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Finland's Arttu Välilä netted the winner at two minutes and eleven seconds of extra time as Finland engineered a remarkable four to three victory over the reigning two-time champion American team on Friday night in the IIHF World Junior Championship last eight.

"Got to give credit to the United States," stated Finland's leader Aron Kiviharju. "They are a hell of a team, full of great individuals and a well coached team. But I said we wanted that payback from the previous final, and I think we truly deserved it tonight."

In the semifinal matches Sunday, Finland will take on Sweden, while Canada will meet the Czech Republic. Sweden beat the Latvian side six to three, Team Canada had a five-goal first period in a seven to one romp over Slovakia, and the Czechs overcame Switzerland by a six to two score.

Dramatic Third Period and Overtime

Michigan State’s L. Ryker knotted the score for the U.S. team with 1:33 remaining in the third period and the Notre Dame goalie Nick Kempf off for an extra attacker.

L. Tuuva and J. Saarelainen scored in a 55-second burst in the third to give Finland a 2-1 lead. Tuuva leveled the score at 2 with seven minutes and seventeen seconds left, then set up Saarelainen’s game-leading goal with six minutes and twenty-two seconds on the clock. J. Saarelainen also earned a helper on the first goal.

Notable Contributions and Post-Game Comments

The Boston University defenseman C. Hutson recorded a goal and an assist for the Americans after taking a shot in the back of the head against the Swiss and sitting out the next two contests.

"In my opinion we made good plays for a lot of the game," Hutson commented. "But the little bounces that they got, a lot of their Grade-A opportunities came from our errors."

His BU teammate C. Eiserman handed the U.S. a 2-1 edge on a man advantage with 9:45 left in the second period. He accepted a pass from Hutson and fooled the Finnish goaltender with a one-timer from the right circle.

C. Hutson tallied on a fast break 35 seconds into the second. Heikki Ruohonen tied it at 4:46 on a snap shot from the left wing.

Between the Pipes Summary

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

The Americans fell in their last two games – falling 6-3 to the Swedes on Wednesday night in the final preliminary game – after starting with their initial three matches.

"It has been an privilege to lead this team," said the team's coach. "Our guys played a great game today and came up just short. All credit to Finland. It's an empty emotion at the moment, but our guys left everything on the ice."

Additional Quarter-Final Results

In the second match in the host city, the Canadians routed Slovakia with the aforementioned first-period explosion.

C. Reschny, T. Iginla, Michael Misa, S. O'Reilly and Brady Martin scored in the opening twenty minutes, and P. Martone and Cole Beaudoin scored in the second. Jack Ivankovic made twenty-one shots.

"This demonstrates how powerful we can be," B. Martin said. "Going up 5-0 advantage, it kind of kills their morale."

In the opening playoff game, Anton Frondell scored twice for Sweden against Latvia. The defenseman L. Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to aid the Swedish side stay perfect in their five outings.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis T. Galvas, S. Drancak, Adam Jiricek, P. Sikora, J. Klima and Jakub Fibigr scored for the Czechs.

Relegation Match Result

The German team triumphed in the consolation match, beating the Danes eight to four. M. Schams had two goals to help his nation retain its place for the following season in the main event. The Danish side was relegated to Division I-A.