A deafening home ice hockey crowd, who counted the likes of tennis great Roger Federer — who rang a ceremonial cowbell to start the proceedings — among them, helped Switzerland reach the last four of the 2026 men’s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with a 3–1 victory over Sweden on Thursday (28 May).
Zurich’s Swiss Life Arena was sold out for a high-stakes quarter-final clash against Sweden’s Tre Kronor, and the full house crowd were keen for their voices to be heard.
But it was the visitors who took the lead against the flow of the game, Linus Karlsson firing through Leonardo Genoni‘s five-hole from the left face-off circle 6:21 into the first period off assists from NHLers Emil Heineman (New York Islanders) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Toronto Maple Leafs), the Swedish captain.
The crowd was riled up even more shortly after as just 25 seconds later, second-line defenceman Dean Kukan was assessed a five-minute major penalty and automatic game misconduct for cross-checking, sending Sweden to the power play.
It took a full 4:40 of the man advantage before Tre Kronor put the puck in the net, Simon Holmström appearing to slide the frozen biscuit in past Genoni in a scramble in the crease. However, replays showed that the puck was kicked in, with the Islanders forward’s goal ultimately disallowed; the Swiss successfully killed off the penalty.
Switzerland’s captain Roman Josi (Nashville Predators) took things into his own hands as the first period wore on. After missing a long-range effort, he received the puck back from Denis Malgin, who’d picked it up off the boards, before sniping the tying effort in from the blue line at 13:23.
The deadlock was finally broken just shy of 13 minutes into the second period as Malgin picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and, seemingly unchallenged, fired past Swedish goalie Magnus Hellberg. Josi turned provider this time, with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Janis Moser also credited with an assist.
And the Swiss Life Arena exploded in further joy as, heading into the last few minutes of the second, Calvin Thurkauf was on hand to jam the puck home via Hellberg’s pads, assisted by Nico Hischier and Josi on the powerplay. The hosts out-shot Sweden 12-3 in the second, with Tre Kronor struggling to get extended time on the puck.
Sweden peppered Genoni’s goal in the third but it was too little, too late. With no scoring in the final period, their challenge came to an end. The Swiss, meanwhile, roll on at home – keen to go one better than their last two outings, which finished with defeats in the final.