Swiss Women’s Hockey Team Claims Olympic Bronze in Dramatic Overtime Victory

Switzerland defeated Sweden 2-1 in overtime to capture the bronze medal in women's Olympic ice hockey. Alina Muller netted the game-winner with just 50 seconds remaining in the extra period, marking Switzerland's second Olympic bronze in the sport.

Switzerland’s women’s ice hockey team captured Olympic bronze Thursday evening with a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory against Sweden at Milan’s Santagiulia Arena.

Alina Muller delivered the decisive blow, blasting home the winning goal with merely 50 seconds remaining in the three-on-three overtime period. The clutch scorer received a perfect setup from teammate Ivana Wey in front of the Swedish goal.

Following her game-winning strike, Muller celebrated by hurling her gloves and helmet skyward before disappearing under a pile of jubilant teammates.

This marks Switzerland’s second Olympic bronze medal in women’s hockey, with their previous third-place finish also coming against Sweden in 2014. Remarkably, Muller scored the clinching goal in that tournament as well, when she was just 15 years old.

“It’s a dream come true. It was a very tight game, so even more fun to win like that,” Muller said after the victory.

“It’s a blackout. I don’t know. It was amazing. Just seeing all my teammates coming at me is the coolest feeling ever.”

“We really wanted this,” Muller continued. “We felt good about it the whole tournament. To get it done, it’s a tough tournament. Everybody wants to win. I wouldn’t want it with any other team.”

Sweden struck first when Mira Jungaker found the back of the net 12 minutes into the second period. The Swiss answered four minutes later as Sinja Leemann evened the score, setting up the dramatic overtime finish.

Hilda Svensson orchestrated Sweden’s opening goal, carrying the puck behind the net before delivering a pinpoint pass to Jungaker. The Swedish forward had ample time to select her target, threading her shot through traffic and off the post into the goal.

Switzerland equalized when Leemann converted Alina Marti’s feed from behind the Swedish net, creating an exciting final frame of regulation play.

During the overtime session, Switzerland appeared more aggressive offensively and earned their reward despite being outshot 31-17 throughout the regulation 60 minutes.

The bronze medal caps an impressive tournament comeback for the Swiss squad, who managed just one victory during Group A preliminary play. Muller’s second-period goal against Finland in the quarterfinals propelled them into medal contention.

While Switzerland couldn’t overcome powerhouse Canada in their semifinal matchup, Thursday’s bronze medal celebration rivaled a gold medal moment as the team mobbed Muller following her overtime heroics.

“They’ve put in so much work this whole tournament,” Swiss coach Colin Muller commented. “They believed in themselves. They battled every game and it’s so good to see them come out with a medal.”

The gold medal contest between defending champion Canada and the United States was scheduled for later Thursday evening.