U.S. Men’s Hockey Advances to Semifinals of World Juniors with 7-2 Victory Over Switzerland

Team USA advances to the semifinals on Saturday (Jan. 4) and will play a yet-to-be-determined opponent at either 3:30 or 7:30 p.m. ET live on NHL Network.

“Overall, I thought we were ready to play and did what we needed to do against a good opponent in Switzerland,” said David Carle (Anchorage, Alaska/University of Denver), head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team. “We’ll get ready now for the semifinals and look forward to the challenge in front of us.”

Brandon Svoboda (Level Green, Pa./Boston University) staked the U.S. to a lead it would never relinquish with his goal at 6:39 of the opening period on a sharp-angle shot that beat Swiss netminder Christian Kirsch through the five-hole.

Hagens added to the lead 1:44 later, as he buried a net-front opportunity generated by a pass from Oliver Moore (Mounds View, Minn./University of Minnesota).

Moments after a successful U.S. penalty kill, Leonard forced a turnover in the neutral zone, powered his way toward the net and lifted a shot past Kirsch that proved to be the game-winner at 11:35.

Nils Rhyn scored short-handed at 15:04 to cut the Team USA advantage to two.

Danny Nelson (Maple Grove, Minn./University of Notre Dame) redirected a pass from Moore into the back of the net to regain the three-goal lead for the U.S. at the 16:44 mark.

Zeev Buium (San Diego, Calif./University of Denver) fired home a one-timer at 7:45 of the middle stanza following a cross-crease pass from Gabe Perreault (Hinsdale, Ill./Boston College) on the power play to extend the U.S. advantage to 5-1.

Hagens added his second goal of the contest at 15:03 following back-to-back passes between him and Perreault to extend Team USA’s lead to five. Leonard followed up 1:20 later with a power-play goal to give the U.S. a 7-1 advantage after two periods.

Switzerland’s Andro Kaderli scored on the power play at 6:53 of the third to account for the 7-2 final score.

U.S. netminder Hampton Slukynsky (Warroad, Minn./Western Michigan University) made 17 saves in the victory.

NOTES: Ryan Leonard, who scored two goals, was named U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. outshot Switzerland, 31-19 … Team USA was 2-for-4 on the power play, while Switzerland was 1-for-3.