Top-level opponents are awaiting the Swiss national team at the Nations Cup with Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Germany. At this "mini-World Championship", Switzerland will play their group stage games against Finland on Monday, January 4 (3 pm) and Germany the day after at 6.30 pm.
After new head coach Daniela Diaz' first camp with the team in France in the middle of December, she now wants to continue working on the System and work out the details and get to know the players and their strengths "to allow us to nominate the best possible team for the World Championship."
The team is talented and has a lot of potential but is still very young, according to Diaz, which makes the return of Christine Hühni so important: "Hühni brings a lot of experience the young players can fall back on."
Christine Hühni played her last game with the national team in January 2012 and has since then celebrated international and national success with her club, the ZSC Lions. As a main reason for her comeback, the forward names the hiring of Daniela Diaz as Switzerland's new head coach, as well as the possibility to help a young team qualify for the Olympic Games.
Diaz has, apart from the players who will be with the Under-18 national team (Alina Müller, Shannon Sigrist, Stefanie Wetli, Rahel Enzler and other candiates), nominated the best possible team. In addition to Florence Schelling, contrary to the December camp, also everyone playing overseas will be with the squad: Phoebe Staenz (Yale), Laura Trachsel (University of British Columbia) and Dominique Scheurer (Edmonton Griffins).
Second goaltender will be Andrea Brändli, who has impressed at the tournament in Amiens/FRA. Captain Livia Altmann, on the other hand, will not be joining the national team as she is preparing for exams. (dmo/lcu)
