Meyer’s goals and his will for great goals: ‘I want gold’

It’s time for Switzerland to start the World Cup against Italy tomorrow at 15.20 on the ice in Helsinki, as already happened in 2019 in Bratislava (it finished 9-0). The three points at the start are necessary, to legitimize the ambitions of a national team that has the means to go far, but can not afford a new failure. The cost is likely to be coach Patrick Fischer, the longest-lived of the coaches present at this World Cup (Finnish Jukka Jallonen scored more overall appearances, but in two special moments), having taken over as head coach in 2016. Then Olympian decided Fischer rejuvenated the team, bringing in three starters (Glauser, Egli and Miranda) in addition to Eichlemann and Turkov who had already been brought to Beijing. In all, there are eleven veteran players from the games, including the three goalkeepers and the only forums among the defenders. However, the team is absolutely valuable, considering they include eight 2018 Silver and seven Nahler veterans (Siegenthaler, Moser, Kukan, Meier, Hischier, Kurashev and Suter), and that wasn’t a huge number And Kevin Viala can be added to him, he was eliminated from the playoffs with his team Minnesota Wild, who is expected to make his decision these days.

On Sunday, at 19.20, the match against Denmark was scheduled, with which our national team did not finish. Indeed, in Beijing Boedker (absent from the World Championships), Regen and his teammates won 5-3, taking advantage of the almost lack of Switzerland for the first 45 minutes of the race. On the other hand, last year’s Rossocroscany won in Riga with a football goal 1-0, which Mayer had already signed at the start of the match, conceding only four shots to the opponent over the course of the whole match. In short, it will not be easy to conquer Scandinavia.

Mayer’s contribution will be key to the Swiss fortunes, given that the 26-year-old has returned from an exciting season with the San Jose Sharks jersey, which was their top scorer with 76 points in 77 games, although California remains. Excluded from the playoffs for the third year in a row. “I have learned from the mistakes of the past – as Mayer admits – the experiences gained when everything does not go right are very valuable. The important thing is to focus on the things you can control and play with them without thinking too much.”

The improvement shown by the Appenizes (a year earlier he had collected 31 points in 54 games) came from the progression on the physical level and the subsequent increase in time on the ice, which came to twenty minutes “With these ice times, it is easy to show my qualities” and exploded on a January evening when He scored five goals in the Los Angeles Kings game.

Success, however, is a sign of mental indifference: “The will is my main strength, I give myself a little pat on the back, but I am a person who always tries to improve. The team results show that I can do more.”

On the other hand, these eliminations allow him to provide important assistance to the national team, as he did for example in 2018 with seven points: “We are here to write our history, the goal is clearly gone, but there are a few points. Other teams have something to say. Our quality is The big unit in the group. We’re also working very hard, now it’s about keeping consistency and putting the best performance on the ice at the right time.”