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Arttu Välilä scored the decisive goal at two minutes and eleven seconds of extra time as Finland engineered a remarkable 4-3 victory over the reigning two-time champion United States on Friday evening in the IIHF World Junior Championship quarter-finals.

"We must give full credit to the US," stated Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju. "That's a hell of a team, loaded with great individuals and a superbly organized team. But I said we wanted that revenge from last year, and I think we kind of earned it tonight."

In the semifinal matches Sunday, the Finns will face Sweden, while the Canadians will play the Czech Republic. The Swedes defeated Latvia six to three, Canada produced a five-goal first period in a seven to one romp over Slovakia, and the Czechs topped Switzerland by a 6-2 margin.

Dramatic Final Frame and Extra Session

Michigan State’s Lee Ryker knotted the score for the United States with one minute and thirty-three seconds remaining in the third period and the University of Notre Dame goalie Nick Kempf off for an extra attacker.

Lee Tuuva and J. Saarelainen scored in a fifty-five-second span in the third period to hand Finland a two to one advantage. Tuuva leveled the score at two-all with 7:17 left, then assisted on his teammate's game-leading goal with six minutes and twenty-two seconds remaining. J. Saarelainen also earned a helper on the first goal.

Notable Contributions and Post-Game Comments

The Boston University defenseman Cole Hutson recorded a goal and a helper for the Americans after being struck in the back of the head against the Swiss and missing two games.

"In my opinion we made good plays for a lot of the game," Hutson said. "But the little bounces that they got, a lot of their high-quality opportunities resulted from our mistakes."

His university colleague Cole Eiserman gave the United States a 2-1 lead on a power play with nine minutes and forty-five seconds left in the second period. He accepted a pass from his teammate and fooled the Finnish goaltender with a quick shot from the right circle.

Hutson scored on a rush 35 seconds into the second. H. Ruohonen tied it at four minutes and forty-six seconds on a quick shot from the left side.

Goaltending Stats

• Rimpinen stopped twenty-eight attempts.
• The American netminder made 21 saves.

The U.S. squad lost their last two games – falling 6-3 to the Swedes on Wednesday night in the final preliminary game – after starting with their first three.

"It was an privilege to coach this group," stated the team's coach. "Our guys played a terrific game tonight and came up just short. Give Finland. It's an hollow feeling at the moment, but our players left everything on the ice."

Other Quarter-Final Results

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

C. Reschny, T. Iginla, Michael Misa, S. O'Reilly and B. Martin scored in the opening twenty minutes, and Porter Martone and Cole Beaudoin connected in the second. Jack Ivankovic made 21 saves.

"This demonstrates how powerful we can be," Martin remarked. "Going up five-nothing lead, it kind of kills their morale."

In the opening playoff game, Anton Frondell scored twice for Team Sweden against Latvia. The defender L. Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and two assists to aid the Swedes remain perfect in five games.

In Minneapolis T. Galvas, S. Drancak, Adam Jiricek, Petr Sikora, Jiri Klima and J. Fibigr scored for the Czech team.

Relegation Game Outcome

Germany triumphed in the consolation match, defeating Denmark 8-4. Manuel Schams scored twice to ensure Germany keep its place next year in the top division. Denmark was relegated to Division I-A.