The Swiss ice hockey team made it to the World Cup semi-finals with a gala performance and now faces Denmark

Roger Bader and the Austrian national ice hockey team had ambitious goals for their quarterfinal match against Switzerland at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Herning. Run, believe in yourself, and don't show too much respect. These were the key words the coach addressed to his team before the match .

The reality turned out to be different. It was mainly the Swiss who were skating, and the Austrians' respect for Patrick Fischer's team was clearly overwhelming. And with that, their belief in themselves and their own potential vanished relatively quickly. Barely five minutes into the second period, Sandro Schmid scored to make it 5-0 for the Swiss. The game was more or less decided – especially since Vinzenz Rohrer, one of the Austrian team's best individual players, had to leave the locker room early shortly before the end of the first period.

The ZSC Lions striker vented his frustration after a face-off with a crosscheck to Sandro Schmid's face. And this scene symbolizes what decided the match. Schmid had also previously hit Rohrer in the face with his stick. But the referee's whistle remained silent.

In any case, it wasn't the Austrians' afternoon. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. Arno Del Curto, Bader's assistant on the Austria bench at the past three World Cups, said as a studio guest on Swiss television that the Austrians had initially played too offensively for his liking. "In games like these, where it's all or nothing, defense has to come first."

Del Curto didn't want his statement to be interpreted as criticism of Bader. Despite the euphoria that prevailed after qualifying for the quarterfinals among their eastern neighbors, the performance gap between the two teams at this World Cup is too great. Coach Patrick Fischer praised the composure with which his team entered the match. "We kept the pace high from the very beginning and immediately seized the initiative."

The Swiss now approach such matches with the confidence of favorites, completing their workload without giving it too much thought. Nevertheless, each of the Swiss players knew that a loss to the underdog would not be easily forgiven. The positive impression from the preliminary round, in which the Swiss had lost only one of seven matches, would have been wiped out.

Two years ago, the Swiss had lost to Germany in the quarterfinals in a similar situation. Coach Fischer subsequently came under harsh criticism from the media and club representatives. A year ago in Prague, he was therefore not just playing for medals, but also for his job. His team did so with convincing style. In the end, they returned home from the Czech capital with their third silver medal, after 2013 and 2018. In Zurich, the coach and players were greeted by around 2,000 euphoric fans.

Silver is no longer enough. Fischer said in the run-up to this year's World Cup that he's already seen silver. After losing three World Cup finals, the Zug native wants to finally make history with his team and become world champions. The Swiss have undergone an astonishing process of maturation over the past two years. After the gala against Austria, they are still two steps and two victories away from this major goal.

The task now becomes significantly more difficult. In Saturday's semifinal, the Swiss will not face Sweden or the USA as expected, but Denmark. The World Cup co-hosts beat Canada, featuring top NHL stars Nathan MacKinnon and Sydney Crosby, 2-1 on Thursday evening. Nick Olesen scored the winning goal 48 seconds before the end of the third period. Switzerland and Denmark had already met in the group stage, winning that match comfortably 5-2. Since then, however, another top player from overseas, Nikolaj Ehlers, has joined the Danish team.

The Danes are in a World Cup semifinal for the first time. Their victory against the Canadians is one of the greatest upsets in the history of international ice hockey. It's comparable to the "Miracle on Ice," the legendary victory of the American college players against the Soviet state professionals at the 1980 Olympic Games.

For the Danes, reaching the semifinals is a piece of ice hockey history, and for the Swiss, it's a huge opportunity to reach the World Championship final, just like they did a year ago in Prague. The second semifinal will be a clash between the Swedish hosts and the USA.

The Swedes entered their home tournament as the favorites for the World Cup; the team boasts 21 NHL players. Jesper Frödén, the ZSC Lions' top shooter, also found his way into the Swedish roster. But in their fortunate 4-2 win against Austria in the group stage, the Swedes showed that they are not invincible. They only turned a 1-2 deficit around in the final period. This match gave the Austrians confidence that they could also challenge Switzerland.

In the end, the Austrians had to be content not to suffer a complete debacle. The 6-0 defeat was their heaviest defeat in the World Cup. Had the Swiss not more or less stopped playing after the 5-0 lead, the defeat would have been far more devastating. Leonardo Genoni celebrated his third shutout of the tournament; no other Swiss goalkeeper has achieved this before him. Similar to the 10-0 win against Hungary, the effort he had to put in to achieve this shutout was manageable. Only 13 shots were on goal throughout the entire match, which illustrates how harmless the Austrians were.