EP Rinkside's 3 Stars from Day 1 of the 2024 U18 World Hockey Championship

The 2024 U18 World Hockey Championship opening day started off with an expected result as Team USA took down Slovakia in a dominant effort. The big guns showed up from the start, with James Hagens adding four points and Cole Eiserman scoring a hat-trick in very Cole Eiserman fashion. 

It's a weak draft class for the Slovaks and their players had real trouble with the Americans. The best effort was made by the 2025-eligible Tomas Pobezal, who had the most notable offensive plays on the team. But really, the game was one-way traffic for almost the entirety of it.

Czechia, meanwhile, won a deceptively close 3-0 hockey game over the Swiss, leaning heavily on their goaltender Jakub Milota and a pair of strong performances from Maxmilian Curran and Marek Daniček to make it happen.

In the second gam