What: Quarterfinals of the Ice Hockey World Championship.
Where: Swiss Life Arena, Zurich.
When: Thursday at 8:20 p.m.
TV/Radio: Viaplay, Radio Sporten.
Team form: Sweden secured a quarter-final spot first with a 4–2 win in the group stage against Slovakia and finished fourth in the group in Fribourg after four wins and three losses. Switzerland were dominant in their group in Zurich - they had seven straight wins. First place was secured with a 4–2 win in Tuesday night's group final against Finland.
Aiming for World Championship gold: Host nation Switzerland has never won the World Championship gold medal, but has reached the final the last two years and four times in total. In Copenhagen 2018, they lost to Tre Kronor on penalties (2–3) - Sweden's most recent World Championship gold. In the nation's first final in 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden also stood in the way. In the last two years, the Swiss were beaten first by the Czech Republic (0–2) and then by the USA (0–1 after extra time) in Stockholm. Switzerland also took silver in 1935 when the World Championship was decided in series play.
Veteran tops the scoring league: Swiss Sven Andrighetto tops the World Championship scoring list - the 33-year-old has 13 points, with four goals and nine assists. The forward previously played in the NHL for Montreal and Colorado, and has spent several seasons with the ZSC Lions in Switzerland. Sweden's Lucas Raymond (Detroit) shares second place with Canada's prodigy Macklin Celebrini on 11 points - both have five goals and six assists.
Other quarterfinals on Thursday: Finland–Czech Republic (4:20 p.m. in Zurich), Canada–USA (4:20 p.m. in Fribourg), Latvia–Norway (8:20 p.m. in Fribourg).
This is how the World Championship continues: On Saturday, the semifinals will be played and on Sunday, the medal matches – all matches in Zurich. The highest ranked semifinal team will face the lowest ranked semifinal team. The second best team will face the third best ranked team.
Rankings for the quarterfinals: 1) Switzerland, 2) Canada, 3) Finland, 4) Norway, 5) Czech Republic, 6) Latvia, 7) Sweden, 8) USA.
Sweden
Goalkeepers: 40 Arvid Söderblom, 45 Magnus Hellberg, 73 Love Härenstam.
Defenders: 4 Jacob Larsson, 8 Robert Hägg, 14 Mattias Ekholm, 23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson, 26 Erik Brännström, 34 Albert Johansson, 72 Tim Heed, 94 Joel Persson.
Forwards: 9 Linus Karlsson, 10 Simon Holmström, 13 Lucas Raymond, 15 Jack Berglund, 16 Anton Frondell, 20 André Petersson, 33 Jakob Silfverberg, 41 Ivar Stenberg, 51 Emil Heineman, 61 Viggo Björck, 70 Oskar Sundqvist, 74 Rasmus Asplund, 91 Carl Grundström, 95 Jacob de la Rose.
Switzerland
Goalkeepers: 20 Reto Berra, 26 Sandro Aeschlimann, 63 Leonardo Genoni.
Defenders: 14 Dean Kukan, 18 Sven Jung, 38 Lukas Frick, 54 Christian Marti, 56 Tim Berni, 72 Dominik Egli, 86 Janis Moser, 90 Roman Josi.
Forwards: 8 Simon Knak, 9 Damien Riat, 13 Nico Hischier, 17 Ken Jäger, 22 Nino Niederreiter, 28 Timo Meier, 44 Pius Suter, 62 Denis Malgin, 79 Calvin Thürkauf, 80 Nicolas Baechler, 85 Sven Andrighetto, 88 Christoph Bertschy, 93 Théo Rochette, 94 Attilio Biasca.
