02/12/26 08:15:00
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02/12 08:14 CST Timo Meier scores twice as Switzerland opens the Olympics by
shutting out France 4-0
Timo Meier scores twice as Switzerland opens the Olympics by shutting out
France 4-0
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
MILAN (AP) --- Timo Meier scored twice in the third period, Leonardo Genoni
stopped all 27 shots he faced and Switzerland opened the men's hockey
tournament at the Olympics with a 4-0 shutout of France on Thursday.
J.J. Moser, who plays for Tampa Bay in the NHL also scored three minutes in,
beating Washington goaltending prospect Antoine Keller clean off the rush from
the left faceoff circle. That gave Switzerland a very early multigoal lead
after Damien Riat scored 55 seconds into the game.
The goals by Meier, who's with New Jersey, put the game out of reach after he
and his teammates tilted the ice toward Keller. With a boisterous contingent of
fans in attendance, Switzerland outshot France 43-27 and sent them home happy.
A part of that was the play in net of Genoni, the 38-year-old who backstopped
his country on an improbable run to the final at the world championships last
spring before losing 1-0 to the U.S. in overtime. Genoni was tournament MVP
with a 0.99 goals-against average and .953 save percentage.
Genoni is off to a perfect start in Milan by beating France. Switzerland next
plays Olympic favorite Canada on Friday.
"Obviously a big team coming up," forward Nino Niederreiter said. "We're going
to try our best to poke the bear a little bit and see if we can go from there."
The U.S. plays its first game in Milan on Thursday night against Latvia, with
Connor Hellebuyck set to start. Canada faces Czechia before that, with Germany
against Denmark across town at the secondary arena.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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