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Finland's Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at 2:11 of extra time as the Finnish squad pulled off a stunning 4-3 win over the two-time defending champion United States on Friday night in the world junior hockey quarter-finals.

"Got to give credit to the United States," remarked Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju. "That's a hell of a team, full of exceptional players and a superbly organized team. But I said we wanted that payback from the previous final, and I think we kind of earned it this evening."

In the semi-finals on Sunday, Finland will take on the Swedish team, while the Canadians will play Czechia. The Swedes beat the Latvian side six to three, Team Canada produced a five-goal first period in a 7-1 rout over the Slovakian team, and the Czechs topped the Swiss by a six to two margin.

Thrilling Third Period and Extra Session

The Michigan State Spartan Lee Ryker tied it for the U.S. team with 1:33 left in regulation and the University of Notre Dame goalie N. Kempf off for an extra attacker.

Lee Tuuva and Joona Saarelainen found the net in a 55-second burst in the third period to give their team a two to one advantage. Tuuva leveled the score at 2 with 7:17 to go, then set up his teammate's go-ahead goal with six minutes and twenty-two seconds on the clock. J. Saarelainen also assisted on the first goal.

Notable Contributions and Post-Game Comments

The Boston University defenseman C. Hutson had a goal and an assist for the United States after taking a shot in the head versus Switzerland and sitting out the next two contests.

"In my opinion 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 errors."

His university colleague C. Eiserman gave the United States a 2-1 edge on a power play with 9:45 remaining in the second period. He accepted a pass from his teammate and fooled the Finnish goaltender with a quick shot from the right side.

C. Hutson tallied on a fast break thirty-five seconds into the second. H. Ruohonen tied it at four minutes and forty-six seconds on a snap shot from the left side.

Goaltending Summary

• Finland's goalie saved 28 shots.
• Kempf recorded twenty-one stops.

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

"It has been an honor to coach this group," stated the team's coach. "They played a great game tonight and came up just short. All credit to Finland. It's an empty emotion at the moment, but our players left everything on the ice."

Additional Quarter-Final Results

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

C. Reschny, Tij Iginla, M. Misa, Sam O’Reilly and Brady Martin scored in the opening twenty minutes, and P. Martone and Cole Beaudoin connected in the following period. Jack Ivankovic made twenty-one shots.

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

In the first quarter-final, A. Frondell netted a pair for Sweden against Latvia. The defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two helpers to help the Swedish side remain perfect in their five outings.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis T. Galvas, S. Drancak, Adam Jiricek, Petr Sikora, Jiri Klima and J. Fibigr provided the goals for the Czechs.

Consolation Game Result

Germany triumphed in the consolation match, beating the Danes 8-4. M. Schams had two goals to help Germany keep its spot next year in the main event. Denmark was relegated to Division I-A.