TAMPERE, Finland – The U.S. Men’s National Team looks to remain unbeaten in the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship here Wednesday (May 17) when it faces Austria in what is the fourth of seven preliminary round games in the tournament. Opening faceoff is set for 4:20 p.m. local/9:20 a.m. ET at Nokia Arena. All U.S. games in the world championship can be seen live in the U.S. on NHL Network.

The U.S. has wins over host Finland, Hungary and Germany to its credit to date. Team USA is seeking to be just the fifth team in U.S. history to win its first four games of the world championship. All four teams that have done it previously have earned a medal in the event.

Austria, who played this afternoon and dropped a 6-2 decision to Denmark, is winless in its first three outings but does have one point in the standings from its overtime loss to France this past Saturday (May 13).

The U.S. and Austria will play for the 15th time ever in the world championship with the U.S. having won 12 times. In their last meeting, Luke Hughes scored 3:07 into overtime from Sean Farrell to lift the U.S. to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in preliminary round play of the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship. Team USA outshot Austria, 39-16, but had to rally from a 2-0 second-period deficit. 

U.S. head coach David Quinn has two new players available in defenseman Tyler Kleven and forward Patrick Brown. Kleven played his third college season at the University of North Dakota this year and signed with the Ottawa Senators after the season where he played eight games. Brown, who is a Boston College graduate, has spent parts of eight seasons in the NHL and this year finished his season with Ottawa after starting the year with Philadelphia. 

Through three games, Team USA currently sits atop the eight-team Group A with nine points, while Denmark and Sweden are next, each with eight points. The top four teams in each of the two eight-team groups advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played on May 25.