World Juniors Update: Sandstrom, Myers Make Strong Debuts

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The 2017 World Junior Championships got underway on Monday with four games, and there were Flyers prospects in all of them. Granted, it's going to be easy to see Flyers prospects given they lead all teams with a record nine prospects in the tournament.

Eight of them played on Monday and a few started off the tournament on a strong note.

The first game of the day featured Team Sweden against Team Denmark. Sweden featured goalie Felix Sandstrom and defenseman David Bernhardt. Bernhardt had an assist in Sweden's 6-1 win, but it was Sandstrom who was the star.

Sandstrom made 21 saves on 22 shots in the win.

Team USA opened the tournament with a 6-1 win over Latvia. Flyers prospect Tanner Laczynski took a tripping penalty and was a minus-one in 11:24 of ice time.

The biggest upset of Day 1 came in the third game of the day as Czech Republic pulled out a 2-1 win over the defending champs, Team Finland. Michael Spacek scored with 1:18 to play in the third to put Czech Republic on top. Flyers forward prospect David Kase took a holding penalty, had two shots and was a plus-one in 13:11 of ice time.

Finally, there was the final game of the day, featuring four Flyers prospects. Team Canada emerged victorious over Team Russia in the final game by a 5-3 final.

Defenseman Philippe Myers assisted on the first goal of the game, with a tremendous delay and cross-ice pass to Tyson Jost. Myers finished the game with the assist, one shot on goal and a plus-one in 20:06 of ice time.

Mikhail Vorobyov also had an assist on Russia's second goal with a nice drop pass to Kirill Kaprizov. Vorobyov also had one shot on goal and played 15:29.

2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov was held without a point and was a minus-one in 12:48 of ice time.

2016 second-round pick Carter Hart was in goal for Canada and looked solid despite allowing three goals on 17 shots. 

Day 2 of the World Junior Championships will feature five Flyers prospects in action over three games. Kase and Czech Republic face Switzerland at 1 p.m. Rubtsov, Vorobyov and Russia face Latvia at 4 p.m. Hart, Myers and Canada take on Slovakia at 8 p.m.

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