in the 2010 tournament switzerland earned a spot in the quarter-finals against a heavily favored russia. the swiss pulled off a major upset by beating the russians 3–2 in overtime. nino niederreiter scored twice in the game, including the ot winner. switzerland lost 6–1 in the semi-finals to canada and then 11–4 to sweden in the bronze medal match for a 4th-place finish, their highest since the 2002 tournament. the lopsided score was the highest margin of victory in a medal game since the new format took place in 1995. in an interesting twist, switzerland was originally to host the 2010 tournament, but withdrew their application due to fear of being relegated based on their poor performance in recent tournaments. the host city was rumored to be bern or lugano.