OTTAWA, Ont. – Finland stunned defending champion United States in the IIHF Junior World Championships Sunday when Tyomas Uronen scored an unassisted goal at 1:46 of overtime for a 4-3 victory over the Americans at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Coach David Carle’s Americans, who were outshot 44-33 by Finland, dominated from the start of the 3-on-3 overtime five-minute period after winning the opening faceoff. The U.S. got two good shots on Finland’s goaltender Petteri Rimpinen, the second one by Notre Dame’s Danny Nelson who was all alone to the goaltender’s left. After Rimpinen made the save, the U.S. failed to maintain possession.
Uronen led a 2-on-1 breakout into the U.S. zone and fired a 20-footer that beat American goaltender Trey Augustine to end the game. Despite the overtime loss, the United States picked up a point and found itself tied with Canada for first place in Group A with seven points after three games, two points ahead of Finland. Canada, which beat Germany 3-0 late Sunday, and the United States will meet Tuesday night at 8 in the final preliminary game of the tournament, which begins single-elimination play with quarterfinals Thursday, Jan. 2.
Augustine, the Michigan State standout who backstopped the United States to the gold medal in last season’s tournament in Sweden, finished with 40 saves, including 15 in the third period when his teammates managed just five shots at Rimpinen, who finished with 30 stops.
The teams skated to a 1-1 tie after the first period. Finland got on the board first at 9:50 when Arttu Alasiurua scored a shorthanded goal. Carey Terrance of the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League tied it for the United States with his second goal of the tournament at 14:20 with the teams at even strength.
The United States took a 2-1 lead when Cole Hutson of Boston University scored at 1:45 of the second period. Finland countered with Jesse Kiiskinen’s power-play goal, his second of the tournament, at 4:09 and then took a 3-2 lead on Julius Miettinen’s goal at 9:19.
Finland carried that lead into the third period before Brody Ziemer of Minnesota netted his third goal of the tournament at 3:26 off assists from defenseman Teddy Stiga of Boston College and Ziemer’s fellow Gopher Oliver Moore.
Notre Dame’s Nelson finished the game with four shots but was just 8-11 in faceoffs as Finland dominated puck drops 40-22. Defenseman Paul Fischer of Notre Dame saw limited action on the blue line, playing a total of 5:19.
FINLAND 4, UNITED STATES 3 (OT)
Sunday, Dec. 29 at Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ont.
United States 1 1 1 0—3
Finland 1 2 0 1—4
First Period—Scoring: 1. Finland, Arttu Alasiurua 2 (Joona Saarelainen) SH 9:50; 2. United States, Carey Terrance 2 (Brandon Svoboda, Joey Willis) EV 14:20. Penalties: United States 2-4, Finland 2-4.
Second Period—Scoring: 3. United States, Cole Hutson 1 (Logan Hensler) EV 1:45; 4. Finland, Jesse Kiiskinen 2 (Emil Pieniniemi, Konsta Helenius) PP 4:09; 5. Finland, Julius Miettinen 1 (Kasper Halttunen, Rasmus Kumpulainen) EV 9:19. Penalties: United States 2-4 (4-8), Finland 2-4 (4-8).
Third Period—Scoring: 6. United States, Brodie Ziemer 3 (Teddy Stiga, Oliver Moore) EV 3:26. Penalties: United States 2-4 (6-12), Finland 0-0 (4-8).
Overtime—Scoring: 7. Finland, Tyomas Uronen 1 (unassisted) 3x3EV 1:46. Penalties: United States 0-0 (6-12), Finland 0-0 (4-8).
Shots on goal: United States 33 (15-11-5-2), Finland 44 (14-14-15-1). Saves: United States, Trey Augustine 40 (13-12-15-0), Finland, Petteri Rimpinen 30 (14-10-4-2). Faceoffs: United States 22 (5-7-9-1), Finland 40 (14-12-14-0). Power-play opportunities: United States 0 of 4, Finland 1 of 6.
Referees: Michael Campbell (Canada) and Michael Tscherrig (Switzerland). Linesmen: Anders Nyqvist (Sweden) and Tarrington Wyonzek (Canada). Attendance: 16,433.
STANDINGS
GROUP A
GP Pts W OTW OTL L GF-GA
United States 3 7 2 0 1 0 18-9
Canada 3 7 2 0 1 0 9-3
Finland 3 5 1 1 0 1 7-8
Latvia 2 2 0 1 0 1 4-7
Germany 3 0 0 0 0 3 5-16
Thursday, Dec. 26
United States 10, Germany 4
Canada 4, Finland 0
Friday, Dec. 27
Latvia 3, Canada 2 (OT) (Latvia wins shootout 1-0)
Finland 3, Germany 1
Saturday, Dec. 28
United States 5, Latvia 1
Sunday, Dec. 29
Finland 4, United States 3 (OT)
Canada 3, Germany 0
Monday, Dec. 30
Germany vs. Latvia, 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 31
Finland vs. Latvia, 2:30 p.m.
United States vs. Canada, 8 p.m.
GROUP B
GP Pts W OTW OTL L GF-GA
Czechia 3 9 3 0 0 0 23-5
Sweden 3 9 3 0 0 0 20-8
Slovakia 3 3 1 0 0 2 6-10
Kazakhstan 2 0 0 0 0 2 3-22
Switzerland 3 0 0 0 0 3 7-14
Thursday, Dec. 26
Sweden 5, Slovakia 2
Czechia 5, Switzerland 1
Friday, Dec. 27
Slovakia 2, Switzerland 1
Sweden 8, Kazakhstan 1
Saturday, Dec. 28
Czechia 14, Kazakhstan 2
Sunday, Dec. 29
Sweden 7, Switzerland 5
Czechia 4, Slovakia 2
Monday, Dec. 30
Slovakia vs. Kazakhstan, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 31
Kazakhstan vs. Switzerland, 12 p.m.
Sweden vs. Czechia, 5 p.m.