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Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at 2:11 of overtime as Finland engineered a remarkable four to three win over the two-time defending champion United States on Friday night in the IIHF World Junior Championship quarter-finals.

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

In the semifinal matches Sunday, the Finns will face Sweden, while Canada will play Czechia. The Swedes beat Latvia 6-3, Canada had a five-goal first period in a seven to one rout over the Slovakian team, and the Czechs overcame Switzerland by a 6-2 margin.

Dramatic Third Period and Extra Session

The Michigan State Spartan L. Ryker knotted the score for the United States with one minute and thirty-three seconds left in the third period and the Notre Dame goalie Nick Kempf pulled for an additional skater.

Lee Tuuva and Joona Saarelainen found the net in a 55-second span in the third period to give their team a two to one lead. Tuuva tied it at two-all with seven minutes and seventeen seconds left, then set up Saarelainen’s game-leading goal with 6:22 on the clock. Saarelainen also assisted on Tuuva’s goal.

Notable Contributions and Reactions

The Boston University defenseman Cole Hutson recorded a goal and an assist for the United States after being struck in the back of the head versus Switzerland and sitting out two games.

"I thought we executed well for a lot of the game," the defenseman said. "But the small details that they got, a lot of their Grade-A chances came from our errors."

His university colleague C. Eiserman handed the United States a 2-1 lead on a man advantage with nine minutes and forty-five seconds remaining in the second period. He took a feed from his teammate and fooled Petteri Rimpinen with a quick shot from the right circle.

C. Hutson tallied on a rush thirty-five seconds into the second period. Heikki Ruohonen equalized at 4:46 on a snap shot from the left side.

Between the Pipes Summary

• Finland's goalie saved 28 shots.
• Kempf made 21 saves.

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

"It was an honor to lead this team," said the American bench boss. "They played a terrific game tonight and fell just a bit short. All credit to the Finns. It's an empty emotion right now, but our guys left everything on the ice."

Additional Playoff Results

In the second match in Minneapolis, the Canadians overwhelmed Slovakia with the five-goal first.

C. Reschny, Tij Iginla, Michael Misa, Sam O’Reilly and Brady Martin scored in the opening twenty minutes, and P. Martone and C. Beaudoin scored in the following period. J. Ivankovic made 21 saves.

"This demonstrates how dominant we can be," Martin said. "Going up five-nothing advantage, it really saps their confidence."

In the first quarter-final, A. Frondell scored twice for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defender L. Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to aid the Swedes remain undefeated in five games.

In Minneapolis T. Galvas, S. Drancak, A. Jiricek, P. Sikora, Jiri Klima and J. Fibigr scored for the Czech team.

Consolation Match Result

The German team won the relegation game, beating the Danes eight to four. M. Schams had two goals to ensure Germany retain its place for the following season in the main event. The Danish side was relegated to Division I-A.