{"id":8161,"date":"2026-02-16T00:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/8161\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T00:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:26:07","slug":"muller-1-step-closer-to-2nd-olympic-womens-hockey-medal-12-years-after-swiss-win-bronze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/8161\/","title":{"rendered":"Muller 1 step closer to 2nd Olympic women’s hockey medal, 12 years after Swiss win bronze"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 It\u2019s been 12 years since Alina Muller scored the most significant goal in Switzerland women\u2019s hockey history, and she\u2019s tired of reminiscing.<\/p>\n

Muller\u2019s reasons are not out of humility or lack of pride. She will forever cherish being 15 and scoring the bronze medal-clinching goal in 4-3 win over Sweden at the 2014 Sochi Games.<\/p>\n

Muller is tired of that moment representing the first and only time the Swiss women have medaled in international play, be it the Olympics or world championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really love talking about it anymore,\u201d she told The Associated Press before the start of the Milan Cortina Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to create a new story with the Swiss team, win the medal with them and hopefully then we don\u2019t have to talk about 2014 again anymore,\u201d she added. \u201cI don\u2019t want to look back and have this as the only success we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Muller was only looking ahead in being one step closer to providing everyone something more to talk about.<\/p>\n

With Muller scoring and Andrea Braendli stopping 40 shots in a 1-0 win over Finland, Switzerland advanced to the semifinals to face defending Olympic champion Canada on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Win or lose, and the Swiss are still guaranteed playing with a medal on the line on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not there yet, but I\u2019m definitely super happy that we have a chance to change that,\u201d Muller said.<\/p>\n

Muller scored a power-play goal with 5:43 left in the second period after captain Lara Stadler won a faceoff to the left of Finland\u2019s net. Rahel Enzler quickly fed a pass to Muller, who cut toward the net and slipped a shot through the legs of Sanni Ahola.<\/p>\n

The goal was Muller\u2019s 15th in Olympic play, the most in Swiss women\u2019s hockey history, and three short of the record now shared by Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin and Hockey Hall of Famer Hayley Wickenheiser<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, it was Stalder who played a role, with the captain and Muller the lone holdovers from 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two, they\u2019re the face of Swiss ice hockey,\u201d said coach Colin Muller (no relation). \u201cAlina brings you total professionalism, and Lara brings you scoring quality and a good captain. Both of them are bringing so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

After playing professionally in Sweden, Stalder has returned home to Switzerland to develop girls hockey.<\/p>\n

Muller has spent much of the past decade waving the Swiss flag in North America.<\/p>\n

She was a star in college at Northeastern, where Muller was a five-time top 10 finalist for women\u2019s college hockey\u2019s MVP award. Muller has since stayed in Boston, where she is in her third season with the PWHL\u2019s Fleet.<\/p>\n

For all her achievements, the youngest hockey Olympian to win a medal, is still waiting for a second medal a month before her 28th birthday.<\/p>\n

Switzerland has come close before.<\/p>\n

At the 2022 Beijing Games, the Swiss lost 4-0 in the bronze medal game to Finland.<\/p>\n

At the world championships, Switzerland played for bronze three times since 2019, and lost each time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re capable of it. It\u2019s about the mindset and how mentally strong you are in such moments,\u201d Muller said before the Games. \u201cWe have to win that last game. And that\u2019s the step we want to take this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was even more hopeful after beating Finland. It was an outing that featured a frantic finish in which Muller and Stalder were on the ice for much of the final two minutes to protect the lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re in really good shape,\u201d Muller said of Switzerland\u2019s chances following the win. \u201cI think it\u2019s time for Swiss women\u2019s hockey to win another medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Olympic coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 It\u2019s been 12 years since Alina Muller scored the most significant goal in Switzerland women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1817,937,6356,6361,6359,2651,6358,1625,6357,1821,5124,6360,1824,307,41,17,2273],"class_list":{"0":"post-8161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","10":"tag-alina-muller","11":"tag-andrea-braendli","12":"tag-colin-muller","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-lara-stadler","15":"tag-marie-philip-poulin","16":"tag-massachusetts","17":"tag-olympic-games","18":"tag-olympic-hockey","19":"tag-rahel-enzler","20":"tag-send-to-apple-news","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-swiss","23":"tag-switzerland","24":"tag-womens-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}