United States, Finland battle for the right to play for gold
Published
The 2024 World Juniors continues on Thursday featuring the United States taking on Finland in the semifinals.
The United States enter the semifinals after drubbing Latvia 7-2 in Tuesday's quarter-final matchup.
New York Rangers prospect Gabriel Perreault recorded two goals and three points in the victory while New Jersey Devils prospect Seamus Casey helped with three assists.
Forwards Oliver Moore, Will Smith, Rutger McGroarty, and Danny Nelson, and defenceman Drew Fortescue also scored for the United States.
Goaltender Jacob Fowler got the victory stopping 23 of 25 shots. The Montreal Canadiens prospect has a 3-0 record with an .889 save percentage and 2.59 goals-against average in the tournament.
Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Isaac Howard leads the tournament with seven goals to go along with his nine points while Philadelphia Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier has a goal and nine points.
The United States won Group B after going 3-1-0-0 in the preliminary round. They are trying to make the final for the first time since they won gold in the 2021 World Juniors in Edmonton.
Finland enters the semifinals after beginning the tournament with two straight losses to Canada and Germany.
The Finns were able to survive the preliminary round after beating Latvia and narrowly defeating Sweden in a shootout in the final game of the round robin.
Finland then shocked the tournament on Tuesday by coming out on top over Slovakia 4-3 in overtime in the quarter-finals.
Finland had a 3-2 lead with 43 seconds remaining in the third period when Canadiens prospect Filip Mesar scored for Slovakia to send the game to overtime.
Seconds into the overtime frame, Finland captain Jere Lassila went coast-to-coast to beat netminder Adam Gajan for the game winner.
Goaltender Niklas Kokko got the victory after stopping 27 of 30 shots. He has a 1-2 record with a .885 save percentage and 3.39 GAA in the tournament.
Lassila leads the Finns in tournament scoring with three goals and seven points while San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen has three goals and six points.
Finland is trying to make the gold medal game for the first time since losing in overtime to Canada in 2022 in Edmonton.