ESPOO, Finland - Today marks the second of four preliminary round games of the 2024 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship for the U.S. with a matchup against Norway. Puck drop is set for 5:30 p.m. local/10:30 a.m. ET and the game can be seen live on NHL Network.
The U.S. and Norway have met just three previous times in the U18 Championship, with Team USA the victor in all three. The two sides met a year ago in the preliminary round of the tournament with the U.S. earning a 12-1 victory, including a four-goal performance from returning forward Cole Eiserman.
The U.S. began tournament play with a 9-0 shutout win over Slovakia on Wednesday, scoring three goals in each period of action. In his IIHF debut, netminder Nick Kempf was sharp throughout and finished with a 24-save shutout. James Hagens dialed up four points with two goals and two assists, and Eiserman went for three scores for his second IIHF hat-trick.
Norway played its first game yesterday and dropped a 7-0 decision to host Finland. Markus Walbert started in net for Norway and Amund Martinsen came out in relief, and the two goaltenders saw 54 combined shots from the Finns.