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Finland's Arttu Välilä netted the winner at two minutes and eleven seconds of extra time as Finland engineered a remarkable four to three victory over the reigning two-time champion United States on Friday night in the IIHF World Junior Championship last eight.

"Got to give credit to the US," stated Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju. "That's a fantastic squad, full of great players and a well coached team. But I mentioned we wanted that payback from the previous final, and I believe we truly deserved it this evening."

In the semi-finals Sunday, the Finns will face the Swedish team, while Canada will play the Czech Republic. The Swedes beat Latvia 6-3, Canada produced a five-goal first period in a 7-1 romp over Slovakia, and the Czechs overcame the Swiss by a 6-2 margin.

Thrilling Final Frame and Overtime

Michigan State’s Lee Ryker tied it for the U.S. team with one minute and thirty-three seconds left in the third period and the University of Notre Dame goalie Nick Kempf off for an extra attacker.

Lee Tuuva and J. Saarelainen found the net in a 55-second span in the third period to give Finland a two to one lead. He leveled the score at two-all with 7:17 left, then assisted on Saarelainen’s game-leading goal with 6:22 remaining. Saarelainen also earned a helper on the first goal.

Key Contributions and Reactions

The Boston University defenseman C. Hutson had a goal and an assist for the Americans after being struck in the back of the head versus Switzerland and missing two games.

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

His university colleague C. Eiserman handed the U.S. a two to one lead on a man advantage with nine minutes and forty-five seconds remaining in the second period. He accepted a pass from Hutson and beat the Finnish goaltender with a one-timer from the right side.

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

Goaltending Stats

• Rimpinen stopped 28 shots.
• Kempf made twenty-one stops.

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

"It has been an honor to coach this group," said the American bench boss. "Our guys played a great game today and fell just a bit short. Give Finland. It's an empty emotion at the moment, but our players left everything on the ice."

Other Playoff Results

In the second match in Minneapolis, the Canadian team routed Slovakia with the aforementioned first-period explosion.

Cole Reschny, Tij Iginla, Michael Misa, S. O'Reilly and Brady Martin tallied in the first period, and Porter Martone and C. Beaudoin scored in the following period. Jack Ivankovic made 21 saves.

"This demonstrates how powerful we can be," B. Martin said. "Taking a five-nothing advantage, it really kills their confidence."

In the opening playoff game, Anton Frondell netted a pair for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defenseman L. Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to help the Swedes remain undefeated in five games.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis T. Galvas, S. Drancak, A. Jiricek, Petr Sikora, J. Klima and J. Fibigr scored for the Czechs.

Relegation Match Outcome

Germany triumphed in the consolation match, defeating the Danes eight to four. Manuel Schams scored twice to help his nation keep its place for the following season in the top division. The Danish side was relegated to Division I-A.