Snuggerud scores first-period hat-trick against Switzerland
Published
Jimmy Snuggerud and Team USA got off to quite the start Thursday against Switzerland at the World Junior Championship.
The St. Louis Blues prospect scored a hat-trick in the opening period, lifting his team to a 4-1 advantage early in their Group B showdown. Team USA later made it 5-1 to end the first and scored four more in the second, pushing things to 9-1 through the first 40 minutes.
With the Americans already leading 1-0 on a goal from Will Smith just over one minute in, Snuggerud muscled a loose puck past Switzerland goalie Lorin Gruter to double his team's early lead.
Snuggerud's next goal came off a faceoff as he beat Gruter up and over his right shoulder from the slot. He did it again just a couple minutes later, collecting the puck off a faceoff and firing a lethal wrist shot into the net for his third of the game. The marker restored USA's three-goal lead after Gregory Weber got one back for the Swiss earlier in the period.
Switzerland pulled Gruter in favour of backup Ewan Huet after Snuggerud's third goal.
The 19-year-old Snuggerud also scored in Team USA's 4-1 tournament-opening win over Norway on Boxing Day, giving him four goals in four periods at the World Juniors.
In 18 games this season for the University of Minnesota, Snuggerud has 11 goals and five assists for 16 points in 18 games.
Watch every World Junior Championship game all tournament long LIVE on TSN, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Canada plays Sweden on Friday
Canada gets their toughest test of the World Junior Championship so far as they take on Sweden Friday afternoon.
Watch the matchup LIVE at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Canada opened the tournament on Boxing Day with a 5-2 victory over Finland followed by a 10-0 drubbing of Latvia on Wednesday.
They currently sit atop Group A with six points at 2-0-0-0.