Americans Shut Down Swiss to Advance to WJAC Semi’s

The United States are off to the semifinals at the World Junior A Challenge thanks to a 3-1 shutdown victory over Switzerland on Wednesday afternoon.

The Swiss didn't have the pace to match the Americans, and despite a typical strong defensive effort, USA would find the back of the net first. 13 minutes into the period. Sam Hentges waited out a diving Swiss defender and sent the puck in front of the crease to Tyler Madden, with the son of former NHLer John Madden one-timing it in the back of the net to make it 1-0 Americans.

The last thing the Swiss needed before the intermission was another goal against, and with about 18 seconds left in the opening frame, that's exactly what happened. With time running out on the power play, a weak trickler by Graham Lillibridge from the point was tipped in by Curtis Hall, somehow making it between the legs of Akira Schmid to give USA the 2-0 lead.

Offense was hard to come by in the second, but the Swiss did cut the lead in half. At 2:02 in the middle frame, Jeremi Gerber finished off a two-on-one with Kyen Sopa, one of Switzerland's better duos, to make it 2-1. The Swiss were hoping to score another, but Paul Cotter tipped in a Lillibridge shot with 6:29 left to play in the contest, with USA advancing to the semifinals on Thursday afternoon thanks to the victory.

USA will play in their 11th semifinal in 11 tournaments, taking on the Russians at 3:30 PM AT. The Swiss will battle in the fifth place game for the fourth straight tournament, facing the loser of Canada East and Canada West, which will be decided later tonight.

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