The United States and Switzerland are meeting for the 8th time in IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship history with the U.S. leading the all-time series, 6-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L). Switzerland’s lone victory came in a 4-2 preliminary round setback for the U.S. in the opening game of the 2014 tournament in Finland.

Team USA outshot Switzerland, 33-20, and led 2-1 after one period off of goals by Jack Dougherty (Cottage Grove, Minn.) and Kyle Connor (Shelby Township, Mich.), but the Swiss responded with two scores and an empty netter in the final frame. The United States would go on to win the gold medal in that tournament behind the stellar play of players such as Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.), Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich.), Sonny Milano (Massapequa, N.Y.) and Alex Nedeljkovic (Parma, Ohio).

The last time the United States won was in 2011, another gold-medal campaign, as Reid Boucher (Grand Ledge, Mich.) netted the game winner 5:09 into the third period to break a 1-1 tie. Ryan Haggerty (Stamford, Conn.) notched the other Team USA goal while John Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) stopped 29 of 30 shots against. Team USA has outscored Switzerland, 31-11, in the all-time series and has allowed more than one goal only twice (2008, 2014). Each meeting between the two countries has come in the preliminary rounds.