Saturday afternoon, Finland and Sweden met up for the semifinal round of the 2025 World Junior Championship (WJC). In a wild back-and-forth affair, the Finns were the ones who pulled through with a 4-3 overtime victory.
Game Recap
In the first period, you could feel the tenseness of the big moment from both sides. Neither took much of any risk, instead playing sound defensive hockey and keeping scoring chances to an absolute minimum. It was scoreless at the conclusion of the frame, with shots dead even at ten apiece.
Just over a minute into the second, the ice broke. The Finns pinched in the offensive zone, leading to a 2-on-1 for Sweden and St. Louis Blues prospect Otto Stenberg sniped one past Petteri Rimpinen for a 1-0 lead. But that didn’t last long, as Finland answered back less than three minutes later…Dallas Stars’ prospect Emil Hemming tipped one past Melker Thelin just after a power play expired.
Moments later, Aron Kiviharju thought he gave Finland the lead, but it got called back for offsides. Then Finland got a power play and this time it counted, as Detroit Red Wings prospect Jesse Kiiskinen tipped one home. But the Swedes had an answer of their own, also on the man advantage, as Stenberg notched his second off a strange bounce. But with 20 seconds left in the frame, Arttu Alasiurua powered his way to the net to give Finland a 3-2 lead.
The Finns entered the third period holding a ten-shot advantage (30-20), needing to continue to control the pace in order to close the game out. They did so for a while, but the Swedes started turning up the tempo around the 14-minute mark. Then, Wilhelm Hallquisth, who went undrafted in 2024, tied it up with a wrist shot that squeaked through. Both teams traded a few more chances, but no dice as they headed to overtime.
Jesse Nurmi took a high stick to give Sweden a power play, but they somehow didn’t convert. Then Tom Willander took a holding penalty to send Finland to a power play. Kasper Halttunen hit the crossbar with a rocket of a shot, but then seconds later, Benjamin Rautiainen, also undrafted, sneaked one through from a near-impossible angle to win it for Finland.
🚨Benjamin Rautiainen scores from an INSANE angle! 🤯Finland is going to the gold medal game! #SWEFIN #WorldJuniors #IIHF @leijonat pic.twitter.com/YxqBxKD1Hs
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) January 4, 2025
The Finns will take on the winner of Czechia/United States in the gold medal game tomorrow, while the Swedes will face the loser of that game.
Sign up for our NHL Prospects & Draft Substack newsletter
