The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team will face Switzerland in a quarterfinals matchup on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) at ZS Spisska Nova Ves. The game will be shown live on NHL Network.

Bring on the Quarters: The U.S. finished the preliminary round as Group B's top seed with a 4-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record and 12 points. The U.S. had the highest goal differential (+15) of any team in the preliminary round. The U.S. also had the most short handed goals (4), best goalkeeping (.935) and second highest scoring efficiency (16.3%). 

The U.S. has played in nine quarterfinals in the history of the IIHF Men's  Under-18 World Championship, posting a record of 8-0-1-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T). The only loss came in a 5-4 overtime defeat against the Czech Republic in 2001. 

Matchup vs. Switzerland: Switzerland comes into Thursday's game having dropped its last three games after winning its opener against Latvia on Friday (April 14). Switzerland followed that with 5-1 and 7-3 losses to Finland and Canada respectively. In its final preliminary round game, Switzerland lost a 2-1 decision to tournament host Slovakia.

Nico Hischier (0-5-5) and Philipp Kurashev (3-1-4) lead the Switzerland attack. Gianluca Zaetta and Akira Schmid have split the majority of the minutes between the pipes for Switzerland. Zaetta earned the only Switzerland win.

The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team defeated Switzerland 7-2 in November during the 2016 Under-18 Five Nations Tournament in Plymouth, Michigan. In that game 13 different U.S. players recorded a point and Dylan St. Cyr (Northville, Mich.) made 25 saves on 27 shots.

All-Time vs. Switzerland: The United States and Switzerland are meeting for the eighth time in IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship history. The U.S. owns an all-time record of 7-0-0-1-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) against Switzerland. All the matchups have come in the preliminary round, with the only loss coming on April 17, 2014 in a 4-2 decision. The U.S. has outscored the Switzerland 35-11 all-time. The two teams last met in a preliminary round matchup on April 19, 2016 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The U.S. earned a 4-0 shutout victory.