A Pair of Flyers’ 2019 draft picks contributed in Team USA’s loss to Team Russia on Christmas Night.
The Flyers’ offseason news has remained quiet for the most part. With NHL hockey still a couple of weeks away, we do have some hockey tied to our favorite guys in orange and black on right now.
A couple of weeks ago, USA Hockey announced their official team roster for the 2021 World Junior Championships. Shortly after that news, we saw the 2019 Flyers’ first round draft pick, Cameron York named captain of this squad. Along with him, the second-round pick of that draft, Bobby Brink, will wing the third line of the team as well.
Christmas night marked their first game together, as Team USA faced off against a feisty Russian team. Despite their comeback efforts, USA fell short, 5-3. However, the two future Flyers’ fared well in their 2021 debut.
Cameron York
After being named the captain by his teammates, Cameron York shined in game one. During last year’s WJC’s, York struggled to maintain regular playing time, so he worked his butt off to get to this point. In doing so, he didn’t disappoint.
The beaut snuck one home to tie the game early in the first period. Russia was dominating play the entire first, so the captain “knew he had to carry his weight.” Despite being a goal that 2020 top goaltending prospect and Predators’ 11th overall pick Yaroslav Askarov would want back, a goal is a goal, eh?
His goal helped draw some momentum to the USA’s side, as he continued his points tour that game. While down two in crunch time (about two minutes left in the third), York fed Ducks’ prospect Trevor Zegras, who sniped a beauty home.
Needless to say, York played a physical and productive game. The Flyers’ defenseman stole the show for Team USA in this one.
Bobby Brink
Brink had a much more modest game than his draft counterpart. Brink, who is getting playing time on the left-wing of the third line, picked up an apple on New Jersey native John Farinacci’s goal to cut the deficit in half.
Other than that, Brink stayed off the scoresheet. From the eye test, though, the right-hander fought hard for each puck. He produced in ways off the scoresheet, as Brink won nearly every puck battle. In the third period specifically, you could tell Brink and his linemates helped lead the comeback, as they were buzzing. The 5’8 Danny Briere lookalike only got 13:37 of ice time, yet made the most of it.
Captain Cam and Brink will next face off against Team Austria on Saturday night at 9:30 PM EST.
Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
