🔗 Share this article

Finland's Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at 2:11 of overtime as Finland pulled off a stunning four to three victory over the two-time defending champion American team on Friday evening in the IIHF World Junior Championship quarter-finals.

"We must give credit to the US," stated Finland's leader A. Kiviharju. "They are a fantastic squad, loaded with great individuals and a superbly organized team. But I mentioned we wanted that payback from last year, and I believe we truly deserved it this evening."

In the semi-finals Sunday, the Finns will take on the Swedish team, while Canada will meet the Czech Republic. The Swedes beat the Latvian side 6-3, Canada had a five-goal first period in a 7-1 rout over the Slovakian team, and Czechia topped the Swiss by a 6-2 margin.

Dramatic Final Frame and Overtime

Michigan State’s Lee Ryker knotted the score for the U.S. team with one minute and thirty-three seconds left in the third period and the University of Notre Dame netminder Nick Kempf off for an extra attacker.

Lee Tuuva and J. Saarelainen scored in a fifty-five-second burst in the third to hand Finland a two to one lead. He leveled the score at 2 with 7:17 left, then set up Saarelainen’s game-leading goal with six minutes and twenty-two seconds on the clock. Saarelainen also earned a helper on the first goal.

Notable Performances and Reactions

The Boston University blueliner C. Hutson had a goal and a helper for the Americans after being struck in the head versus the Swiss and sitting out two games.

"In my opinion we executed well for a lot of the game," the defenseman commented. "But the small details that they got, many of their high-quality opportunities resulted from our errors."

His university colleague Cole Eiserman handed the U.S. a 2-1 lead on a power play with nine minutes and forty-five seconds remaining in the middle frame. He accepted a pass from Hutson and fooled Petteri Rimpinen with a one-timer from the right side.

Hutson scored on a rush 35 seconds into the second period. H. Ruohonen tied it at 4:46 on a snap shot from the left side.

Goaltending Summary

• Rimpinen stopped 28 shots.
• The American netminder made 21 saves.

The U.S. squad fell in their last two games – losing 6-3 to the Swedes on Wednesday night in the group finale – after starting with their first three.

"It was an privilege to lead this group," stated the American bench boss. "Our guys played a terrific game tonight and fell just a bit short. Give Finland. It's an empty emotion right now, but our guys left everything on the ice."

Additional Quarter-Final Action

In the second match in the host city, the Canadian team overwhelmed Slovakia with the five-goal first.

Cole Reschny, T. Iginla, M. Misa, S. O'Reilly and Brady Martin scored in the first period, and P. Martone and Cole Beaudoin scored in the following period. J. Ivankovic made twenty-one shots.

"Just goes to show how powerful we can be," Martin said. "Taking a five-nothing lead, it kind of saps their morale."

In the opening playoff game, Anton Frondell scored twice for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to help the Swedes stay perfect in five games.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis Tomas Galvas, S. Drancak, A. Jiricek, P. Sikora, J. Klima and Jakub Fibigr provided the goals for the Czech team.

Relegation Game Outcome

The German team won the consolation match, beating the Danes 8-4. M. Schams had two goals to ensure Germany retain its spot next year in the main event. The Danish side dropped to the second tier.