland.
Near the five-minute mark of a scoreless second period, Genoni earned his keep when he foiled Italy's Martin Zanetti close-in on a quick turnover in the Swiss zone. Later, Clara came up huge against Sandro Schmid on a 3-on-1 chance set up by Nino Niederreiter. The on-ice tension as Switzerland maintained its lead bubbled over with a scrum in front of Clara's net shortly before the buzzer.
Petan praised Clara: "I've known him since he was 15 or 16 years old. He was with us in the World Championships just as a young kid. The way he's grown up and matured and obviously gotten better and better as a goaltender, you can see it right there. Each and every game, he was giving us a chance, playing really well. And I'm wishing him all the best for his future, and hopefully he'll be in the NHL soon."
When Italy's Mikael Frycklund was sent off for roughing at 5:47 of the third period, Swiss coach Patrick Fischer called his timeout to strategize. It paid off six seconds later. Off the faceoff, Meier found Damien Riat on the goal line and he sent the puck out front to Hischier. The New Jersey Devils captain made no mistake.
"He is playing an unreal game, a two-way game, even if he doesn't score the points," Moser said of Hischier, who had just one assist in the first three games. "But we know that he has the quality, and eventually he will score the points. And I think it's perfect timing that he finds [his touch] right now when it matters."
Icing eight defencemen is a Jalonen trademark, and Swiss coach Patrick Fischer matched him in that regard for this game. Two-time IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship silver medalist Andrea Glauser, sidelined with an upper-body injury since the 5-1 loss to Canada, returned to play alongside Tim Berni. Scoring forwards Kevin Fiala, the 2024 Worlds MVP, and Denis Malgin remain out with injuries.
With four Men’s Worlds finals appearances since 2013, the Swiss have drastically outpaced their Italian neighbours since the 3-3 tie in their last Olympic meeting in Turin 2006. Italy has lost six straight Worlds games to Switzerland dating back to 2001. Its last Olympic win over Switzerland was 8-3, back in 1956 when Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the Games.
Historically, the Swiss men's total Olympic haul consists of two bronze medals from 1928 and 1948, both on home ice in St. Moritz.
The Swiss will face the Olympic champion Finns in the quarter-finals. Underdog Italy's journey ends here.
Of taking on Finland, defenceman Janis Moser said: "You know their quality, you know their skill. We have the same. So it's just going to come down to who's more disciplined, who can bring more energy."
Versus Italy, Philipp Kurashev and captain Roman Josi also scored, and Timo Meier added two assists to increase his team-leading points total to seven. The Swiss power play clicked twice.
"I think for us, we would like to capitalize on some more chances," Meier said. "But we're happy. We're moving on and it's a good start."
Switzerland outshot Italy 51-20. It was a fine display of patient hockey based on defence and puck possession at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena. Despite a hard-working effort, the Italians got shut out for the second straight game.
Shutouts are old hat for Genoni, the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship MVP. He set a new shutout streak record of 243:27 at that tournament. The 38-year-old EV Zug star was only occasionally challenged here. Conversely, Italian starter Damien Clara had to shine from puck drop.
The Swiss are eager to reach new heights at these Olympics. After settling for the silver medal at the last two World Championships, they're seeking their first modern-era Olympic medal as the Winter Games welcome back NHLers for the first time in 12 years.
Italian bench boss Jukka Jalonen, who coached his native Finland to its first Olympic gold medal ever in 2022, is famous for getting nice results out of not-so-star-studded rosters. However, the 63-year-old Riihimaki native couldn't produce any upsets in Milan. In the preliminary round, the hosts battled bravely in losses to Sweden (5-2) and Slovakia (3-2) before getting blown out by Finland (11-0).
"We've been battling hard for a couple of weeks now, and we laid it all out the best we could," said Italy's Alex Petan. "We had a couple chances to maybe make the game a little more interesting midway through, but it didn't go in for us. But I'm still pretty proud of our group today, and all the best to Switzerland."
The Italians had a rough start. Centre Matt Bradley, who leads Italy with two goals, fell heavily into the boards in the first minute and was helped off. And at 1:19, Kurashev opened the scoring, converting a juicy rebound into a wide-open net.
Josi made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:25 with a wrister over Clara’s glove.
Without Clara’s strong goaltending, Switzerland could have grabbed a even bigger lead. Late in the first period, the 21-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect stopped Calvin Thurkauf on a breakaway. First-period shots were 18-2 Switzerland.
Near the five-minute mark of a scoreless second period, Genoni earned his keep when he foiled Italy's Martin Zanetti close-in on a quick turnover in the Swiss zone. Later, Clara came up huge against Sandro Schmid on a 3-on-1 chance set up by Nino Niederreiter. The on-ice tension as Switzerland maintained its lead bubbled over with a scrum in front of Clara's net shortly before the buzzer.
Petan praised Clara: "I've known him since he was 15 or 16 years old. He was with us in the World Championships just as a young kid. The way he's grown up and matured and obviously gotten better and better as a goaltender, you can see it right there. Each and every game, he was giving us a chance, playing really well. And I'm wishing him all the best for his future, and hopefully he'll be in the NHL soon."
When Italy's Mikael Frycklund was sent off for roughing at 5:47 of the third period, Swiss coach Patrick Fischer called his timeout to strategize. It paid off six seconds later. Off the faceoff, Meier found Damien Riat on the goal line and he sent the puck out front to Hischier. The New Jersey Devils captain made no mistake.
"He is playing an unreal game, a two-way game, even if he doesn't score the points," Moser said of Hischier, who had just one assist in the first three games. "But we know that he has the quality, and eventually he will score the points. And I think it's perfect timing that he finds [his touch] right now when it matters."
Icing eight defencemen is a Jalonen trademark, and Swiss coach Patrick Fischer matched him in that regard for this game. Two-time IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship silver medalist Andrea Glauser, sidelined with an upper-body injury since the 5-1 loss to Canada, returned to play alongside Tim Berni. Scoring forwards Kevin Fiala, the 2024 Worlds MVP, and Denis Malgin remain out with injuries.
With four Men’s Worlds finals appearances since 2013, the Swiss have drastically outpaced their Italian neighbours since the 3-3 tie in their last Olympic meeting in Turin 2006. Italy has lost six straight Worlds games to Switzerland dating back to 2001. Its last Olympic win over Switzerland was 8-3, back in 1956 when Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the Games.
Historically, the Swiss men's total Olympic haul consists of two bronze medals from 1928 and 1948, both on home ice in St. Moritz.
Qualification Playoff: Switzerland vs Italy - 2026 Men's Olympic Games
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