World Juniors daily recap: Back to back

Throughout the World Juniors tournament, we’ll be keeping track of all the action and bringing you all of the results in one place.

Sweden vs. Czechia

The first of the medal games kicked off yesterday with a matchup between the Swedes and the Czechs, as they squared off for the bronze medal, the final bit of hardware in the tournament. These two have each been in some tight games throughout this tournament, and this one was no different. The Czechs jumped out to the early lead in this one, with Jakub Stancl getting them on the board just under the four minute mark. They may have gotten the early lead, but the Swedes were working well to grab the momentum from there -- they were getting the better of the chances, and they were rewarded with a goal from David Edstrom on the power play for their good work.

Things settled in, and indeed evened out a bit in the second period. Chances were traded pretty evenly, and so too were goals -- Czechia restored their lead on a goal by Eduard Sale about halfway through the frame, but again they couldn\'t build much momentum in a meaningful way, and Edstrom scored his second of the evening to tie things up again just six minutes later. This brought things even again, and even they stayed for, well, as long as they could possibly stay even -- some good chances were swapped in the third period, but no scoring progress was made, and even through an exciting back and forth overtime frame, still, no chance would go in. So off to a shootout we went.

And as if it wasn\'t wild enough to have a medal game go to a shootout, this one felt like it was never going to end. With a player for each side scoring in the second round but then no one in the third, the shootout just kept on going, and going, and going. It took 14 rounds in the end, but as he has a handful of times through this tournament, Sale stepped up as the hero, scoring to secure the win for the Czechs.

Final: Czechia 3 – Sweden 2 (SO)

USA vs. Finland

If the Americans had been rolling pretty easily through this tournament so far, their ease in this department ran out in their final matchup, and they were in for a tough one here. It was a bit of a dramatic start, with the Americans again taking an early penalty, and allowing the Finns to get on the board on a power play goal from Jesse Kiiskinen. The Americans were able to keep this one from getting away from them early though, but while James Hagens was able to tie things up for them later in the frame, the Finns responded quickly to restore their lead, with Tuomas Uronen scoring just a minute later.

The Finns were able to extend their lead in the second period, with Emil Pieniniemi scoring early in the frame to make it a two-goal advantage. And while it looked for a little bit there like Finland would be able to pull away in this game and move closer to the upset, the Americans weren’t going to make it that easy for them. They got rolling again late in the period, and a goal by Brandon Svoboda brought them back within one, and then a huge goal from Cole Hutson with just 29 seconds left in the period tied things up again. But this was where things stalled for them a bit again — despite the energy boost they got from those goals and the high volume of chances they were creating in the third, they couldn’t break through and get anything past the Finnish goaltender. So, in a wild bit of continuity, this game, too, would require overtime.

The overtime period was nothing short of thrilling. With 20 minutes of 3-on-3 available, how could it be anything less? It was all gas for the Americans through the overtime period, with them maintaining possession of the puck for just about the whole going, and throwing a whole bunch of shots on net, getting close but not quite close enough. It was only a matter of time before they broke through though, and it was an unlikely contributor — Teddy Stiga, on his first goal of the tournament, broke through to secure the gold medal and back-to-back championships for the US.

Final: USA 4 – Finland 3 (OT)

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World Juniors daily recap: Back to back

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