VIERUMÄKI, Finland - U.S. player of game Dayne Beuker (Portland, Ore.) scored twice and added an assist to lift the U.S. National Under-17 Team to a 3-1 win over Switzerland here today in it's final preliminary round game of the 2024 Vierumäki Cup to clinch the top seed in Group A.

Lukas Zajic (Plainfield, Ill.) had a grade A chance midway through the second with a tip from just outside the paint, but Swiss netminder Nico Keller made the stop.

Switzerland's best chance of the period came off a semi-breakaway in the final minutes as Fabrice Bouvard flew down the left wing and fired from the hashmarks, but Andrew McLouth (Battle Creek, Mich.) kept them off the board.

The Swiss broke through with a Yanis Lutz score from the right circle 6:26 into the third to tie it at 1-1.

Victor Plante (Hermantown, Minn.) regained the U.S. lead less than three minutes later with a power-play goal. Luke Schairer (Charlotte, N.C.) intercepted a clearing attempt at center ice and fed it back to Beuker, who dished it to Plante. Plante skated into the zone with Casey Mutryn (Norwell, Mass.) and the pair played tic-tac-toe for the go-ahead goal.

A second goal from Beuker with 5:36 to play made for the 3-1 final. Sam Wathier (Des Moines, Ill.) swatted the puck out of mid-air in the neutral zone and found Berchild, who dished it into the zone along the boards for his own pickup, then wired a perfectly placed pass to Beuker for the finish.

McLouth finished with 13 saves to pick up his first international win.

With the win, Team USA improves to 2-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) in tournament play.

The U17s advance to the Vierumäki Cup semifinals Saturday (Dec. 14) against Slovakia with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 a.m. ET and the game can be streamed live here.