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The United States and Finland will meet in the World Junior Hockey Championship final after earning hard-fought semifinal victories on Saturday in Ottawa, Canada.
The United States beat Czechia, 3-1, and Finland took down Sweden, 4-3.
The Americans are shooting for back-to-back championships (and their third in five years) after an impressive win. Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perrault each had a goal and an assist, while defenseman Aram Minnetian added two helpers.
All three combined for the United States’ first goal, with Perrault scoring after Leonard and Minnetian’s assists 3:14 into the first period.
Leonard did a phenomenal job even getting the puck to Perrault, chipping the puck to himself off the boards to avoid a defender and then sliding a pass to his waiting teammate while falling to the ice.
Jakub Stancl responded later in the period, though, after collecting the puck himself via a forecheck turnover and slotting one home.
The U.S. took the lead for good 13:41 into the second period thanks to Cole Eiserman’s power play goal. It was a one-time sniper following a Trevor Connelly pass.
A tense third period ensued, with both teams going on the power play but finding themselves unable to break through.
The United States finally did at even strength, though, with 4:27 left in the third period. Minnetian found Perreault on an impressive lead pass, and then Perreault found Leonard at the net for a one-timer.
Oliver Moore added an empty-net goal with 1:07 left, sealing the United States’ win.
Earlier in the afternoon, Finland earned a 4-3 overtime victory over Sweden. Benjamin Rautiainen scored a power play goal with 38 seconds remaining in the three-on-three OT period.
Konsta Helenius assisted on all four Finland goals. Emil Hemming added a goal and an assist. Goalie Petteri Rimpinen added 43 saves.
The difference in this game was Finland’s efforts on the power play. Officially, they scored two goals with the extra man, but Hemming’s goal occurred literally one second after his team’s power play ended.
A scoreless first period preceded a five-goal second period that ended with Finland winning 3-2. Finland outshot 20-10 in the frame.
Sweden center Otto Stenberg scored the first of his two goals 1:22 into the second period.
Hemming responded three minutes later.
Finland took the lead at 13:28 of the second period on the power play thanks to Jesse Kiiskinen’s deflection.
However, Stenberg struck again through traffic to knot the game at two.
With 21 seconds remaining in the second period, Arttu Alasiurua potted Finland’s third goal of the period, warding off a defender and using adept stick-handling to give his team the edge.
Sweden wouldn’t go away quietly, though, as Wilhelm Hallquisth’s shot from the blue line deflected in off the goalie with 8:28 remaining in regulation.
Rimpinen had an outstanding period otherwise, though, turning aside 19 of 20 Swedish shots. In other words, Sweden averaged a shot on goal per minute in the third.
This game looked destined for a shootout as time wound down in OT, but Rautiainen made sure that didn’t happen.
Finland is now searching for its sixth junior championship and first since 2019. As for Sweden, it’s another heartbreaking loss for a team that’s dominated the tournament for decades but only has two junior titles (and one in the last 44 years) to show for it.
The United States and Finland will face off for gold at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. Sweden and Czechia will play for bronze at 3:30 p.m. earlier in the day.
