The U.S. shook off a slow start and skated to a tight 2-1 win over Switzerland at Grand Casino Arena this evening. It was their second win in as many days, while the Swiss were making their 2026 World Junior Championship debut.

The Americans came into the game with a 25-2-0 record all time in World Junior play against the Swiss. The hosts now get a day off before facing Slovakia on Monday. Switzerland is back at it tomorrow to face Sweden.

"I thought we were better tonight," U.S. forward Max Plante said, comparing the game to yesterday's 6-3 win over Germany. "We didn't give up as many chances. We didn't score as many either, but I thought overall we played more of a style of hockey we want to play. They came at us in layers and had two guys on the puck, and if we had one guy they outmanned us in some situations. I thought their goalie played well. But it was a weird game. There were a lot of stoppages."

"It was our first game of the tournament. I think it was a pretty solid game, a full 60 minutes," said Swiss forward Robin Antenen. "We were solid all around, so it's tough to lose a game like this. But now we have to have a quick recovery and be prepared to go again tomorrow. If we keep playing like this, I think we have a pretty good chance to win."

Although the U.S. started off slowly, Teddy Stiga picked the team up and got them going in the second half of the first period. He had an incredible chance in close but couldn’t beat Christian Kirsch, and on his next shift Stiga had another glorious opportunity to score. 
 

When the Swiss had their first power play late in the first, it was the Americans who had the two best chances. Cole Hutson was stopped on a clear break, and then Kirsch couldn’t be deked by captain Brodie Ziemer on another sensational effort. 

But despite the one-sided advantage in scoring chances, the game was goalless after 20 minutes thanks to Kirsch’s play. 

It didn’t take long for the Americans to get on the board in the second, however. Ziemer, who plays locally for the University of Minnesota, took a simple drop pass from James Hagens and ripped a high shot that beat Kirsch cleanly at 1:12. 

In the middle part of the period the Swiss put together several good shifts and spent some quality time in the U.S. end, but hockey took a back seat to life at 11:01 when Hutson took a shot off the side of the head or neck area. He fell to the ice and didn’t move, and after being evaluated by doctors was taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Once play resumed, the Swiss kept the pressure on and tied the game at 12:34 when a wobbly long shot from Basile Sansonnens went through traffic and past the glove of Nicholas Kempf, stunning the pro-U.S. crowd.

"It's tough," Plante said. "[Cole] was one of the best players in the tournament last year, and when something like that happens, you don't really know how to react. We wanted to come back and play on all cylinders. Unfortunately, they had a nice shot that went in, but after that we responded well."

At the ensuing faceoff, Cyrill Henry took a breakaway pass and went in alone, but he couldn’t beat Kempf on what might have been a game-changing play. The U.S. took the lead again at 14:40. Skating deep into the left corner of the Swiss end, Will Zellers took a bad-angle shot that beat Hirsch, who was down and expecting, perhaps, a pass across. It was definitely a shot the goalie would like to have back.

The Swiss had some chances in the third, but this time it was Kempf who stood tall to preserve the win for the hosts.