Canada’s Loss to Switzerland Is Homemade

In the biggest upset in the Olympic hockey tournament in perhaps 24 hours, Switzerland defeated defending champion Canada with physical play, goaltending, and heart.

And don’t forget goaltending.

Former Mighty Duck goalie Martin Gerber stopped 49 shots, 24 of them in a frantic third period that set the Esposizioni arena to vibrating, and Canadian-born Paul DiPietro scored twice as Switzerland upended Canada, 2-0, in Group A play Saturday.

DiPietro, whose NHL career included a Stanley Cup championship with Montreal in 1993 and a six-game stint with the Kings in 1996-97, scored at even strength at 18:19 of the first period and with a two-man advantage at 8:47 of the second.

That was all Gerber needed to boost the Swiss to their second straight shocker, two days after they had stunned the world champion Czechs. Canada needed a victory to clinch a berth in the playoff quarterfinals and must now get it against the Finns or Czechs.

“It’s a huge game for Swiss hockey,” said Gerber, now with the Carolina Hurricanes. “We battled hard, we played hard and we played the way we wanted to play. It was a huge effort for us.”

And for DiPietro. Until Saturday, the 35-year-old forward was best known for an eight-goal, 13-point performance in the Canadiens’ Cup run in 1993. He has played in Europe since 1997-98 and got a Swiss passport by marrying a Swiss woman.

“He brings a calmness on the puck to our power play,” said Ralph Krueger, Switzerland’s coach and a native of Winnipeg, Canada. “Off the ice, he brings passion and fire.”

DiPietro brought ample amounts of both Saturday. On his first goal, after Switzerland had pressured Joe Thornton into turning the puck over at the blue line, DiPietro took a pass from Patric Della Rossa, who had been behind the net, and flicked the puck past Martin Brodeur. He scored his second goal on a rebound, touching off a wild chorus of cowbells, trumpets and songs.

Gerber was unflappable in the third period, despite barrages of shots and plenty of unwelcome visitors crashing his crease. He also shrugged off an apparent goal by Rick Nash that was waved off late in the second period after a long review.

“When you have great goaltending, anything can happen, especially in a short tournament,” DiPietro said.

The Swiss helped their own cause with an aggressive game.

“We had to be physical because we don’t want to give them confidence that they can do anything they want,” defenseman Goran Bezina said.

Pat Quinn, Canada’s coach, said that the Swiss “played a better Canadian game than we did” and said he hoped the result would jolt his players.

“We have talent, but that’s only one part of this whole thing,” he said. “We tried to play on talent tonight and that wasn’t good enough. If we don’t learn from this, then we’ll be going home early.”