FÜSSEN – It didn't take too long for the Swiss to make the call for Ralph Stöckli.

The accomplished Swiss men's skip, who is the selected alternate for Team Toni Müller at the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships, came off the bench to throw third stones in a key 6-3 victory over Sweden's Peja Lindholm.

Müller had been cruising along at 3-0 until a wild 9-7 morning loss to Denmark. The call went out to Stöckli, who won last year's championship as an alternate third for skip Andreas Schwaller.

"The tough teams start now," said Müller.

"The coach decided to bring Ralph in, and also to give a break to our third, so he can take a time out."

The Swiss climbed to 4-1, tied with Denmark's Johnny Frederiksen, who continued his fine run of play with an 8-5 win over hosts Germany. Norway's Thomas Ulsrud, a 7-4 winner over Finland, sits alone in first place with a 5-0 record.

Müller, who is wearing the Swiss red and white for the first time in men's competition, is also the first Swiss men's skip not named Stöckli or Schwaller to compete for his country since 2003. That year in Courmayeur, Italy, Bernhard Werthemann skipped Switzerland at the European Championships.

"This was a big start for us," said Müller. "We are very happy to play in this arena, in front of these people. It's great for us."

In other matches, Scotland's David Murdoch thumped France 8-4 and the Czech Republic crushed Italy 11-5. Scotland and Germany are in third place at 3-2 while Sweden and Finland have a 2-3 win/loss record.

Competition continues through to the Championship Finals on December 8, with live television and webstreamed coverage on Eurosport, NRK (Norway), Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.