USA vs Switzerland Start Time, Preview & Prediction

• Team USA (1-0) continues Pool A play tonight in the World Junior Hockey Championships in Minneapolis with a matchup against Switzerland (0-0).
• The Americans are 4.5-goal favorites after a 6-3 win over Germany on Friday. The Americans have never won the gold medal on home soil in the World Juniors.
• I’m putting you on steady ground with my preview and USA vs Switzerland prediction for tonight.

On the heels of their thorough, but not quite dominating, win over Germany Friday night, Team USA is back on the ice tonight to face Switzerland in pool play in the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Team USA is heavy favorites, just like they were against the Germans. The Swiss are lumped in with Denmark, Germany and Latvia as +25000 to win this event.

After making the right call on Team USA vs Germany, I’m going to settle you down with my USA vs Switzerland preview and prediction.

USA vs Switzerland Start Time

There are four games a day during pool play at World Juniors, two at each arena. USA and Switzerland will drop the puck at 5 p.m. local time tonight in Minneapolis, 6 p.m. ET. The game is at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, home of the Minnesota Wild.

I saw some chatter online last night saying the games weren’t available on TV, but they are all on the NHL Network.

USA vs Switzerland Preview

As expected, the Americans didn’t have too much trouble with Germany. They scored two goals in the first 10 minutes, one by Max Plante and one by Chase Reid. The Germans pulled within one goal before Team USA pulled away in the second period.

Will Zellers had two goals and an assist. Team USA outshot Germany 47-21. Team USA is looking for its third straight gold medal at the World Juniors.

Team USA’s roster has eight players from last year’s gold-medal-winning team. 22 of the 25 players have already been drafted in the NHL Draft, six are first-round picks. Think of this tournament as like a Junior All-Star Tournament. 21 Team USA players are playing college hockey now.

The Swiss are not expected to compete at the same level as the heavy hitters like Team USA and Canada. They have finished either seventh or eighth at each of the last four World Juniors.

The Swiss have a few players already drafted in the NHL with Leon Muggli (Washington), Basile Sanssonens (Vancouver) and Ludvig Johnson (Mammoth), but they don’t have the firepower to score with the Americans.

USA vs Switzerland Prediction

• Team USA -4.5 (-102 at BetMGM)

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I had a feeling Team USA might struggle a hair in the opener, just shaking off some rust and playing together for the first time, and it took some time before they really put Germany away. But now I don’t think that will be an issue, and it’s the Swiss who are playing their first game.

I like the Americans to cover the spread in this one and probably go over the 7.5-goal total listed at FanDuel. 12 different players had a point for Team USA against Germany. They can just roll out one strong line after the other, and the Swiss can’t.

One player to watch for the Swiss is 16-year-old forward Jonah Neuenschwander—yes, 16—but this will be his third international competition for Team Switzerland. He already has an NHL-sized body. His brother Elijah is 19 and a Swiss goalie. Elijah was a fourth-round pick of Anaheim in 2025.

Odds as of December 28, 2025, at US betting sites. Make sure you check out the best online sportsbooks to bet on the World Juniors.