PRAGUE – Good thing there is no such a thing as insider trading in hockey.
Canada’s next opponent at the World Hockey Championship is Switzerland and a couple of Canadians know a thing or two about Swiss goalie Martin Gerber.

Team Canada coach Babcock is coach of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Canada’s No. 2 goalie here at the worlds is Jean-Sebastien Giguere and his back-up in Anaheim is Gerber.

And the word is Gerber can steal a game by himself.

“If he sees the puck, he will stop it and he is one of the best goalies to make the first save,” says Giguere. “We have to put lots of traffic in front of him and make life difficult for him. He is the kind of goalie who can win a game by himself. We will have to come out and throw what we can at him.”
Babcock offered a similar scouting report.

“He can be a one-man wrecking crew if you do not get traffic and lots of second chances. He is a good goalie and we will have our work cut out for us,” he said.

The Canadians have yet to bring their A Game to the rink and Babcock can’t think of a better time for his club to ratchet up its effort.

Switzerland tied Austria 4-4 after Canada beat France 3-0 and the winner of the Swiss-Canada game wins the D Pool.

The Swiss will be tough. They play hard and they can’t be intimidated.
“It will be great for us. If we don’t play, the goalie can beat you by himself. If he can beat you in the National league by himself, he can beat you here by himself,” says Babcock. “We want to be ready.”