The Swiss were in a tight spot at the IIHF World Junior Championship, needing at least 4 points from their last two group games. Thanks to the goaltending of Linkoping HC prospect Joren van Pottelberghe, they got 1 point against Canada, to keep Switzerland's quarter-final chances alive.
HELSINKI – Switzerland goalkeeper Joren van Pottelberghe was relieved his team's 3–2 shootout loss to Canada. The Swiss team needed at least one point from the game in order to help their effort to stay out of the relegation round of the IIHF World Junior Championship. Van Pottelberghe was one of the biggest difference makers in the game. He held the Swiss team alive with 32 saves and was one of the reasons why they came so close to pulling off an upset.
“I was just wanting to help our team and with the one point we are still in the race and that is what we wanted. This was one of the best games I have ever played.”
Switzerland’s start to the tournament was bad as they lost 8–3 to Sweden and 2–1 to Denmark. The spirits of the team were quite low before the game against Canada but the gained one point has helped them quite a bit.
“I think that before this game our chances were very small but after this game we have a lot of confidence and we've made our chances bigger for the next game. I see our chances as okay – they aren’t the biggest still but we know what we can do.”
The Swiss team’s game improved much from the first two games. Van Pottelberghe confirmed that he and the team knew that they have been doing better in the past and are still capable of playing well.
“I think we improved our game quite a bit from the two last games to this game. We knew that we need to step up for the chance and we clearly did. We knew that we can play on a really high level – we saw it in the pre-tournament games against Finland and Slovakia. I don’t think that we found it directly at the tournament. We didn’t play badly at those two games but now we stepped up.”
With their point gained, the Swiss have also made an impact at the top of the Group A standings. At the moment Sweden leads the group by one point over Canada. The Swedes have two games left while the Canadians have only one. In the last game the two teams will go head to head.
Van Pottelberghe laughed at the suggestion that he was trying to help his Linkoping HC teammates Gustav Forsling, Erik Kallgren and Gabriel Carlsson win the group.
“It doesn’t really matter to me (who finishes first). I am on the Swiss side at the moment and the rest doesn’t bother me. I like the Swedish people and I don’t mind helping them at least when we aren’t playing against them.”
A move from Zug to Linkoping has helped van Pottelberghe’s career
Van Pottelberghe was born in Zug, Switzerland and EV Zug is his youth team. He took a major step in his career, though, three seasons ago when he decided to move to SHL club Linkoping. He has had a great time in Sweden and is one of Linkoping’s main prospects.
“This is my third season in Linkoping. It has been amazing, I have never regretted my decision to go there. I know a lot of guys from the Swedish national teams because they are from Linkoping. We have an amazing organization there.”
Van Pottelberghe also gives a huge praise to Linkoping’s U20 team goaltending coach Nizze Landen, who is in Helsinki with the Swedish national junior team too.
“He is really passionate and an excellent goaltending coach. He knows what he is doing and has been doing it for quite a while. I might see him at the hotel and he might say something.”