Blackhawks Prospect Frank Nazar III with Four Assists in Team USA's 11-3 Rout of Switzerland at WJC

Forward Frank Nazar III, one of three Chicago Blackhawks first-round draft picks in 2022, had four assists as the United States pounded Switzerland 11-3 on Thursday in a IIHF World Junior Championship game in Göteborg, Sweden.

The speedy Nazar was flying in this one and had a couple of sensational set-ups of University of Michigan teammate Gavin Brindley for goals in the second period. Nazar, a 5-foot-10 center from Mt. Clemens, Michigan, took three shots on goal in 14:13 of ice time on Wednesday and has five assists in two games at this WJC. 

Nazar was selected 13th overall by the Blackhawks in last year's draft between defensemen Kevin Korchinski (seventh overall) and Sam Rinzel (25th overall). He's  been playing the past two season with the Wolverines.

Three other Blackhawks prospects skated with Team USA. 

Rinzel and University of Minnesota roommate and center Oliver Moore, drafted 19th overall in 2023, had 15:05 and 11:41 of ice time, but didn't hit the scoresheet. Forward Gavin Hayes, drafted in the third round and 66th overall in 2022, had an assist in 15:19 on the ice.

Jimmy Snuggerud, also a 2022 NHL draftee (23rd overall by St. Louis) led the Americans' assault with a hat trick in the first period, plus an assist. Team USA chased Swiss starting goalie Lorin Grüter by scoring on four of its first 10 shots.

Ewan Huet, the son of former Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet, relieved Grüter at 12:36 of the first period and allowed seven goals on 30 shots the rest of the way. Cristobal Huet, a rare French national in the NHL, played for Chicago in 2008-09 and 2009-10. He tended nets for the Blackhawks as they returned to respectability — and the playoffs — with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in the lineup. 

Huet became the first French citizen to play on a Stanley Cup team in 2010. But he was between the pipes for just 20 minutes in one game during Chicago's postseason run to the championship. Antti Niemi played the rest as the Blackhawks quiet, main man in goal.

Huet left the NHL in 2010 to play eight more seasons with two teams in Switzerland. Ewan Huet was born in Lausanne, where Cristobal now coaches, and has spent most of the 2023-24 season with the WHL Regina Pats, Connor Bedard's former junior team.