MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — All the talk surrounding the Men’s Olympic Hockey revolves around the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
Sure, Czechia and Slovakia get some recognition but not nearly as much as what is considered the ‘Big Four.’ The four that represented the countries vying for the championship last year at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
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But for St. Louis Blues forward Pius Suter, who will be among five Blues represented at the Milano-Cortina Olympics in Milan, Italy with the start of the men’s portion of the tournament set to get underway with Dalibor Dvorsky and Slovakia vs. Finland at 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Suter had one simple message prior to departing for Italy: don’t sleep on Switzerland.
“We’ve got a good team,” Suter said. “It’s obviously on paper, but those are good teams as you mentioned, but we’ve got a good team.”
Switzerland hasn’t medaled in men’s hockey since 1948 when the Olympics were on its home soil in St. Moritz. The Swiss took home the bronze, one of two bronze medals Switzerland has ever won (also bronze in 1928 at St. Moritz).
But the Swiss go into these winter games brimming with confidence because they really have nothing to lose. They’ll be the underdogs behind a slew of teams but coming off two major accomplishments at the past two IIHF World Championships.
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“Guys won back-to-back silvers (in 2024 and 2025) so that’s obviously not coming from nowhere,” Suter said. “It’s one game and we’ll see how it goes and we’ll be ready to battle, give it our all and see what happens.”
The Swiss boast an NHL lineup with 10 currently in the league, including Suter. There’s forwards Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils), Timo Meier (Devils), Kevin Fiala (Los Angeles Kings), Nino Niederreiter (Winnipeg Jets) and Philipp Kurashev (San Jose Sharks); defensemen Roman Josi (Nashville Predators), Jonas Siegenthaler (Devils), J.J. Moser (Tampa Bay Lightning) and goalie Akira Schmid (Vegas Golden Knights). But there’s another seven on the roster that were former NHL players, including goalie Reto Berra, who was a fourth round pick in the 2006 NHL Draft by the Blues; defensemen Dean Kukan and Tim Berni, and forwards Denis Malgin, Sven Andrighetto, Christoph Bertschy and Calvin Thurkauf.
“It’ll be nice to play with all these great Swiss players. I haven’t played with,” Suter said. “There’s quite a few guys actually because we always missed each other in the Worlds, then I was there and they weren’t and vice versa. I’m looking forward to that too be on the same team as some of those guys.”
The one guy that paved the way for Suter when he was younger was former NHL defenseman Mark Streit, who played in the NHL from 2005-18 for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Streit, who played in 786 NHL regular-season games, was part of the representation of Swiss players that opened doors for others to dream of making it to North America to the NHL.
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“He was kind of that first guy that came along until Roman came along and Nino and all these guys obviously now,” Suter said of Streit. “He made the breakthrough, played a lot of games.
“(Hockey) was always big. I think always behind soccer, the second team sport. Obviously there’s skiing and all that stuff, but hockey was always 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’m thinking people feel that way because now more (Swiss) guys play here (in the NHL). There more of a presence.”
Suter, who represented Switzerland at the U-18 World Junior Championship in 2013, the U-20 WJC in 2015 and 2016 and World Championship in 2017 and 2022, also played in the Winter Games in 2018 when it was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“It means a lot to represent your country,” Suter said. “Best on best and it’s going to be so close to home. It’ll be nice to have family and friends coming down. I’m going to guess it’s going to be a bit of home games for us there. It’s a big honor and an awesome experience.”
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Based off initial experience, Suter said for the Swiss, who open their tournament Thursday at 5:10 a.m. (CT) against France, said for those experiencing it for the first time to just soak it all in.
“Honestly it’s the overall experience,” Suter said. “Just because as a kid, you would watch the Winter and Summer Olympics. You see everyone walking in the opening ceremony representing your country and all that stuff.
“Last time I was there, we really didn’t have much success on the ice. It’s hard to say, but hopefully we can change that.”
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