Before facing Canada on Sunday at the World Hockey Championship, Italy lost sharply to Switzerland on Saturday.

• Read also: World Championship: Canada bends, but resists

A 5-2 defeat was suffered by the Italian team, which could at least count on its goalkeeper Andreas Bernard, author of 42 saves.

New Jersey Devils forward Nico Hischier hit the mark while teammate Calvin Thurkauf scored twice.

Daniel Glira and Dante Hannoun were Italy's only scorers, in a losing cause, in the third period.

Winner of Germany by the score of 5-3 to start the tournament on Friday, Canada is part of a rather weak Group A. In addition to Germany and Italy, there are also Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, Kazakhstan and France.

After the duel against the Italians on Sunday, the Canadian team, led by Claude Julien, has an appointment with Slovakia on Monday.