SPISSKA NOVA VES, Slovakia – Josh Norris (Oxford, Mich.) scored the game-winning goal with 3:17 left in regulation for the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team in a 4-2 victory against Switzerland here today in the quarterfinals of the 2017 IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship.
The U.S. will play Sweden in the semifinals on Saturday (April 22) at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET). This game can be seen live on NHL Network.
“We were resilient and stuck to our plan,” said U.S. Head Coach John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.). “We had a lot of shots on net, our line changes were smooth but I can’t say enough of Switzerland’s mentality and perseverance here tonight.”
The U.S. opened the scoring :51 into the first period when Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo.) circled the net and fired a cross-crease pass to Michael Pastujov (Bradenton, Fla.), who fired a one-timer through the five-hole of Switzerland netminder Akira Schmid. The U.S. took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Switzerland scored back-to-back goals in the second period before David Farrance (Victor, N.Y.) tied the game at 2-2 with a wrist shot from the slot with 5:58 remaining in the second stanza. Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) picked up an assist on the play.
The two teams were tied until Norris banked in a wrap around shot with just 3:17 remaining in regulation.
Jacob Tortora (Victor, N.Y.) secured the victory with a goal just :27 later off a feed from Sean Dhooghe (Aurora, Ill.).
U.S. goaltender Dylan St. Cyr (Northville, Mich.) earned his fifth victory of the tournament by making 15 saves on 17 shots.
2017 U.S. IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship Schedule
Date Opponent Round
Time/Results (Local/ET)
Television
April 13 Belarus Preliminary W, 7-0 NHL Network
April 15 Russia Preliminary W, 5-4 NHL Network
April 17 Czech Republic Preliminary W, 5-2 NHL Network
April 18 Sweden Preliminary W, 5-1 NHL Network
April 20 Switzerland Quarterfinals W, 4-2 NHL Network
April 22 Sweden Semifinals 7:30 p.m. / 1:30 p.m. NHL Network
April 23 TBD Bronze/Gold Medal Games 3:30 p.m. / 9:30 a.m.
7:30 p.m. / 1:30 p.m. NHL Network
Notes: Full recap, highlights, interviews and box score can be found here … The U.S. outshot Switzerland 48-17 … Team USA went 0-5 on the power play while Switzerland was 1-3 … Quinn Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) and Brady Tkachuk recorded a +3 plus-minus rating … Josh Norris was honored as the U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA improved its all-time record against Switzerland to 8-0-0-1-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) … The U.S. is now 9-0-1-0-0 all-time in quarterfinal games … For complete tournament information, visit the IIHF website . Team USA News, interviews, highlights and more can be found on the Team USA website … Follow @USAHockey on Twitter for live scoring updates during the tournament. Scores will be designated with the #U18Worlds tag … For additional coverage, visit the USA Hockey Facebook page and Instagram account.
