OTTAWA -- Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings) made 38 saves for the United States in a 4-1 win against Canada in the 50th meeting of the storied rivalry at the IIHF 2025 World Junior Championship before 18,935 at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.
"There was a lot of heart, lot of effort, and that's all you can ask for," Augustine said. "I just made the timely saves the guys needed, and they obviously helped me out too. I just thought it was a good team win."
Cole Hutson (Washington Capitals) and Cole Eiserman (New York Islanders) each had a goal and an assist for the United States (3-0-1-0), which went 3-for-7 on the power play.
"We were very emotionally invested into the game and special teams came up big again, the penalty kill (2-for-3) and the power play," U.S. coach David Carle said. "I think you saw the care for each other and for the jersey really bleed through tonight in a lot of good ways. That's where I talk about the emotion of the game. Did it get emotional? Yes, at times it got a little emotional, myself included, and we played with the emotion. We rallied around each other, which was a really big step for us."
The U.S. earned the top seed in pool play with the victory and will play Switzerland in the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
The United States won its pool for the 10th time since the inception of the current two-pool format in 1996. The U.S. has finished either first or second in its pool in each of the last 12 World Juniors.
Carter George (Los Angeles Kings) made 24 saves for Canada (2-0-1-1), which finishes third in pool play and will play Czechia in the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
"It's kind of a team thing ... we have a goal to not take very many penalties and stay 5-on-5 and tonight, we didn't do that," George said. "We didn't stick to the system and it's hard to keep momentum when you're on the kill all the time."
The match marked the 12th time the countries have met on New Year's Eve at the World Juniors. The U.S. has won four of the games, including two straight and there's been one tie (1-1 at the 1999 WJC).
Hutson gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:02 of the first period. Eiserman stole a clearing attempt by defenseman Tanner Molendyk (Nashville Predators) along the right-wing half boards and fed Hutson for his second goal of the tournament from the slot.
"It helps when you're playing with some of the best players in the country," Hutson said. "I mean, that Boston College line (of Ryan Leonard-James Hagens-Gabe Perrault) has been unreal even though they probably haven't been producing the way they want but they make it really easy on me."
It was the first goal allowed by George in three tournament games (132:02 shutout streak).
"We feel we're as good as anybody here but the time for talking is done," Canada coach Dave Cameron said. "Every team that's moving forward now, I think, realistically, thinks that they can win, and they should."
Bradly Nadeau (Carolina Hurricanes) made it 1-1 for Canada with a power play goal on a one-timer from the left face-off circle at 1:58 of the third period.
Danny Nelson (New York Islanders) gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 4:22 of the third. Hutson made the play happen when he passed to Nelson in the slot after curling behind the Canada net.
"I didn't know [Nelson] would be there," Hutson said. "I'm just reading the play a little bit. We don't have a really set play when I'm going behind the net on the power play, but it worked out for us."
Eiserman pushed it to 3-1 with a power-play goal on a wicked wrist shot from the top of the right circle at 13:21 of the third. Eiserman began the game as the country's 13th forward.
Leonard (Washington Capitals) scored an empty-net goal at 18:08 for the 4-1 final.
"We stuck to our game plan all night," U.S. defenseman Zeev Buium (Minnesota Wild) said. "We went over some tough video [Monday] and had tough conversations and had to look at ourselves in the mirror and we were ready to play against Canada."
Canada holds a 31-3-3-10 lead in the all-time series at World Juniors, and the teams have tied three times. The countries last played at the 2023 WJC, when Canada scored a 6-2 victory in the tournament semifinal round.
