World Juniors Update: Goalies Shining; Myers, Laczynski Record Multiple Points

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Days 3 and 4 of the World Junior Championships featured two games for some Flyers prospects. Most importantly, all nine prospects saw action in some form on Wednesday or Thursday.

Here's the rundown.

On Wednesday, Sweden defeated Switzerland, 4-2. David Bernhardt assisted on Sweden's first goal of the game, while goalie Felix Sandstrom stopped 13 of 15 Swiss shots for the win.

Later on Wednesday, USA defeated Slovakia, 5-2, but there was a silver lining for prospects on both sides. In USA's win, forward Tanner Laczynski scored the first goal of the game on a rebound.

In goal for Slovakia was backup Matej Tomek, a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2015. Tomek suffered the loss, but faced 50 shots from USA, making 45 saves.

Thursday featured four games with eight prospects in action.

It started with Denmark's 3-2 overtime win over Czech Republic. Forward David Kase played 20:36 and had one shot on goal in the loss.

USA picked up another win, defeating Russia, 3-2. Laczynski got the secondary assist on Troy Terry's eventual game-winning goal. For Russia, Mikhail Vorobyov had an assist on their second goal for his sixth point in three games. Vorobyov also took a penalty and had two shots on goal in 17:03. German Rubtsov played 11:14 and didn't factor into any scoring or record a shot on goal.

Sweden was back in action, as was netminder Felix Sandstrom. One day after his 13-save win, he stopped 28 of 29 shots from Finland in a 3-1 win. David Bernhardt was a plus-one in 17:44 of ice time.

Finally, Canada faced Latvia and also picked up their third win of the tournament, rolling to a 10-2 win. Carter Hart made 23 saves on 25 shots. Defenseman Philippe Myers had two assists on Canada's first two goals, one shorthanded and one on the power play. Overall, Myers had an even rating and one shot on goal in 17:58 of ice time.

So where does that leave the Flyers nine prospects in the tournament? Friday figures to be an off day for the group of nine, with only Tomek and Slovakia in action. Tomek will likely serve as backup again for this game.

Saturday marks the end of preliminary tournament games, headlined by USA and Canada meeting in a battle of unbeatens at 3:30 p.m. Sweden and goalie Felix Sandstrom are the only other team carrying an undefeated record into Saturday's games. They take on Czech Republic at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

At the moment, the teams for all nine Flyers prospects are in position to play in the quarterfinals on Monday. Five prospects are playing for teams without a loss in the tournament — USA's Tanner Laczynski, Canada's Carter Hart and Philippe Myers, and Sweden's Felix Sandstrom and David Bernhardt.

Go to top button