Switzerland’s Olympic hockey tournament took a brutal turn Friday, when Kevin Fiala was helped onto a stretcher and taken off the ice in the closing minutes of a 5-1 loss to Canada.
Switzerland later announced the Los Angeles Kings winger suffered a lower-leg injury that will end his Games.
“Kevin Fiala was injured in the second group game against Canada and will miss the rest of the Olympic tournament,” the Swiss team said in a post to social media.
The incident unfolded with under three minutes left at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, after Fiala got tied up along the boards with Tom Wilson and went down awkwardly. Fiala stayed on the ice as trainers rushed out, then was immobilized and transported for further evaluation.
“Obviously, it doesn’t look very good,” Switzerland coach Patrick Fischer said. “Tough, tough, tough moment for Kevin and the whole team, obviously.”
Wilson called it a routine battle that ended the wrong way. “It’s just unlucky,” he said. “It’s the Olympic Games, and I feel terrible that he may not be able to keep playing.”
Switzerland captain Nico Hischier echoed that sentiment, saying, “It seemed like an innocuous play. … It’s an unfortunate play and things like that happen.”
The loss is significant on its own — Connor McDavid scored as Canada stayed perfect in Group A — but the larger blow is what Switzerland loses going forward. Fiala logged just over 20 minutes before the injury and had already contributed an assist in Switzerland’s 4-0 opening win over France.
Fiala recorded 18 goals and 22 assists in 56 games for the Los Angeles Kings this season before the Olympic break. For his NHL career, the 2022-23 All-Star has 229 goals and 299 assists across 707 games.
Now the Swiss move on without one of their top creators, starting Sunday against Czechia, with the group standings and their medal path suddenly feeling secondary.
–Field Level Media
