The U.S. has won its first two games of the World Juniors and clinched a spot in the tournament’s quarterfinal round on Jan. 2.
Team USA got past Switzerland in its last outing on Saturday (Dec. 27) by a 2-1 count before an energetic crowd at Grand Casino Arena. For the second straight game, Will Zellers (Maple Grove, Minn./University of North Dakota) scored the game-winning goal and captain Brodie Ziemer (Chaska, Minn./University of Minnesota) also found the back of the net for U.S. head coach Bob Motzko’s team. Nick Kempf (Morton Grove, Ill.) stopped 16 of 17 shots in goal to pick up his first World Juniors victory.
Slovakia has split its first two games, dropping a 3-2 decision to Sweden on Friday (Dec. 26) before defeating Germany by a 4-1 count on Saturday (Dec. 27).
The U.S. and Slovakia will meet for the 22nd time in the World Juniors tonight and Team USA has a 15-0-0-5-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) advantage. The teams last met in the preliminary round of the 2024 tournament with captain Rutger McGroarty tallying a hat trick in helping propel Team USA to a 10-2 victory. The U.S. is 8-2 in the last 10 games of the series.
Following tonight’s game, Team USA will have a day off before facing Sweden on New Year’s Even in its final preliminary round game with opening faceoff set for 5 p.m. CT at Grand Casino Arena. Fireworks in Rice Park, which is just outside GCA, follows the game.
