switzerland's presence in the a pool became more consistent after the iihf changed its format to include a medal round after the round-robin in 1995. the new format allowed 2 new teams to join pool a, which were slovakia and switzerland. in 1998, the swiss won their first-ever quarter-final game over sweden in a shootout, thanks to stellar play from goaltender david aebischer. the team lost 2–1 to finland in the semi-finals but rebounded to win the bronze medal with a 4–3 win over the czech-republic. in 2002, switzerland upset slovakia in a shootout in the quarter-finals on the back of great play from goaltender tobias stephan. switzerland lost to canada in the semi-finals, and faced finland in the bronze medal match. the swiss were optimistic, having recorded a 3–0 win over finland in their opening game of tournament, but they lost the match 5–1 for a 4th-place finish.