U.S. beats Finland in OT to claim world juniors gold

Published Jan 05, 2025  •  2 minute read

Cole Hutson #24 of Team USA celebrates his goal with teammates Zeev Buium #28 and Brandon Svoboda #8 in the second period against Team Finland of the gold medal game during the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship at Canadian Tire Centre on January 5, 2025 in Ottawa. Photo by Minas Panagiotakis /Getty Images

Team U.S.A. made history Sunday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

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Teddy Stiga scored at 8:04 of 3-on-3 overtime to give the Americans a 4-3 victory and back-to-back gold medals at the world junior hockey championship for the first time.

Stiga’s goal was his first of the tournament. At one point in the event, he watched from the press box as a healthy scratch.

The Nashville Predators second-round pick scored by taking a great pass from Zeev Buium at the Finnish blue line before putting a deke on Petteri Rimpinen and stuffing the puck past the Finnish goalie.

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It was the third time in the last four WJC gold medal games that overtime was needed to decide the winner, and the seventh WJC gold medal for the U.S.

The Finns, who went home without a medal in the last two world junior championships, wind up with the country’s sixth silver and 18th medal in the history of the tournament.

Finland had been undefeated after getting blanked 4-0 by Canada in the tournament opener, a run that included a 4-3 OT win over the U.S. in preliminary-round play.

The U.S. outshot the Finns 40-24 in the title game.

U.S. captain Ryan Leonard, who was named the best forward of the tournament, had a great chance near the six-minute mark of overtime when he made a nice move to get past a Finnish defenceman only to get stoned by a spectacular Rimpinen save.

Leonard was also named the most valuable player of the tournament, an award now named after the late Murray Costello.

After three periods, the Americans led 34-22 on the shots clock.

Jesse Kiiskinen gave Finland a lead just past the seven-minute mark of the first period, but that was answered shortly after by James Hagens, who along with being a top candidate to be the No. 1 pick in next June’s NHL draft, is the centre of the Americans’ top line with first-round picks Leonard and Gabe Perreault.

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Just 59 seconds later, the Finns went back in front on a goal by former Ottawa 67 and current Kingston Frontenac Tuomas Uronen, who scored the overtime winner in his team’s victory over the U.S. earlier in the tournament.

Uronen, who was leading the Frontenacs in scoring when he joined the Finnish team’s camp, made a nice move to get free inside the blue line then fired a great shot that beat Trey Augustine high on the stick side, just under the bar.

The Finns went ahead 3-1 early in the second on a goal by Emil Pieniniemi, but the U.S. stormed back with goals less than two minutes apart by Brandon Svoboda, that deflected off a defender, and Cole Hutson, who cut through the slot for a shot that went bar in past Rimpinen.

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