World Juniors Update: US Advances to Gold Medal Game

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The semi-finals for the 2019 World Junior Championship were on Friday and four Flyers prospects are now on the cusp of winning a gold medal. The United States came away with a 2-1 win over Russia in the first semi-final match to advance to Saturday's Gold Medal Game. They will face Finland, who defeated Switzerland by a score of 6-1.

Here is how the semi-finals played out and how the Flyers prospects fared:

United States 2, Russia 1

In a tight-checking game that featured both goaltenders, the United States caught a break in the first period when a goal by Nikita Shaskov was waved off for being kicked into the net. That kept the game scoreless and the US ultimately struck first with a goal by Oliver Wahlstrom to take a 1-0 lead after the first.

Sasha Chmelevski scored the second goal for the US at 4:20 of the second period to open up a 2-0 lead, but Russia struck back with a goal by Grigori Denisenko with 6:24 to play in the period, setting the stage for a dramatic third period.

In the third, Russia came staggeringly close to tying the game. A shot got behind goalie Cayden Primeau, but was swept out of the crease just before crossing the line by Phil Kemp. The Russians never got closer and the US held on for the win. Primeau, the son of former Flyers captain Keith Primeau, made 35 saves and was named the Player of the Game for the US.

Joel Farabee had four shots and was a minus-1 in 19:40 of ice time. Noah Cates had two shots in 17:18. Jack St. Ivany only played one shift lasting 21 seconds and Jay O'Brien did not play for the second straight game.

Finland 6, Switzerland 1

Finland wasted no time getting going, scoring 40 seconds into the game with a goal by Jesse Ylonen. Aarne Talvitie added two more goals and Henri Jokiharju also scored and the Finns had opened up a 4-0 lead just 7:43 into the game.

Switzerland got on the board late in the first with a goal by Philipp Kurashev, but Finland answered back with two goals in the second period by Aleksi Heponiemi and Rasmus Kupari to cap the scoring.

Saturday will feature a pair of games. The Bronze Medal Game between Russia and Switzerland will take place at 4 p.m. The Gold Medal Game between USA and Finland will follow at 8 p.m.