General | 1/4/2025 5:32:58 PM

The finals are set. The U.S. and Finland will faceoff for the gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championships on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET  

Semifinal Saturday at the IIHF World Junior Championships started with a bang as Finland advanced to its first gold-medal game since 2019 with a 4-3 overtime win against Sweden. Philadelphia Flyers prospect Heikki Ruohonen (Dubuque Fighting Saints) drew a pair of penalties and helped Finland's penalty kill go 3/4 en route to the overtime victory. The Harvard commit played 15:45, helping put the Finns into the gold-medal game where they look to end a five-year gold-medal drought. Ruohonen has played in every game for Team Finland with a trio of assists.

The U.S. continued its momentum with a 4-1 win vs. Czechia. Tied 1-1 at the first intermission, the U.S. pulled away with a goal from Cole Eiserman (NTDP) in the second period, another from Ryan Leonard (NTDP) in the third and an insurance empty-net goal in the waning seconds. Trey Augustine made 13 saves in the win that will put the Americans in position to win back-to-back gold medals for the first time in history. It would be their third gold medal in five years. 

Sweden and netminder Melvin Strahl (Youngstown Phantoms) will face Czechia and Michael Hrabel (Omaha Lancers) bronze-medal game on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.