Three Philadelphia Flyers competing at the World Championships helped their home country win a silver medal.
The Philadelphia Flyers had five players from two different countries vying for a medal at the 2019 IIHF World Championships on Sunday, and three were able to capitalize on the opportunity. Nearly all of the nine representatives made it to the quarterfinals, with the exception of Michael Raffl and Team Austria, who faced relegation for finishing last in Group B.
Beginning with the bad news first, Jakub Voracek, Radko Gudas, and Team Czech Republic faced off against Team Russia for the bronze medal after falling Team Canada in the semifinals. The Czechs fell in an early 1-0 hole in the first but battled back to take a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. Chicago Blackhawks forward Artem Anisimov went on to tie things in the second, and the game would go to overtime then a shootout to decide a victor. The Russians eventually came out on top after four rounds. Voracek, for whatever reason, wasn’t used during the shootout even though he was the Czech Republic’s top scorer and he and Gudas went without a point during the contest.
Sean Couturier, Philippe Myers, Carter Hart, and Head Coach Alain Vigneault, on the other hand, secured themselves a medal by helping Canada defeat the Czechs mentioned above. The Canadians got out to an excellent start, taking the lead on a goal from Vegas Golden Knight defenseman Shea Theodore. Finland would get it back in the form of a power-play tally from Marko Anttila to tie things up following two periods of play. Anttila went on the give his team the lead with an impressive top-shelf snipe to begin the third and Finland eventually secured gold thanks to a late goal from Harri Pesonen.
Couturier and Myers went pointless in the 3-1 loss, but Myers received heavy minutes from Vigneault during the game and played very well in the role. Hart did not see any action as Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray got the start. Canada could’ve easily won the game, but have nothing to be ashamed of in winning silver. Finland’s team chemistry is always overlooked coming into the Worlds, and it was on full display throughout the entire tourney.
Voracek finished the tournament as the highest scoring Flyer and second at the Worlds with 16 points (4 Goals, 12 Assists) in ten games. James van Riemsdyk followed the Czech forward with five in eight and Couturier, Gudas, Raffl, and Oskar Lindblom rounded out the top three with a total of four points in ten, eight, and six contests. Voracek was also named to the World Championships All-Star team for his efforts.
Flyers-related hockey won’t return until September, but Broad Street Buzz will keep the content rolling throughout the summer. This should be an eventful offseason for Philadelphia, so hopefully, that’ll be enough to keep all of us fans entertained until fall comes around.