The U.S. and Norway have met just three previous times in the U18 Championship, with Team USA the victor in all three. The two sides met a year ago in the preliminary round of the tournament with the U.S. earning a 12-1 victory, including a four-goal performance from returning forward Cole Eiserman.
The U.S. began tournament play with a 9-0 shutout win over Slovakia on Wednesday, scoring three goals in each period of action. In his IIHF debut, netminder Nick Kempf was sharp throughout and finished with a 24-save shutout. James Hagens dialed up four points with two goals and two assists, and Eiserman went for three scores for his second IIHF hat-trick.
Norway played its first game yesterday and dropped a 7-0 decision to host Finland. Markus Walbert started in net for Norway and Amund Martinsen came out in relief, and the two goaltenders saw 54 combined shots from the Finns.
