World Juniors Update: Quarterfinals Set, All 7 Flyers Prospects in Contention

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers have seven prospects in 2019 World Junior Championships, tied for the most around the NHL. All seven have advanced past the group rounds to the tournament portion, which begins on Wednesday with the quarterfinals.

Here is how the Flyers prospects have fared by the day with the results of the other games included.

Wednesday, Dec. 26

• Czech Republic 3, Switzerland 2 (F/OT)
• United States 2, Slovakia 1
• Canada 14, Denmark 0
• Sweden 2, Finland 1

The four Flyers prospects on the US team didn't register much as Team USA managed to come back to beat Slovakia, 2-1, to avoid a tournament-opening loss.

It was a big game for Morgan Frost in Canada's rout of Denmark. Frost had scored a hat trick by the early stages of the second period. By that point, he also had an assist. He would add another one later for a five-point game.

For Sweden, Samuel Ersson got the start and made 29 saves in the 2-1 win.

Thursday, Dec. 27

• Russia 4, Denmark 0
• Sweden 5, Slovakia 2
• Canada 3, Switzerland 2
• Finland 5, Kazakhstan 0

One day after his five-point game, Frost was held off the board in Canada's close win over Switzerland.

Ersson got another start for Sweden and another win, making 20 saves this time.

Friday, Dec. 28

• Russia 2, Czech Republic 1
• United States 8, Kazakhstan 2

Only two games were on the slate on Day 2 and only the four US prospects participated. Joel Farabee was the headliner on this day, scoring a natural hat trick in the first period of a US win over Kazakhstan.

Saturday, Dec. 29

• Switzerland 4, Denmark 0
• Finland 5, Slovakia 1
• Canada 5, Czech Republic 1
• Sweden 5, United States 4 (F/OT)

Frost got back on the board with a goal and an assist in a 5-1 Canada win over Czech Republic.

In a wild game between the US and Sweden, a few Flyers prospects stood out. Ersson carried a shutout into the third period as Sweden opened up a 4-0 lead. The US rallied back, scoring four goals in the final 10:30 to tie the game and force overtime. Farabee assisted on the game-tying goal, which resulted off a turnover by Adam Ginning. Sweden won the game in overtime, giving Ersson his third win of the tournament. He made 25 saves.

Sunday, Dec. 30

• Russia 7, Switzerland 4
• Slovakia 11, Kazakhstan 2

Monday, Dec. 31

• Czech Republic 4, Denmark 0
• Sweden 4, Kazakhstan 1
• Russia 2, Canada 1
• United States 4, Finland 1

With all seven prospects' teams playing, it was not a full day. Sweden gave Ersson a day off and Ginning did not play due to illness as Sweden rested a number of players.

Frost took a checking from behind penalty which came with a 10-minute misconduct, taking him out of action for 12 minutes of the game against Russia. He managed one shot in 13:09 of ice time.

Farabee had an assist in a US win. By this point, the roles of Jay O'Brien and Jack St. Ivany were well established. St. Ivany had played just one shift in USA's previous game against Sweden as the team's seventh defenseman and likely got an increased role only for this game. O'Brien had been a fourth-line player for the US, but only played 1:04 of this game. Noah Cates took a penalty in this game in 17:08. He's had a steady role with the US and ample playing time, but has not factored into the scoring yet.

With that, the quarterfinals are set for Wednesday. The schedule is as follows:

• Relegation Round: Denmark vs. Kazakhstan – 2 p.m.
• Sweden vs. Switzerland – 4 p.m.
• Canada vs. Finland – 6:30 p.m.
• United States vs. Czech Republic – 8 p.m.
• Russia vs. Slovakia – 10:30 p.m.

NHL Network will be televising the 4 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. games.

The winner of the Sweden-Switzerland game will face the winner of the Canada-Finland game in one semi-final, while the winner of Russia-Slovakia will face the winner of USA-Czech Republic in the other. If Canada advances, they will play in the later game at 8 p.m on Friday, Jan. 4. The other semi-final game will be at 4 p.m.

The Bronze Medal Game will be on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 4 p.m. and the Gold Medal Game will be at 8 p.m.

We will have another update on Thursday morning following the quarterfinals ahead of the two semi-final games.