USA Battles Sweden For Group A Title Tonight at 5 p.m. in St. Paul

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. National Junior Team faces Sweden here tonight in a high stakes game that will decide the top spot in Group A of the preliminary round. Opening faceoff is set for 5 p.m. CT at Grand Casino Arena. The game can be seen live on NHL Network and tickets are available HERE.

GAME NOTES

LINES

GAME STATS

Both the U.S. and Sweden head into the fourth and final preliminary round game unbeaten, and the winner of tonight’s tilt will earn the top spot in Group A and play the fourth-place finisher from Group B in the quarterfinals on Friday (Jan. 2). Team USA will play its QF game at 5 p.m. in Grand Casino Arena.

The U.S. has a slim 17-2-1-16-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) advantage in the all-time series over Sweden, however, the U.S. has won seven of the last 10 games. The teams last met in the gold-medal game in the 2024 tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden, with the U.S. earning a 6-2 victory. Five of the last 10 games between the teams have been played with a medal on the line, including two for gold (2024, 2013) and three for bronze (2023, 2016, 2011). The U.S. has won each of those five contests.

Team USA rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits to gain a 6-5 win over Slovakia in its last outing on Monday (Dec. 29). James Hagens (Hauppage, N.Y./Boston College) scored a pair of goals and Will Zellers (Maple Grove, Minn./University of North Dakota) had the game-winning goal for the third straight contest.

Sweden last played on Monday (Dec. 29) and gained an 8-1 win over Germany. Sweden also has a 4-2 win over Switzerland (Dec. 28) and a 3-2 triumph over Slovakia (Dec. 26) to its credit.

Will Zellers is Team USA’s top point-getter through three games with 4-2—6, followed by James Hagens (2-2—4), Brodie Ziemer (1-3—4) and AJ Spellacy (1-3—4).

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