TODAY’S GAME
The U.S. National Junior Team faces Russia today in the semifinals of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship here in Montreal. The two teams met in the preliminary round (3-2, USA) and are meeting in the semifinals for the second consecutive year (2-1, RUS). Puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m. ET and will be televised in the U.S. live on NHL Network with updates also available on Twitter @USAHockey with the hashtags #USAWJC and #WorldJuniors. For complete game day details, click here.

THINGS WORTH MENTIONING
After the quarterfinal win on Monday (Jan. 2), Team USA took a chartered flight to Montreal and arrived close to midnight ... Clayton Keller (3-5--8) has a point in every U.S. game while Colin White (4-1--5) and Charlie McAvoy (1-3--4) have points in four of Team USA’s five games ... Team USA, which has yet to trail in tournament play, has a power play goal in each game while at least six players have tallied a point each game ... Team USA won its preliminary round group for the first time since 2011 and third time in the last 10 IIHF World Junior Championships after also finishing atop the group in 2008 ... While the 2017 U.S. National Junior Team had two Toronto Maple Leafs prospects (Jeremy Bracco, Joseph
Woll
) skating in Toronto, the lone Team USA connection to the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens is through Kieffer Bellows, whose father, Brian, won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993 ... Ron DeGregorio, USA Hockey’s chairman of the board and 2015 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, is in Montreal for today and tomorrow’s games. Also here are Mike Bertsch, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director of events, marketing and communications, and Kevin Couture, USA Hockey’s director of events, both of whom are here as part of initial preparations and meetings for the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship, which will take place in Buffalo, New York, from Dec. 26, 2017 through Jan. 5, 2018.