World Juniors Update: York, Brink, USA Win Gold

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Tuesday was Cam York’s 20th birthday. The 2019 first-round pick of the Flyers got a pretty awesome birthday present.

Behind a 34-save shutout by Spencer Knight, taken one pick ahead of York in the 2019 NHL Draft, Team USA claimed the gold medal at the World Junior Championships with a 2-0 win. York, who served as captain of the team, awarded his teammates with their medals and hoisted the championship trophy.

Flyers prospect Bobby Brink also got a gold medal as a member of Team USA.

The scoring started at the 13:25 mark of the first period. Trevor Zegras got the puck out to the blue line for Drew Helleson. Helleson put the puck on goal for a deflection by Alex Turcotte to give the US the 1-0 lead.

Just 32 seconds into the second, Zegras added to the lead with a goal from the side of the net to make it 2-0.

Knight handled the rest, stopping all 34 shots taken by Team Canada, including 15 in the third period.

York and Brink certainly did their part. York made a great defensive play to break up a two-on-one for Canada in the third. Brink also blocked two shots down the stretch as the US banded together for a shutdown period.

York finished with 20:13 of ice time and had two shots on goal. Brink took a tripping penalty at the end of the first period and had one shot on goal in the game, playing 15:18.

In the Bronze Medal Game earlier on Tuesday evening, Finland defeated Russia, 4-1.

This was the fifth time USA and Canada have met in the Gold Medal Game and the fourth win for the US. It also marked the fourth shutout win for USA and 12th shutout overall in the tournament, passing the 2004 World Juniors for the most in a single tournament.