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Finland's Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at two minutes and eleven seconds of overtime as Finland engineered a remarkable 4-3 win over the two-time defending champion American team on Friday night in the IIHF World Junior Championship quarter-finals.

"We must give credit to the United States," remarked Finland's leader A. Kiviharju. "They are a hell of a team, full of great players and a superbly organized team. But I mentioned we wanted that payback from last year, and I think we kind of earned it this evening."

In the semi-finals Sunday, the Finns will face Sweden, while Canada will meet Czechia. Sweden defeated the Latvian side six to three, Canada had a first-period five-goal outburst in a seven to one rout over Slovakia, and the Czechs topped Switzerland by a 6-2 margin.

Thrilling Final Frame and Extra Session

Michigan State’s Lee 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 N. Kempf pulled for an additional skater.

Lee Tuuva and Joona Saarelainen scored in a fifty-five-second burst in the third period to hand Finland a 2-1 advantage. He leveled the score at two-all with seven minutes and seventeen seconds to go, then assisted on his teammate's go-ahead goal with six minutes and twenty-two seconds on the clock. Saarelainen also earned a helper on Tuuva’s goal.

Key Performances and Post-Game Comments

The Boston University defenseman Cole Hutson had a goal and an assist for the Americans after taking a shot in the back of the head versus Switzerland and missing the next two contests.

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

His BU teammate Cole Eiserman gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead on a man advantage with 9:45 left in the middle frame. He accepted a pass from his teammate and beat the Finnish goaltender with a one-timer from the right circle.

C. 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.

Between the Pipes Stats

• Rimpinen stopped twenty-eight attempts.
• Kempf recorded twenty-one stops.

The U.S. squad fell in their final two games – losing six to three to Sweden on Wednesday night in the group finale – after starting with their initial three matches.

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

Other Quarter-Final Results

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

C. Reschny, Tij Iginla, Michael Misa, Sam O’Reilly and B. Martin tallied in the first period, and Porter Martone and Cole Beaudoin connected in the second. Jack Ivankovic made 21 saves.

"This demonstrates how powerful we can be," Martin remarked. "Going up five-nothing advantage, it really kills their morale."

In the first quarter-final, Anton Frondell netted a pair for Sweden against Latvia. The defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius contributed a goal and two assists to help the Swedes remain undefeated in five games.

In Minneapolis Tomas Galvas, S. Drancak, Adam Jiricek, Petr Sikora, Jiri Klima and J. Fibigr scored for the Czech team.

Relegation Match Result

Germany won the relegation game, beating the Danes 8-4. Manuel Schams scored twice to help Germany keep its place for the following season in the main event. Denmark dropped to the second tier.