World Juniors Update: US Claims Top Seed, All 3 Flyers Prospects in Quarterfinals

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The World Junior Championships has closed out group play and moved into the tournament portion with the Quarterfinals taking place on Saturday with four games on the schedule.

All three Flyers prospects remain in the tournament, set for their own matchups on Saturday.

Team USA rebounded from their 5-3 loss to Russia to open the tournament by not allowing a goal for their remaining three games in Group Play, scoring an 11-0 win over Austria, a 7-0 win over Czech Republic and a 4-0 win over Sweden.

In the win over Czech Republic, both Flyers prospects shined. Bobby Brink scored two of the team’s three goals in the second period to open up a 3-0 lead. In the third, Cam York assisted on three US goals. Brink was named USA’s Player of the Game.

In their 4-0 win over Sweden on New Year’s Eve, Brink picked up another assist on the opening goal of the game and was a plus-1 in 14:19 of ice time. York was held without a point, but had one shot and was a plus-1 in 17:42 of ice time.

USA is set to play in the final Quarterfinal game on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. when they face Slovakia.

Earlier in the day, Emil Andrae and Team Sweden will play against Finland at 3:30 p.m. Sweden opened Group Play with a pair of wins, but suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to Russia on Wednesday and the 4-0 defeat to the US on Thursday to finish third in Group B.

Andrae had an assist and was plus-2 in 11:06 in the loss to Russia. He took a high-sticking penalty and played 14:58 in the loss to USA.

The remaining games in the Quarterfinal Round will be between Russia and Germany at 12 p.m. and Canada and Czech Republic at 7 p.m. The four winners will advance to the Semi-final Round on Monday.