MONCTON, New Brunswick (AP) — Minnesota freshman Jimmy Snagerud scored twice and the United States bounced back from a deficit to beat Switzerland 5-1 at the world junior hockey championship on Thursday.
Logan Cooley had a goal and an assist, seniors Luke Hughes and Tyler Boucher also scored and Trey Augustin made 18 saves. The Americans improved to 2-1 in Group B after a 6-3 loss to Slovakia on Wednesday.
“I really liked the way we came back tonight,” Quinnipiac USA coach Rand Pecknold said. “We did a good job on the forecheck and created a lot of zone time.”
In the first match of the day at the Avenir Centre, Finland defeated Latvia 3-0 to maintain the lead in Group B with two wins and an extra time loss. In Group A, Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime to remain top of the group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while Canada faced Austria in a night game.
Cooley set up Minnesota teammate Snagerud for the first goal with a quick back pass.
“It’s pretty special,” Snagerud said of his University of Minnesota teammate’s pass. “He has given me a lot in my career. But I’m pretty lucky to have him on my line. It was a cool game.”
Captain Atilio Biasca scored the goal of the Swiss national team.
The United States will finish group play on Saturday against Finland.
“They’re a great team, and so are we,” Cooley said. “It will be a good fight.”
Yanni Lampinen made 31 saves for Finland against Latvia. Yanni Nieman scored a goal and assisted, Niko Huhtanen and Konsta Kapanen also scored.
“I think we played great,” Lampinen said. “They couldn’t come to the middle and score there. We just boxed them from the sides and let them shoot from there. So that makes my game a little bit easier. And a great backcheck, too.”
In Halifax, Ludwig Jansson scored his second goal of the game at 1:35 of overtime to lift Sweden past the Czech Republic.
Fabian Wagner also scored for Sweden, while Karl Lindbom had 33 shots to open two wins. Sweden will play Canada in the group final on Saturday.
“We just wanted to keep things simple and work hard between the blue lines because they are dangerous for turnovers,” said Swedish defenseman Adam Engstrom. “We wanted to come in early, keep our structure in the defensive zone and we knew we were going to be good.”
David Jirichek and Jiri Tichachek scored for the Czechs, while Tomas Suchanek had 21 shots. They opened with victories over Canada and Austria.
