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Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at two minutes and eleven seconds of extra time as Finland engineered a remarkable four to three win over the reigning two-time champion United States on Friday night in the world junior hockey quarter-finals.

"Got to give credit to the United States," remarked Finnish captain A. Kiviharju. "That's a hell of a team, loaded with great individuals and a well coached team. But I said we wanted that payback from the previous final, and I believe we kind of earned it tonight."

In the semifinal matches on Sunday, the Finns will face Sweden, while Canada will meet Czechia. The Swedes beat the Latvian side 6-3, Team Canada produced a first-period five-goal outburst in a seven to one rout over the Slovakian team, and Czechia topped Switzerland by a 6-2 score.

Thrilling Final Frame and Overtime

The Michigan State Spartan Lee Ryker tied it for the United States with 1:33 remaining in the third period and the Notre Dame netminder N. Kempf off for an extra attacker.

Lee Tuuva and J. Saarelainen scored in a 55-second span in the third to hand Finland a 2-1 lead. He leveled the score at two-all with 7:17 left, then set up his teammate's game-leading goal with six minutes and twenty-two seconds on the clock. J. Saarelainen also earned a helper on Tuuva’s goal.

Notable Performances and Reactions

The BU defenseman Cole Hutson had a goal and a helper for the United States after being struck in the back of the head against Switzerland and missing two games.

"I thought we executed well for a lot of the game," Hutson commented. "But the small details that they got, a lot of their high-quality chances came from our mistakes."

His university colleague C. Eiserman gave the United States a 2-1 lead on a man advantage with nine minutes and forty-five seconds left in the second period. He took a feed from Hutson and fooled the Finnish goaltender with a one-timer from the right side.

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

Goaltending Summary

• Finland's goalie stopped twenty-eight attempts.
• The American netminder recorded twenty-one stops.

The U.S. squad fell in their final two games – losing six to three to the Swedes on Wednesday in the final preliminary game – after starting with their initial three matches.

"It was an honor to lead this team," said the team's coach. "They played a terrific game tonight and came up just short. All credit to the Finns. It's an empty emotion at the moment, but our guys left everything on the ice."

Other Quarter-Final Results

In the late game in the host city, the Canadian team routed Slovakia with the five-goal first.

Cole Reschny, Tij Iginla, Michael Misa, S. O'Reilly and B. Martin tallied in the opening twenty minutes, and P. Martone and C. Beaudoin scored in the second. Jack Ivankovic made 21 saves.

"Just goes to show how powerful we can be," Martin remarked. "Going up 5-0 advantage, it really kills their confidence."

In the first quarter-final, A. Frondell netted a pair for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defender L. Sahlin Wallenius contributed a goal and two helpers to help the Swedish side stay undefeated in their five outings.

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

Relegation Match Result

The German team won the relegation game, defeating the Danes 8-4. M. Schams scored twice to ensure Germany keep its place next year in the main event. Denmark was relegated to the second tier.