EDMONTON, Alberta – Carter Mazur scored twice in a five-goal second period for the United States, and the Americans beat defending champion Switzerland 7-1 on Thursday night to improve to 2-0 at the world junior hockey championship.
Brock Faber, Landon Slaggert, Matthew Corondato, Thomas Bordeleau and Riley Duran also scored for the United States.
Kaidan Mbereko made 23 saves, allowing only a Joel Henry goal that tied him at 1 midway through the second.
The United States will face Austria on Saturday and close out Group B round robin play against Sweden on Sunday. The Americans opened the postponed tournament on Tuesday with a 5-1 win over Germany.
The tournament was rescheduled to August after being called off on December 29 after four days as matches had to be forfeited due to rising cases of COVID-19.
Earlier, Canada improved to 2-0 in Group A, with captain Mason McTavish scoring four goals and adding two assists in an 11-1 win over Slovakia.
McTavish, the 19-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect, tied the Canadian record for goals in a game in the tournament. Other players who have achieved the feat include Mario Lemieux (1984), Brayden Schenn (2011) and Maxime Comtois (2019).
“It’s pretty cool for sure. A special moment,” McTavish said. “Of course, credit to my teammates. They were looking for me every game, it felt like.”
Brennan Othmann, Joshua Roy, Connor Bedard, Will Cuylle, Logan Stankoven, Olen Zellweger and Zack Ostapchuk also scored. Dylan Garand made 22 saves.
“We are deep from our first line to our fourth line,” said Othmann. “It doesn’t matter who’s in or who’s out, everyone’s helping in some way.”
Matej Kaslik scored for Slovakia (0-2).
In Group A this afternoon, Kasper Simontaival scored the winner in Finland’s 4-3 win over the Czech Republic. Finland is 2-0, and the Czech Republic is 1-1.
Roby Jarventie, Kasper Puutio and Aatu Raty scored for Finland in regulation. Jaroslav Chmelar, Jiri Kulich and Jan Mysak scored for the Czech Republic.
Canada will face the Czech Republic on Saturday.
