HAPPY NEW YEAR
Happy New Year from Team USA here in Toronto. Players and staff departed for the Air Canada Centre at 11:15 a.m. There, the players went through a team stretch before a limited number of participants took part in a skate at 12:30 p.m. ET. After, the team will head back to the hotel for lunch. Some will spend time with family, play Xbox and relax before meeting this evening for dinner and a team meeting.

LAST GAME: USA 3, CAN 1
Jordan Greenway (Canton, N.Y./Boston University) notched a goal and two assists and Joseph Woll (St. Louis, Mo./Boston College) made 25 saves to lead the U.S. National Junior Team past Canada, 3-1, here yesterday (Dec. 31) at Air Canada Centre in its final preliminary-round game of the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

“This was a tough road game to play and I’m proud of every one of these guys for the effort they gave to get the win,” said Bob Motzko (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud State University), head coach of the 2017 U.S. National Junior Team. “We’ve been happy with our team for a while now, but tonight we overcame adversity and played with a lot of fire. We haven’t won anything yet, though. We’ll enjoy this tonight, but starting tomorrow it’s time to turn our attention to the playoff round.”

For the full game recap, click here.

LOOKING AHEAD: QUARTERFINAL VS. SWISS
Tomorrow, Team USA will take on Switzerland in a quarterfinal tilt at the Air Canada Centre. Puck drop is slated for 5:30 p.m. ET and will be televised live on NHL Network.

The two teams faced off on Dec. 20 in a pre-tournament game that the U.S. won, 4-3, in Kingston, Ontario. Tyler Parsons (Chesterfield, Mich./London Knights) made 21 saves on 24 shots, Jack Roslovic (Columbus, Ohio/Manitoba Moose) tallied a goal and an assist and nine other U.S. players registered a point in the victory.

TEAM USA CLAIMS GROUP FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2011
The U.S. won its group in preliminary-round play for the first time since 2011 and the third time in the last 10 years. Team USA went 4-0-0-0, finishing yesterday (Dec. 31) with a 3-1 win over Canada.