GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Thursday marked the start of elimination play at the 2016 IIHF U18 World Championship in Grand Forks, N.D., and Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team defeated Switzerland 9-1 to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.

Tyson Jost (Kelowna, B.C./Penticton, BCHL) led the way with five points (three goals, two assists) to bring his tournament total to 14 points (six goals, eight assists) - tying him with Connor McDavid (8-6—14 in 2013) for the most by a Canadian at a single U18 world championship.

“It takes 21 players to make one player good, and those guys in the locker room are all skilled, they all commit to defence, and all commit to offense; it’s just an honour to be able to play on this team. When you’re surrounded by players like that, you’re going to have success and it’s been really special for me so far," said Jost. “What I see and what our coaching staff and our whole team sees, it is that we just keep better each game and that is something that’s really important in these tournaments. You’ve just got to keep building going into the semifinals, and then hopefully the finals, so you’re pushing those building blocks.”

Special teams were a key difference in the game as Canada scored four power-play goals and also added a shorthanded marker in the win.

“That first goal by Josty was huge to set the tone, then on the [penalty] kill, that was amazing - that was a great play by him. It was just clicking tonight; [the pucks] were starting to go in and if we can just carry that on into these next couple of games, that will be big for us,” said Brett Howden (Oakbank, Man./Moose Jaw, WHL), who also had five points in the win.

Head coach Shaun Clouston (Viking, Alta./Medicine Hat, WHL) says they’re just trying to be clear and consistent in the way they play and the message they convey to the team: “As the game went on, especially after the first five minutes, I thought that penalty-kill that led to the shorthanded goal sparked us. The message was let’s work that hard with that much structure five-on-five. The commitment we have on the PK, let’s take that and match that five-on-five, and I thought the guys did really good on that.”

Along with Canada’s offence, it was also the play of goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick (Lower Sackville, N.S./Sherbrooke, QMJHL) who made a difference, stopping 25 of the 26 shots he faced to earn his third victory of the championship. 

Canada will now face Sweden on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) in the semifinal. Full game stats and story from the quarter-final win are available here on the Hockey Canada website.

TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, are broadcasting all of Team Canada’s match-ups at the IIHF U18 World Championship - check local listings for details.

Canada has won seven medals at the IIHF U18 World Championship, including three gold medals (2003, 2008 and 2013).

NOTE TO MEDIA: Players and coaches will be available for interviews between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. CT (1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. PT) on Friday. Requests can be made through Esther Madziya, Hockey Canada’s coordinator, media relations at [email protected] or (403) 519-5754.

For more information on Hockey Canada and the Program of Excellence, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along via social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter.com/HC_Men.