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	TEAM LINE UPS
	EVENT SUMMARY

Team Switzerland held on to beat Team Slovakia 6-4 to secure a spot in the top three of the Group A division and a playoff spot in the tournament.

“That was an important win for us,” said Swiss forward Sven Bartschi.  “We knew to go to the next round we needed to win today. We played pretty good and worked very hard.  The end was close, but we came out with the win, which is the important thing.”

The Swiss got ahead early in the first period as Gregory Hofmann chipped a loose puck into the Slovak net past goaltender Dominic Riecicky.

Slovakia tied it up less than a minute later when Peter Sisovsky beat goaltender Benjamin Conz.

Switzerland regained the lead midway through the first period when Dominik Schlumpf scored after dumping the puck into the Slovak zone. Riecicky mis-read the play and the puck trickled through his legs.

Slovakia had an opportunity to tie the game with 1:43 left in the first as Juraj Majdan was awarded a penalty shot, but was unable to beat the Swiss netminder.

The Swiss increased their lead by two goals late in the first, after Bartschi tallied a power play goal to give Switzerland a 3-1 lead.

With hopes to lift Team Slovakia’s morale, Juraj Holly started in net for the second period in relief of struggling starter Riecicky.  The goalie change provided an immediate spark for the Slovaks, as Marek Hrivik put Slovakia back into the game less then two minutes into the second period, for a 3-2 score.
New York Islanders’ prospect Nino Niederreiter countered with a goal to hold a two-goal lead heading into the third.

The Slovaks inched a little closer in the final period after Michael Vandas fed Andrej Stastny in front of the net who tapped in his first goal of the tournament.

The resilient Slovaks continued to battle and tied the game midway through the third period when captain Richard Panik beat Conz on the high stick side to knot it up at four.

Switzerland answered the bell when Samuel Walser scored the clutch game-winning goal with just over five minutes left in the game. Inti Pestoni added an empty-net goal that secured the win and moved the Swiss to 2-0-0-1 in the Group-A bracket.

“We are disappointed because we knew we needed to beat Switzerland,” said Slovak captain Panik.  “I think we played better when we played like a team.  After the tying goal we stopped playing which is what I think is the main reason why we lost.”

The loss drops Slovakia to 0-1-0-2 in the tournament, which eliminates them from contending for a medal in this year’s tournament.  The Slovaks play Finland tomorrow in the HSBC Arena at 12:30 PM.

Switzerland won’t have much time to celebrate, as they go right back to work tomorrow night against a tough Team USA.  The puck drops at 8:00 PM inside the HSBC Arena.