Boston College at World Juniors: We’re getting an Eagle matchup!

Here we go! We’re getting a USA vs. Canada gold medal game tonight at World Juniors, setting up a prime Eagles vs. Eagle matchup. Spencer Knight, Drew Helleson, and Matt Boldy will be lacing up for the United States, while Alex Newhook will be dressing for Canada. This is the first time in BC’s history that the program has had players on both sides of the gold medal game.

How did each team get here?

Newhook was out injured for Canada’s quarterfinal game against the Czech Republic, but they punched their ticket to the semifinals with a 3-0 win. USA also advanced to the semifinals, beating Slovakia 5-2.

Canada beat Russia 5-0 in their semifinal matchup — and Newhook scored the first goal on his first shift back since New Years Eve. Overall he was a solid player for Canada, bouncing back from the shoulder injury that kept him out for two games.

Here’s his goal (which had to be reviewed because the officials had completely missed it going in!):

The USA had a much closer game, beating Finland 4-3 after blowing a 3-1 lead. Boldy scored the third goal on a power play after he got high sticked (and endured a gnarly cut near his eye), and made a huge game-saving block in the dying seconds of the third period. Knight made 33 saves in the win.

Here’s Boldy’s goal & the block:

The gold medal game will be tonight, January 5, at 9:30pm ET.