January 05, 2024
Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports
It'll be another jersey Cutter Gauthier puts on when he makes the jump to the NHL.
UPDATE [4:25 p.m.] – A day later, Team USA returned to the ice against Sweden and finished the job.
The U.S. defeated the host nation, 6-2, in the final to win the 2024 World Junior Championship. Cutter Gauthier gets a gold medal after putting a tournament-leading 12 points (two goals and 10 assists) – in a tie with Czechia forward and Sabres prospect Jiri Kulich following their win over Finland in the bronze medal game earlier in the day.
USA HAS DONE IT
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 5, 2024
Team USA has won Gold at the 2024 #WorldJuniors !! pic.twitter.com/BfhleyYcSV
Gauthier will return to Boston College to finish out the collegiate season, which might include a competitive run in the NCAA Tournament with the way the Eagles' season has been going.
After that, could a jump to the Flyers before the season's end be next?
EARLIER...
Cutter Gauthier had an open lane and Finland was as good as cooked.
With the top Flyers prospect settled up in the right faceoff circle on a Team USA power play deep into the third period – after the U.S. climbed back from a 2-0 hole – defenseman Lane Hutson saw Gauthier with more than enough space and traffic blocking the line of sight for Finnish goaltender Niklas Kokko.
He put the puck on Gauthier's stick, and with a small step inside, the 19-year old scoped out the top right corner of the net with his lightning-quick shot lasering it home.
Team USA went up 3-2 in the semifinals of the World Junior Championship over in Sweden and was soon enough off to the Gold Medal game against the hosting country.
And for Gauthier, the Flyers' pick on "the upside play" two summers ago at No. 5 overall, the moment on the international stage arrived. He rose to the occasion, but still with a mission to see through.
"We lost to those guys [Sweden] two years ago at U-18 Worlds and we remember it like yesterday," Gauthier said postgame (via TSN). "They stripped a gold medal from our necks. We’ll be ready to go and we’ll give them everything we got."
GAUTHIER ON THE POWER PLAY! USA LEADS WITH THREE MINUTES TO GO!#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/lbcQlmEHUq
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 4, 2024
The gold medal game will be played today (Friday) at 1:30 p.m. ET and broadcasted stateside on NHL Network.
For Gauthier overall, the general consensus has been that this hasn't been his greatest tournament performance, yet that still has him leading the event in points with 12 of them through six games (two goals, 10 assists). He just hasn't been able to utilize that lethal wrist shot and find the back of the net as expected going in.
He finally did, however, on Thursday and broke through when the U.S. needed him to most, and fittingly, in a show of exactly what the Flyers could use on their power play unit right now after failing to score on a 5-on-3 advantage later that night.
Hopefully, the jump over from Boston College is on the horizon.
A quick check-in on the two other Flyers prospects who were at World Juniors...
• Oliver Bonk, the second of the Flyers' two first-round picks at No. 22 overall last summer, looked the part of the steady two-way defenseman he's projected to be coming out of London in the Ontario Hockey League. Skating for Team Canada, the 18-year-old blueliner put up three assists and a plus-4 rating through five games, but was the victim of just a brutal bounce that resulted in the deciding goal for Czechia with only seconds left in the quarterfinals.
CZECHIA SCORES WITH 11 SECONDS LEFT!
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 2, 2024
Jakub Štancl gets his second of the game after a crazy bounce into the Canada net.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/v86pgo2GY0
The game can be cruel, especially on the back end. And it'll get everyone at some point, regardless of the situation.
• Alex Čiernik, the Flyers' 2023 fourth-rounder, was able to play for Slovakia after making his way back from a concussion and made a couple of nice offensive plays, but had to be replaced on the roster due to injury short of his country's matchup against Finland in the quarterfinals – a 4-3 overtime defeat.
In this clip from group play against Norway, focus on No. 22 along the wall:
Juraj Pekarcik puts @hockeyslovakia ahead!🎯🥵 #WorldJuniors #NORSVK pic.twitter.com/v5quI29q3G
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 29, 2023
• No. 7 overall pick Matvei Michkov can't play in World Juniors because of the IIHF's continued ban on Russia from international competition, but the 19-year old recently returned to HC Sochi's lineup over in the KHL after a bout with an illness and...
Michkov just embarrassed a defenseman in OT…bad.
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) January 3, 2024
(All with Rihanna playing) pic.twitter.com/GhLQAPx5o4
Michkov is now up to 29 points (13 goals and 26 assists) through 32 pro games this season.
And as always with every Michkov update, it's likely to be another couple of years before he can make the jump over to the NHL, so stay patient there.
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