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Finland's Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at 2:11 of overtime as the Finnish squad engineered a remarkable 4-3 win over the reigning two-time champion American team on Friday evening in the IIHF World Junior Championship last eight.

"Got to give full credit to the United States," remarked Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju. "They are a hell of a team, loaded with exceptional individuals and a superbly organized team. But I said we wanted that payback from the previous final, and I believe we kind of earned it this evening."

In the semi-finals Sunday, Finland will face the Swedish team, while Canada will meet Czechia. Sweden beat Latvia six to three, Team Canada had a five-goal first period in a 7-1 romp over the Slovakian team, and Czechia topped Switzerland by a six to two score.

Thrilling Final Frame and Extra Session

The Michigan State Spartan Lee Ryker tied it for the U.S. team with 1:33 left in the third period and the Notre Dame netminder N. Kempf off for an extra attacker.

L. Tuuva and Joona Saarelainen scored in a fifty-five-second burst in the third period to hand their team a two to one lead. Tuuva leveled the score at 2 with seven minutes and seventeen seconds to go, then set up Saarelainen’s game-leading goal with 6:22 remaining. Saarelainen also earned a helper on the first goal.

Notable Contributions and Post-Game Comments

The BU defenseman C. Hutson recorded a goal and an assist for the Americans after being struck in the head against the Swiss and sitting out two games.

"In my opinion we executed well for most of the game," the defenseman said. "But the small details that they got, a lot of their Grade-A opportunities resulted from our mistakes."

His university colleague Cole Eiserman gave the U.S. a two to one edge on a power play with 9:45 left in the second period. He took a feed from his teammate and fooled Petteri Rimpinen with a one-timer from the right side.

Hutson scored on a fast break 35 seconds into the second. Heikki Ruohonen equalized at four minutes and forty-six seconds on a quick shot from the left wing.

Goaltending Stats

• Rimpinen stopped 28 shots.
• Kempf made twenty-one stops.

The U.S. squad fell in their final two games – losing 6-3 to Sweden on Wednesday in the group finale – after winning their first three.

"It has been an honor to lead this team," stated the American bench boss. "Our guys played a great game tonight and fell just a bit short. All credit to Finland. It's an hollow feeling at the moment, but our guys gave it all they had."

Additional Playoff Action

In the late game in Minneapolis, the Canadians routed Slovakia with the aforementioned first-period explosion.

Cole Reschny, Tij Iginla, Michael Misa, S. O'Reilly and B. Martin tallied in the opening twenty minutes, and Porter Martone and Cole Beaudoin connected in the second. Jack Ivankovic turned aside twenty-one shots.

"Just goes to show how powerful we are," Martin remarked. "Going up 5-0 lead, it really saps their confidence."

In the opening playoff game, A. Frondell netted a pair for Sweden against Latvia. The defender Leo Sahlin Wallenius contributed a goal and two assists to help the Swedes stay undefeated in five games.

In Minneapolis Tomas Galvas, S. Drancak, A. Jiricek, Petr Sikora, Jiri Klima and J. Fibigr scored for the Czechs.

Consolation Match Result

Germany won the consolation match, beating the Danes eight to four. M. Schams scored twice to help his nation retain its place for the following season in the top division. Denmark dropped to Division I-A.