National Reaction to Gabe Perreault's Game One Performance in World Juniors

OTTAWA, Canada — Team USA opened play in the IIHF World Junior Championship by never looking back; the red, white and blue defeated Germany 10-4 after wasting no time in asserting control.

This was the 15th meeting between the U.S. and Germany in the World Juniors. Even though Team USA has already won 13 of the first 14 meetings, this year the U.S. had Gabe Perreault serving as one of their alternate captains.

Perreault is a right-wing who currently plays for Boston College. The Quebec, Canada native was drafted 23rd overall by the New York Rangers in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

The 19-year-old previously played at the 2023 IIHF World U18 Championships where he ranked second on the team in offense — producing five goals and 13 assists in seven games en route to winning the gold medal.

In his draft-eligible year, he recorded 53 goals and 79 assists for 132 points. This made history at the time as the most points in a single season by any player in the history of the USNTDP.

This year in game one en route to the United States' 10-4 takedown of Germany, Perreault earned Player of the Game honors with two goals and an assist.

No. 34's goals can be seen below:

"It's awesome, it's great being able to come together since we've been together since school," James Hagens said of his line chemistry with Perreault. "The chemistry just floats over here. Those are two guys who are my best buddies, I love those guys."

Note that the pursuit for an unprecedented back-to-back gold if officially underway for Team USA.

Let's take a look at how Blueshirt fans reacted to his performance in the U.S. National Junior Team's first preliminary-round contest of the 2025 World Juniors.