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Finland's Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at two minutes and eleven seconds of overtime as the Finnish squad pulled off a stunning four to three win over the two-time defending champion American team on Friday evening in the IIHF World Junior Championship last eight.

"Got to give full credit to the United States," stated Finland's leader A. Kiviharju. "That's a fantastic squad, loaded with great individuals and a well coached team. But I said we wanted that payback from last year, and I think we kind of earned it this evening."

In the semifinal matches on Sunday, the Finns will take on Sweden, while Canada will play the Czech Republic. The Swedes beat Latvia six to three, Team Canada produced a first-period five-goal outburst in a 7-1 romp over the Slovakian team, and the Czechs topped Switzerland by a 6-2 margin.

Thrilling Third Period and Overtime

Michigan State’s Lee Ryker knotted the score for the United States with one minute and thirty-three seconds remaining in the third period and the Notre Dame goalie Nick Kempf pulled for an additional skater.

Lee Tuuva and Joona Saarelainen scored in a 55-second burst in the third to hand their team a 2-1 advantage. Tuuva leveled the score at 2 with 7:17 to go, then assisted on Saarelainen’s game-leading goal with 6:22 on the clock. Saarelainen also earned a helper on Tuuva’s goal.

Key Performances and Post-Game Comments

The Boston University blueliner C. Hutson had a goal and an assist for the United States after taking a shot in the head versus the Swiss and missing the next two contests.

"In my opinion we executed well for most of the game," the defenseman commented. "But the little bounces that they got, many of their Grade-A opportunities came from our mistakes."

His BU teammate C. Eiserman gave the U.S. a two to one edge on a man advantage with 9:45 left in the middle frame. He accepted a pass from Hutson and fooled Petteri Rimpinen with a quick shot from the right circle.

Hutson tallied on a rush thirty-five seconds into the second. Heikki Ruohonen tied it at 4:46 on a quick shot from the left side.

Goaltending Summary

• Rimpinen stopped twenty-eight attempts.
• 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 group finale – after starting with their first three.

"It has been an honor to lead this team," stated the American bench boss. "They played a great game today and fell just a bit short. All credit to the Finns. It's an hollow feeling at the moment, but our guys left everything on the ice."

Additional Playoff Action

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

Cole Reschny, T. Iginla, Michael Misa, S. O'Reilly and Brady Martin tallied in the first period, and Porter Martone and C. Beaudoin connected in the following period. Jack Ivankovic made twenty-one shots.

"Just goes to show how powerful we are," Martin remarked. "Going up five-nothing lead, it really kills their morale."

In the first quarter-final, A. Frondell scored twice for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to help the Swedish side stay perfect in five games.

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

Relegation Game Result

Germany won the consolation match, defeating Denmark 8-4. M. Schams scored twice to help his nation keep its place next year in the main event. The Danish side dropped to Division I-A.