The second quarterfinal of the day at Grand Casino Arena for the 2026 World Junior Championship, on Friday, Jan. 2, was between USA and Finland. USA had a boost to their lineup as Cole Hutson was back, but Max Plante was still out, while Aatos Koivu was out for Finland.
Related: Guide to the 2026 World Junior Championship
Nick Kempf was in the net for USA while Petteri Rimpinen was in the net for Finland. The first period had chances for both sides but remained scoreless. It was in the second period that USA got on the board first and Finland tied it, but USA took the lead into the third period. Finland tied it in the third period and then took their first lead, but USA tied it in the final minutes, and overtime was needed. It was a close overtime but Finland got the game winner.
Game Recap
The first period went by scoreless as neither side could get past the goaltenders. USA got on the board first in the second with a goal from Cole Hutson. Kamil Bednarik and Brendan McMorrow assisted him. Finland answered back with a goal from Heikki Ruohonen. Max Westergård recorded the lone assist that made it 1-1.
USA took the lead back with a power play goal from Cole Eiserman. Hutson and James Hagens assisted him which made it 2-1. That was the final goal of the second period, and USA took the lead into the third.
Finland scored in the second half of the final period with a goal from Leo Tuuva. Aron Kiviharju and Joona Saarelainen assisted him, which made it 2-2. Saarelainen scored less than a minute later, which gave Finland their first lead of the game. Tuuva and Lasse Boelius assisted him, which made it 3-2. USA answered back in the final two minutes of the game with a goal by Ryker Lee. Hagens and Will Zellers assisted him, which made it 3-3.
The regulation ended tied, and overtime was needed to determine a winner. Arttu Välilä scored the game winner, and he was assisted by Matias Vanhanen and Julius Miettinen.
With this win, Finland will move on to the semi-finals that will take place on Sunday, Jan. 4. Their opponent has yet to be determined as they had to wait for the results of the other quarterfinals first. For USA, this was their final game of the tournament.
