VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Not surprisingly, the locals were cheering for Switzerland in Wednesday's quarterfinal game against the United States.
"That's OK," said Team USA forward Bobby Ryan. "It gave us a little bit of energy, a little bit of life at times. If we get the Canadians down the road, I know they're going to be ruthless and we know what we're going to come into. So we might as well start practicing for it now."
Some of the cheering crossed the line.
"There were some expletives from behind the bench but not too much," said Ryan. "Most of the fans are cordial but they do give it to you a little bit. We heard a lot of 'Go Swiss' chants and it's kind of like -- eh -- you look around, and you're wondering what the heck we have to do to have somebody like us around here.
"It's fun. It's all part of the game. We accept it. We love it."
Hey buddy
Ryan repeatedly had words for Anaheim Ducks teammate and Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller in Wednesday's quarterfinal."It was after a rush there I told him, if I got another one, I was coming," said Ryan. "I had a couple chances throughout the night. Him and I go back and forth in practice and go at each other pretty good. I just wanted to try and get in his head a little bit. Clearly, it didn't do too much but it's something we'll talk about in Anaheim.
"He's a goalie that really when he zones in, zones in. I like to think I was a little bird in his ear that affected him in some way. But he just looked at me and I think there was a grin behind the cage there."
