OTTAWA — In the 50th all-time meeting between bitter border rivals at the World Juniors, the United States emerged victorious on the eve of a new year.

United States defenseman Cole Hutson and forward Cole Eiserman each scored a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Canada on Tuesday night at the Canadian Tire Centre. American goaltender Trey Augustine made 38 saves in the victory.

“It’s pretty special,” Augustine said. “It’s definitely up there in my list, so far, of games played. But we’re not here to beat Canada tonight, we’re here to win a gold medal.”

“That’s something that’s storybook-like and something that you dream of,” Eiserman said. “I’m sure you’ve heard that a lot. But it’s pretty cool.”

Three of the Americans’ goals came on the power play, taking advantage of an undisciplined Canadian team that took 11 penalties. Canada goaltender Carter George also saw his shutout streak snapped in the loss, allowing three goals on 27 shots.

Canadian head coach Dave Cameron said it was “frustrating” and “disappointing” to see his team penalized as much as they were.

“They know that penalties are penalties,” Cameron said. “You talk all you want in the short term. They have to decide. Simple as that.

“They really got burned tonight. I think (it’s a) lesson learned.”

“It’s a team thing,” George said. “We have a goal. Not take that many penalties and stay five-on-five. Tonight, we didn’t do that. We didn’t stick to the system. It’s hard to keep momentum when you’re on the kill all the time.”

Hutson scored a power-play goal to open the scoring in the first period, blocking his ears in response to the contentious, pro-Canada crowd in Ottawa.

“It’s definitely something I thought about before it happened,” Hutson said. “Eighteen thousand fans all rooting against you. I think that’s just a classic one you’ve got to pull.”

Canada led the game in shots for most of the contest but trailed on the scoreboard until the third period. That changed when Canadian forward Bradly Nadeau one-timed a power-play goal of his own past Augustine. Minutes later, United States forward Danny Nelson scored the go-ahead goal thanks to assists from Hutson and winger Trevor Connelly.

Canadian forward and projected 2026 No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna had a significant opportunity to tie the game at two in the third period but hit the crossbar. Soon after, Eiserman put the game out of reach with his team’s third power-play goal. The Americans added an exclamation point with an empty-net goal from Ryan Leonard late in the third period.

Team USA ends the preliminary round as Group A winners and they’ll meet Switzerland, the fourth-seeded team from Group B, in the quarterfinals. Switzerland defeated Kazakhstan earlier on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals.

Canada finishes third in Group A and will have a date against Czechia in their quarter-final matchup on Tuesday. Their message is simple.

“We’re going to have to stay out of the box,” McKenna said.

“No easy game now,” Cameron said. “Especially now, you’re getting into sudden death games. It’s all good teams now.

“There’s no more dipping your toe. This is game on, Game 7s, and you better bring your A-game.”

Earlier in the day, Sweden defeated Czechia 4-2 to win the top seed in Group B. They’ll face Latvia in the quarterfinals, who lost to Finland 3-0 on Tuesday. Finland is Group A’s second-seeded team and they’ll play Group B’s third-seeded Slovakia on Thursday.

Kazakhstan will play Germany in the relegation game ahead of the four quarterfinal games on Jan. 2.

(Top photo of Cole Hutson: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)