Hiller stopped 41 shots, about a dozen spectacularly. The two that went by him - one was disallowed - did so only after some topspin that Roger Federer would be proud of.
"Without him," said former Flyer Luca Sbisa, a Swiss defenseman, "we wouldn't have been this far in the tournament."
This far was the quarterfinals of this roulette wheel of national pride. Already, the Swiss had battled the U.S. in a 3-1 opening-game loss, and pushed the Canadian team to a shootout before Sidney Crosby rescued their back bacon. The Swiss then beat Norway in overtime and Tuesday night squeezed past Belarus with a shootout goal of their own.
So they should have been gassed, incapable of matching the U.S. in physicality or speed. "We would have needed a miracle today," Swiss coach Ralph Krueger said.
Yeah, yeah, yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the U.S. team completing its miracle against Finland, but many of the Swiss players weren't alive for it. Certainly not Hiller, their 28-year-old anchor. "He just keeps improving," said U.S. goalie Ryan Miller. "I'm just happy him building his resume didn't come at my expense."
And at the expense of the U.S. team advancing to tomorrow's semifinals against Finland, a 2-0 winner over the Czech Republic.
Miller stopped 40 shots in the 5-3 victory over Canada Sunday. Yesterday posed an alternative challenge. Stay involved, stay sharp, even as minutes went by without a single challenge. The shots were 18-4 after one period, 32-8 after two, 44-19 when the game ended. "You know a mistake isn't an option because Jonas is on fire," he said. "I just had that feeling he wasn't going to make a mistake. It was going to take a nice bounce or a nice shot to beat him."
Actually, it took a few. Zach Parise, who scored both U.S. goals, including an empty-netter with 12 seconds left, also hit the post with a second-period shot. Ryan Kesler hit a crossbar and later appeared to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead as the second period expired.
