The Swiss will be without their captain when they take on Denmark Friday evening.
Calvin Thurkauf, a 19-year-old left winger and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect, was suspended one game following an incident against Sweden on Wednesday. According to the IIHF, at the end of the first period, Thurkauf was engaged physically with Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin along the boards and slew-footed the 16-year-old to the ice.
In a release, the IIHF presented:
The player explained in the hearing today that he lost his emotional control for that short moment due to previous incidents, that he did not want to injure the opponent and that he acknowledges the misconduct.
The Disciplinary Panel determined that the player’s action constituted a slew-foot (IIHF Rule 160) and that it was a dangerous and unsportsmanlike behaviour, which according to the Rule Book should have resulted in a match penalty. Fortunately, Dahlin was not seriously injured and was able to continue playing.
Switzerland lost the game 4-2 and sit with a 1-1 record through two games.
Thurkauf was a seventh-round pick, 185th overall, by Columbus in 2016 and has 31 points in 28 games with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets this season.
