SWITZERLAND VS. SLOVAKIA

Switzerland and Slovakia will meet for a second straight game in Saturday afternoon's third-place game of the 2018 Under-17 Four Nations Cup at USA Hockey Arena.

The Swiss side used a 31-save performance from Noah Patenaude to secure its first win of the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Slovaks.

Switzerland opened up a 2-0 lead after two periods with goals from Keanu Derungs and Lucas Wenger before Slovakia's Maxim Mastič and Roman Faith worked a give-and-go to perfection to cut the deficit in half early in the third.

However, Josselin Dufey restored the two-goal advantage for Switzerland when he found the back of the net with four minutes to play.

Jakub Sihelský stopped 26 shots for Slovakia in the loss.

Patenaude earned Player of the Game recognition for Switzerland, while Mastič collected the honor for Slovakia.

USA VS. RUSSIA

The U.S. Men's National Under-17 Team will face Russia in the first-place matchup at the Four Nations Cup after it secured the No. 1 seed with a 4-2 victory over the Russians on Friday night at USA Hockey Arena.

Dylan Peterson (Roseville, Calif.) scored the opening goal for Team USA when he slipped a wraparound into the back of the net at the 16 minute, 18 second mark of the first. Brett Berard (E. Greenwich, R.I.) kept the puck in the offensive zone with a neat corral along the blue line before finding an open Peterson for the wraparound finish.

Jake Sanderson (Whitefish, Mont.) tallied his first goal as a member of the NTDP when he sent a puck through a screen and behind Russian goaltender Bogdan Nefyodov. Sanderson's goal extended the U17s' lead to 2-0 at the time.

An early third-period goal on the power play by Russia's Shakir Mukhamadullin cut the deficit in half before Team USA responded with a pair of goals from  Ty Smilanic (Elizabeth, Colo.) and Alexandros Gaffney (West Orange, N.Y.) to help seal the win.

Ivan Didkovskiy later added his team-leading third goal of the tournament to bring Russia within two, but Team USA goaltender Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) staved off the late comeback attempt to earn his first international victory of the season.

Sanderson collected Player of the Game recognition for the U17s, while Bogdan Nefyodov picked up the honor for Russia in a 21-save performance.

Russia's Iliya Rychkov, who tallied two assists in the loss, paces all skaters with seven points (1 G, 6 A) during the 2018 Under-17 Four Nations Cup. Sanderson owns a team-high five points (1 G, 4 A) for Team USA.