Sensational Switzerland humiliate Norway to secure third successive final appearance

[p]Six different players were on target as the host nation on Saturday effectively brought [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/nDtCX9uB/"]Norway[/a]'s fairytale run at the championships to an abrupt end, as the Scandinavians were handed a virtual humiliation as the hosts ran riot to book their third final ticket after they lost to the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/OdY4GUuO/"]Czech Republic[/a] and the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/GYgp4SO3/"]USA[/a] in 2024 and 2025, respectively. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bertschy-christoph/0nOGoyfc/"]Christoph Bertschy[/a], Denis Malgin, Ken Jager, Damien Riat, Nico Hischier, and Theo Rochette all got on the scoreboard for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/switzerland/buO3jBAo/"]Switzerland[/a].[/p][p]Petter Thoresen's troops went into the final high on confidence as their impressive speed and work ethic gave them a ticket for the semi-final for the first time in history, but they were pegged back at 17:36 in the first period when Bertschy beat Norwegian keeper Henrik Haukeland high on the short side. [/p][embed guid="8152ff0d-c9d1-4c90-85f0-b01116693d11" url="https://x.com/IIHFHockey/status/2060749646641721469" social-type="twitter" /][p]Early in the second period, Switzerland then doubled its lead on a 2-on-1 break as Calvin Thurkauf collected the puck, raced into the Norwegian zone to feed Malgin, who kept his cool to slide the puck past Haukeland at 4:23. [/p][p]The Swiss then made the most of their dominance at 12:51 when Jager, who scored twice against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/finland/rRWMzYQu/"]Finland[/a] in the group phase, steered the puck past Haukeland for a solid 3-0 lead. At 16:36, the Swiss then virtually put the game out of reach for Norway as captain Roman Josi set up Riat to make it 4-0.[/p][p]In the third period, Hischier (at 4:27) and Rochette (at 2:26) rounded off a superb afternoon for the host nation. [/p][p]Norway still has the chance to win its first medal in IIHF history in Sunday's bronze medal game. Switzerland will face the winner of Finland vs. Canda in the final. [/p]