The U.S. pulled away with four second-period goals in an 8-1 triumph over host Switzerland, which remains winless. The Americans have two straight victories and will face also-unbeaten Sweden for top spot in Group B on Wednesday.

"Everybody's fired up just to try to get back at them and just go get the win," said Caroline Averill, referring to the fact that Sweden defeated the U.S. 2-1 in last year's semi-final.

In Monday's game, captain Maggie Scannell and Ava Thomas had a goal and two assists apiece. Josie St. Martin and Alanna Devlin both added a goal and an assist. Mary Derrenbacher and Morgan McGathey had two helpers apiece.

It's been a good start for the youthful Americans, who have 12 players eligible to return next year. They are questing for their ninth all-time gold medal. They last won the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in 2020 and settled for bronze last year.
 

Defender Sonja Inkamp scored the lone Swiss goal. Switzerland, which finished seventh at five of the last six tournaments, has never come higher than sixth (2019).

The Swiss were snakebitten in this affair and probably should have had at least one more goal. They started off with a 6-1 loss to Sweden, the 2023 silver medalists. They’ll finally get a non-medal-winning opponent in Slovakia on Wednesday.

"I hope we win, that's obvious," said Inkamp. "But I hope we can also stand together as a team again and score and have fun and really make it a good tournament."

Final shots favoured the U.S. 36-15 as goalie Layla Hemp registered her second win.

Devlin opened the scoring at 2:10 with a spin-around shot from the slot that beat Swiss starter Talia Benderer five-hole. At 7:18, Thomas doubled the U.S. lead on a 2-on-1, converting a beautiful cross-ice feed from Devlin.

During Switzerland’s first power play, assistant captain Ivana Wey rang one off the post, the closest the hosts would come to getting on the board in the opening stanza.

Scannell made it 3-0 at 1:35 of the second period, going to the net and banging in the rebound from Derrenbacher's shot off the rush.

On back-to-back power plays, the Swiss enjoyed plenty of zone time but set up too slowly to generate many chances. Wey again missed a glorious opportunity as she put the puck through the crease behind Hemp and slammed her stick on the ice in disgust. At the other end, Benderer stymied Scannell in cold just before the PP concluded.

Alisha Berger took over from Benderer in the Swiss net midway through. The Americans gave her a rough welcome as Margaret Averill and St. Martin scored top-shelf goals 52 seconds apart. Kendra Distad then jammed one in at the side of the net for a 6-0 gap at 16:39.

Averill described her goal: "I saw that Jordan Petrie had the puck and there was some open ice. I just went to it and she gave it to me and I just shot it [in]."

Those three goals came in a span of 2:24, fast but not historic. The Americans set a tournament speed record in their 7-1 opening rout of Slovakia by scoring five goals in just 4:06.

At 7:27, the partisan Zug crowd erupted when Inkamp ended the U.S.'s shutout bid with a rising point drive through traffic on the power play.

Kassidy Carmichael restored the six-goal American lead with a power play tally at 11:14. The Swiss then took another three penalties in a row and Haley Box added the final goal on the last power play with 59 seconds left.

Regarding the success at extra strength, U.S. coach Liz Keady Norton said: "Confidence is so critical for these players, especially at this age. For them to know that what we're putting out there is working and what they're practicing they can execute [is important]."

Devlin compared this game to the previous outing against Slovakia: "I think we improved a lot. Our compete level was definitely up for sure. And I think our chemistry grew as well."

Monday's game was a rematch 16 years in the making. In their only previous meeting, the U.S. hammered Switzerland 11-0 at the inaugural U18 Women’s Worlds in Calgary on 8 January, 2008.

To put that in context, forward Madison Packer, now playing for PWHL New York at age 32, led the way with a hat trick and an assist. Brianna Decker, an assistant coach with this U18 Women’s Worlds squad after retiring from her legendary USA Hockey career in 2023, assisted on Meagan Mangene’s opening goal.