The Canadian-born DiPietro, of course, scored the only two goals in Switzerland’s shocking 2-0 win over Canada at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, and that’s the level of heroism the Swiss will need in Malmö to eliminate Canada from the 2014 World Juniors.

History says that the chances of that happening are, well, pretty close to zero.

Consider: Since the World Junior Championship started in 1977, the Swiss have never defeated Canada. Not even tied. In fact, they have a goals for-against record of 33-126 and only twice have they lost by one goal (in 1995 and 2005).

To make matters worse, Canada has improved significantly over the last few days, turning their weak performance against the Czechs (a 5-4 shootout loss) into an inspiring 4-3 win over Slovakia and then an emotional 3-2 win over the United States on New Year’s Eve.

Given the fact that Anthony Mantha was hardly considered the team’s offensive leader at training camp in early December, it’s something of a sensation that he is tied for the overall scoring lead with ten points and has had a hand in more than half his team’s 19 goals.

Mantha is not the best skater by any stretch, so he poses no threat outside the offensive blue line, but inside it he has a big reach and is very tough to knock off the puck or move from the front of the net. He also happens to have a pair of soft hands for passing, and has clicked nicely in the last couple of games with Nic Petan.

On the other hand, there are few players in the world under 20 who can stickhandle like Jonathan Drouin. He controls the puck as if he were born with a stick in his hand. As well, the late addition of defenceman Griffin Reinhart gives Canada another big and able blueliner.