Tournament scoring leader James Hagens tallied twice and added an assist as the U.S. downed gritty Switzerland 4-0 in the first quarter-final of the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. The defending champion Americans are now two wins away from repeating.

U.S. captain Brodie Ziemer had a goal and an assist, and netminder NIcholas Kempf earned his second tournament shutout. Final shots favoured the U.S. 35-17.

Looking toward the semi-finals, Hagens said: "Everyone's mind should be on that game coming up and no one should be looking forward. It's a huge game and we're all really excited to get there."

With nine goals and 10 assists, Hagens is just two points shy of Nikita Kucherov's single-tournament record (21 points, 2011). Jack Hughes (2019) and Will Smith (2023) share the single-tournament U.S. record (20 points).

Keeping the lethal U.S. offence off the scoresheet for more than 27 minutes was an achievement for coach Patrick Schoeb’s underdogs. But it wasn't enough to advance to the semi-finals.

"It was a tough game," said Swiss captain David Bosson. "I'm proud of my team. We wanted to win, but it was a difficult loss for us."

"We got off to a slow start, but we kind of just stuck with it," Hagens said. "Everyone knew that we'd bring the effort and we'd go and put a couple of goals in the net. Being able to do that in the second, that was huge for us momentum-wise. It turned the page for us and shifted the game a little bit."

The Swiss gave no quarter in the early stages in Espoo, even weathering a 5-on-3 that lasted 36 seconds against the top-rated American power play.

U.S. sniper Cole Eiserman was sent sprawling when he cut in over the Swiss blue line, and Swiss goalie Christian Kirsch said no when Trevor Connelly barreled down right wing and took the puck to the net.

The Americans began to find their legs and exerted some offensive-zone pressure late in the scoreless first period, but couldn’t break through. And the Swiss worked hard with good sticks and body positioning to keep the U.S. to the outside early in the second period.

Hagens finally broke the deadlock at 7:11 with the teams playing 4-on-4.

After Swiss assistant captain Robin Antenen bobbled the puck in the neutral zone, Ziemer pounced. He slipped it cross-ice to Hagens on a 2-on-1, and the sprawling Kirsch had no chance as the puck soared over his right pad. It was fist pumps and joyful relief for U.S. coach Nick Fohr's boys.

"We were back on our heels early, but I think we kind of found our game there late in the first and then in the second we carried it through," said U.S. assistant captain Max Plante. "And then I feel like we were the better team for the rest of the game."

Haas had a glorious breakaway chance to tie it up with nine minutes left in the middle frame, but Kempf read it perfectly as the Swiss forward went to the backhand.

At 15:22, Christian Humphreys doubled the U.S. lead. Swiss blueliner Gian Meier tried to clear the puck from a goalmouth scrum and Humphreys hammered it from the left faceoff circle.

Ziemer and Hagens connected again to make it 3-0 with 1:57 left in the period. It was pure speed and skill as Hagens dashed down left wing and slipped the puck past Mischa Geisser’s outstretched stick to Ziemer, who zapped it glove side.

"The second period was difficult for us with too many penalties," said Bosson.

In the third period, Hagens rounded out the scoring with an unassisted goal at 10:27.

Asked about the U.S. mentality for the semi-finals, Plante said: "Keep the pedal down. Step on their throats if we get on them. I just feel like if we outwork any team, we have the most skill in the tournament, so we can beat anybody."