Minas Panagiotakis. Getty Images.Who: USA vs Switzerland
What: 2025 World Juniors Quarterfinal #2
When: 2:30pm ET
Where: Canadian Tire Centre // NHL Network
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The United States men’s national junior ice hockey team has been playing at the World Juniors since 1974. Not sure how good at math most of you are, but that is now 50 years of WJC tournaments. And in those 50 years, they have never won back-to-back gold medals.
2004. 2010. 2013. 2017. 2021. 2024.
There has always been a gap between golds for the US. But this year they have a chance to dominate the world for a two year stretch like they’ve never done before.
They are already on a strong path towards achieving just that. They took the top seed out of the Group A bracket after pumping the Canadians 4-1 on New Years Eve. Sure, they dropped an overtime loss to the Finns during group play. But they took care of business, and have set themselves up with the clearest path back to the gold medal game.
Today they’ll have Switzerland in their way. The Swiss have always been a pesky team to play against. They’re 1-3 in this tournament so far, but they’ve had a couple tight ones against Slovakia and Sweden. So it’s not like this is some throwaway game up in Rochester. But Nico Hischier ain’t walking through that door. This game is all about the boys getting hot at the right time. Get the BC line going. Get the checking lines going. Get Trey Augustine to really settle into his game. A win is a win at the end of the day, but it would be great for this one to be convincing heading into the semis.
So with that in mind, let’s fire up the live blog. I’ll be back in here updating the blog throughout the game, so keep hitting that refresh button between periods.
End of the 1st: USA 4 — Switzerland 1
There were a few minutes of this game where it looked like we might actually have a tight one on our hands. Team USA was a little soft on the puck, especially in their own zone. The Swiss were playing as pesky as ever, and forcing a few turnovers. It seemed like Team USA was either going to need to start putting some serious pressure on the Swiss or else this was going to be a 60-minute grind.
Turns out they decided to dial up the pressure. First up was Brandon Svoboda (2023 SJS 3rd rd) getting one to squeak through for the first goal of the game.
Good things happen when you get pucks on net. Fun fact: You can’t score goals unless you get pucks on net. The phrase is “he shoots, he scores”, not “he passes, he scores”. Brandon Svoboda knows this to be true, and gets rewarded with his 2nd of the tournament.
About a minute after that, James Hagens (2025 Draft) got himself on the board again this tournament with a nasty little pump fake, courtesy of a great feed from Oliver Moore (2023 CHI 1st rd).
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You knew that at some point, the Swiss would probably get themselves on the board. One goal wasn’t going to cut it today. But there’s a chance that 2 could possibly do the trick. The fact that Team USA got goal #2 before the halfway point of the 1st period was as good of a start as you could ask for.
And then they got even more greedy when Captain America, Ryan Leonard (2023 WSH 1st rd), buried this one right after the Americans killed off a penalty.
That’s what American hockey is all about. Too big. Too strong. Too fast. Power move to the front of the net, let the DJ smash the play button of “Freebird”, get ready for another faceoff. Rinse and repeat.
Switzerland was able to get one of those goals back after Nils Rhyn (undrafted) scored off of this offensive zone faceoff win…
But any thoughts of the Swiss building momentum after that goal were quickly put to bed after Danny Nelson (2023 NYI 2nd rd) found the back of the net for the 4th time this tournament.
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Danny Nelson has been making a strong case for tournament MVP. He’s been everywhere, making things happen in every game. Every time the Americans need a goal, here comes Danny Nelson to deliver. What a stud. What a period of hockey. Great start for the boys, now they just have to hold on for 40 more.
2nd Period Updates: USA 5 — Switzerland 1
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