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Finland's Arttu Välilä netted the winner 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 United States on Friday night in the IIHF World Junior Championship quarter-finals.

"We must give full credit to the US," stated Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju. "That's a fantastic squad, loaded with great players and a well coached team. But I said we wanted that payback from last year, and I think we truly deserved it tonight."

In the semifinal matches Sunday, Finland will take on the Swedish team, while the Canadians will play Czechia. The Swedes beat the Latvian side 6-3, Canada had a first-period five-goal outburst in a 7-1 rout over the Slovakian team, and the Czechs topped Switzerland by a 6-2 margin.

Thrilling Final Frame and Overtime

The Michigan State Spartan L. Ryker tied it for the U.S. team with one minute and thirty-three seconds remaining in regulation and the University of Notre Dame netminder N. Kempf pulled for an additional skater.

L. Tuuva and Joona Saarelainen found the net in a 55-second burst in the third to hand Finland a two to one advantage. He leveled the score at two-all with 7:17 to go, then set up his teammate's game-leading goal with 6:22 on the clock. J. 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 a helper for the United States after being struck in the back of the head versus the Swiss and missing the next two contests.

"I thought we executed well for most of the game," Hutson said. "But the small details that they got, many of their Grade-A opportunities came from our errors."

His university colleague Cole Eiserman handed the United States a two to one edge on a man advantage with 9:45 left in the middle frame. He accepted a pass from his teammate and fooled Petteri Rimpinen with a one-timer from the right side.

C. Hutson scored on a fast break 35 seconds into the second period. H. Ruohonen tied it at 4:46 on a snap shot from the left side.

Goaltending Summary

• Rimpinen saved twenty-eight attempts.
• Kempf recorded 21 saves.

The U.S. squad fell in their final two games – losing six to three to Sweden on Wednesday in the final preliminary game – after winning their first three.

"It has been an honor to coach this team," said the team's coach. "Our guys played a great game today and fell just a bit short. All credit to the Finns. It's an empty emotion at the moment, but our guys gave it all they had."

Other Playoff Action

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

C. Reschny, Tij Iginla, M. Misa, Sam O’Reilly and Brady Martin tallied in the first period, and P. Martone and C. Beaudoin scored in the second. Jack Ivankovic turned aside 21 saves.

"This demonstrates how powerful we can be," Martin remarked. "Taking a five-nothing lead, it kind of saps their confidence."

In the first quarter-final, Anton Frondell netted a pair for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defender L. Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to aid the Swedish side stay undefeated in five games.

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

Relegation Match Outcome

Germany triumphed in the consolation match, defeating the Danes 8-4. Manuel Schams had two goals to ensure Germany retain its spot next year in the main event. Denmark dropped to Division I-A.