RUSSIA VS. SWITZERLAND: In its most recent international showing, Russia's Men's National Under-17 Team captured the gold medal at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in November. Ignat Kokhanin scored the game-winning goal over Finland at the 16:32 mark of the third period to send Russia to a first-place finish.

Vasili Ponomaryov paced the team in points (8) and tied for the team lead in goals (4) throughout the event.

Goaltender Semyon Sharabarin played well in net for Russia and ranked third overall with a 2.03 goals against average throughout the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Switzlerland's Men's National Under-17 Team most recently competed on the international stage during a Four Nations Cup in November when it traveled to Füssen, Germany. Switzerland dropped two contests against Germany (L, 6-4) and France (L, 3-0) before it secured a dominant 7-1 victory over Slovakia to close out the event.

Eleven different players found the scoresheet in Switzerland's win over Slovakia, paced by three points from Keanu Derungs.

USA VS. SLOVAKIA: The U.S. National Under-17 Team will look to improve upon its first international showing at the U17 World Hockey Challenge, in which Team USA came away with an preliminary-round victory over the Czech Republic plus narrow losses to Canada Black and Canada Red.

Dylan Peterson (Roseville, Calif.) and Thomas Bordeleau (Houston, Texas) tied for the team lead with four points apiece, while Landon Slaggert (South Bend, Ind.), Ty Smilanic (Elizabeth, Colo.) and Matthew Beniers (Hingham, Mass.) also tallied multiple goals in the event.

Slovakia's Men's National Under-17 Team joined Switzerland at the Four Nations Cup in Füssen, Germany. Slovakia collected a win over France (W, 4-2) before falling to Germany (SOL, 2-1) and Switzerland (L, 7-1).

Lukáš Lipiansky contributed three points across the three games to pace all Slovak skaters in scoring.

Team USA last faced Slovakia at the Under-17 level Aug. 19 in Pieštany, Slovakia, as part of the U17 Five Nations Tournament. Team USA skated to a 5-0 victory. Current U.S. Under-17 forward Daniyal Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) registered four shots on goal in the win.