Almost half of the roster consists of underage players born after 1995, some of whom will be counted on to contribute in a big way. 18-year-old forward Kevin Fiala, who was drafted 11th overall by the Nashville Predators last summer, is the probably best known player of the team. He currently competes in the top Swedish senior league with HV71 Jonkoping and had 16 points in 20 games in the SHL and Champions Hockey League combined. Before the draft he also played for the men’s national team in the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Another first-round pick is missing on the roster since defenceman Mirco Muller made it to the NHL and is competing with the San Jose Sharks.

Some players between 17 and 19 years of age on the U20 national team already play in the top Swiss men’s league such as Denis Malgin, Noah Rod or Jonas Siegenthaler. In the offence the Swiss have several players who score high in Canadian junior hockey such as Tim Wieser and Kay Schweri, who are the scoring leaders of the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix, Timo Meier and Pius Suter.

The U20 national team, which is coached by John Fust since this season, will have camps in Switzerland and in Canada where it will play two exhibition games. The final roster of 23 players will be named after the exhibition game against Team Canada in Montreal on 23rd December.

Swiss roster as of 4th December

Goaltenders:
Gauthier Descloux, Geneve-Servette
Gilles Senn, HC Davos
Ludovic Waeber, Fribourg-Gotteron