Scott Laughton wins gold with Canada, Cutter Gauthier stars for U.S. at World Championships

While the Flyers wrapped up their season way back on April 13, three members of the organization had yet to put away their gear for the summer through Sunday.

Veteran forward Scott Laughton and prospects Cutter Gauthier and Ronnie Attard instead decided to play a little more hockey, with each representing their respective countries at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championships. The tournament, which began on May 12 and took place in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia, concluded Sunday with both the gold-medal game and bronze-medal games.

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That decision to extend his season proved to be a golden one for Laughton, who clinched a gold medal Sunday with Canada’s 5-2 win over Germany. In the process, Canada collected a record 28th men’s World Championship, while Germany took silver, and surprising upstarts Latvia won their first-ever IIHF hockey medal with bronze.

In 10 games at the tournament, Laughton, who turns 29 on Tuesday, scored three goals, added five assists, and was a plus-seven. Laughton scored an empty-netter in Sunday’s gold-medal game and played in all situations for Canada. He led Canadian forwards in average ice time in the tournament at around 18 minutes per game.

The final few days of the tournament did not go nearly as well for Team USA and Flyers prospects Gauthier and Attard. The United States, the only team to come through the preliminary round unbeaten, and which began the tournament with an 8-0 record, failed to medal after suffering heartbreaking overtime defeats in the semifinals against Germany (4-3) and the bronze-medal game to Latvia (4-3). Team USA held a 3-2 lead with under two minutes to go in their semifinal matchup with Germany Saturday, and squandered another third-period lead Sunday with just over five minutes to go against co-hosts Latvia.

While failing to medal after such a great start to the tournament will be a bitter pill to swallow for the U.S., it shouldn’t erase what Gauthier accomplished from an individual standpoint. The 19-year-old, who was the second-youngest player on Team USA, tied for the team lead with seven goals and ranked third in points with nine. Gauthier’s seven goals were tied for the second-most in the entire tournament, while his 57 shots on goal led the tournament by a landslide.

The Flyers have to be thrilled with what they saw from last year’s No. 5 overall pick, as Gauthier not only fit in but excelled while playing against established professionals. In addition to his elite shot and goal-scoring ability, Gauthier showcased his size and speed, looking particularly poised and dangerous on the power play. Flyers’ assistant general manager Brent Flahr was impressed with Gauthier’s overall game in Finland.

“He’s big; he’s strong; he’s a powerful skater,” Flahr told The Inquirer earlier this week. “He really stands out even with men and the pace of his game. But when you see when he’s moving his feet and engaged in attacking the offensive zone with speed, I think he’s hard to defend, even against older players.”

The tournament puts quite a punctuation on an impressive first post-draft year for Gauthier. The youngster, who played wing for Team USA, transitioned to center at the NCAA level and led Boston College in both goals (16), points (37), and power-play goals (7) last season as a freshman. He will return to BC next season for his sophomore campaign and is being tipped to be a huge part of the Flyers’ future.

Attard, 24, made less of an impact for the United States, playing in four of the team’s 10 games. He scored a goal in the preliminary round against Germany but was a healthy scratch for the latter stages of the tournament. The AHL All-Star, who got into two games last season with the Flyers, is expected to compete for an opening-night roster spot next season.

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