“We had a great start by scoring those three quick goals and it was a great response to a tough loss last night,” said Seth Appert (Cottage Grove, Minn./USAH NTDP), head coach of the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team. “I do think we got a little sloppy towards the end of the first period and into the second period and we will need to mature in our decisions with the puck to be successful as this tournament moves on.”

The U.S. jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.. Hughes opened the scoring at the 2:54 mark when he fired a shot between the legs of Switzerland netminder Akira Schmid off a behind-the-net feed from Oliver Wahlstrom (Quincy, Mass./USAH NTDP).

Trevor Janicke (Maple Grove, Minn./USAH NTDP) extended the lead just 41 seconds later after a scramble in front of the net. K’Andre Miller (Minnetonka, Minn./USAH NTDP) fired a shot from the point which rebounded to Jake Pivonka (Naperville, Ill./USAH NTDP) who directed a pass to Janicke for a tap-in goal.

Alex Turcotte (Island Lake, Ill./USAH NTDP) gave Team USA a 3-0 lead at the 4:50 mark when he deked around two defenders and scored on a backhand attempt. Defensemen Ty Emberson (Eau Claire, Wis./USAH NTDP) and Mattias Samuelsson (Voorhees, N.J./USAH NTDP) earned assists on the goal after Gavin Hain (Grand Rapids, Minn./USAH NTDP) won a neutral zone face off to spring the play.

Switzerland scored midway through the first period and the U.S. had a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes. 

Switzerland capitalized on a turnover :58 into the second period to cut the lead to one, before Joel Farabee (Cicero, N.Y./USAH NTDP) scored for the U.S. at the 7:22 mark with a wrist shot past the outstretched blocker of Schmid. York earned his first assist of the night on the play.

Switzerland, however, responded with three straight goals to take a 5-4 midway through the second period.

Wahlstrom tied the game with his third power play goal of the tournament at 16:04 of the middle frame. Hughes and York both earned assists on the play.  The U.S. took the lead back for good when Hughes scored his second on the night on a rebound at 18:25 to take a 6-5 lead into the third period. Wahlstrom registered the lone assist on the play.

Tyler Weiss (Raleigh, N.C./USAH NTDP) gave Team USA a two-goal advantage at the 5:35 of the third period with a low wrist shot from the slot off a feed from York. Spencer Stastney (Mequon, Wis./USAH NTDP) also picked up an assist on the play.

Mattias Samuelsson scored the final U.S. goal at 6:49 of the third period after firing a wrist shot from the point. Turcotte and U.S. goaltender Spencer Knight (Darien, Conn.) earned assists on the play.

Knight finished the game with 14 saves.

Team USA plays its next preliminary round game on Sunday (April 22) against Sweden. Opening faceoff is set for 3:30 p.m. local (6:30 a.m. ET) and can be seen live on NHL Network.

NOTES:  The U.S. outshot Switzerland 57-19 … Team USA went 1-5 on the power play and held Switzerland scoreless on three power play attempts … Team USA is now 9-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) against Switzerland all-time in the U18 Men’s World Championship … The U.S. is 61-0-1-16-1 in preliminary games (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) ... The U.S. enters the tournament having captured a record 14 consecutive medals, including gold medals in seven of the last nine years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017) ... Team USA has won 10 gold medals all-time, the most of any country in IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship history. The event began in 1999. Team USA earned its first gold medal in 2002 ... For complete tournament information, visit the IIHF website ... Follow @USAHockey on Twitter for live scoring updates during the tournament. Scores will be designated with the #U18Worlds tag ... For additional coverage, visit the USA Hockey Facebook page and Instagram account.