Team USA faced their toughest test yet in Group A at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Ottawa, Ontario against Finland. It was a back-and-forth game won by an aggressive Finnish team, 4-3, in overtime.
The Finns scored a short-handed, breakaway goal by Arttu Alasiurua midway through the first period to make it 1-0. The Americans’ Carey Terrance (Erie Otters) countered off the break as he drove through the Finnish defense and buried a forehand shot, 1-1. The USA earned a slight edge in first-period play but suffered occasional defensive breakdowns and two penalties in the period.
Early in the second period, Cole Hutson (BU) buried a high wrister past goaltender Petteri Rimpinen. But following a US slashing penalty, Jesse Riiskinrn fired from the right circle and found twine to tie it at 2-2. Shortly thereafter, Julius Miettinen found the puck in the high slot and blasted a shot past Troy Augustine. It was a frantic final five minutes with end-to-end action as the Finns pressed the USA in the offensive zone but the score held steady after 2.
The third period featured end-to-end skilled hockey and scoring chances on each end. Finally, USA worked behind the Finnish goal for a back door tap-in by Brodie Ziemer (Minnesota). The Finns were unable to score on back-to-back penalties by the USA in the middle of the period. Finland looked the more dangerous team during the final ten minutes of the period but neither team could drain their opportunities.
In overtime, USA controlled the puck early but it was the Finns who made the most of a 3-on-1 rush. Tuomas Uronen finished the play with the winning goal. It was a well-deserved win by the Finns who outplayed the Americans in several long stretches and were dangerous in transition.
Next up for the USA is Canada on December 31st to conclude and potentially decide Group A play.
Ok, where does this leave us? Is the game against Canada a must win for us to go on?
After a single round-robin series in each group, the top four teams as scored by points in each group advance to the playoff rounds. The fifth place teams move to the relegation round. The USA will most certainly advance.
The U.S. team wasn’t sharp today. They will need to improve against Canada on Tuesday.
Tough loss for sure, but give credit to the Finns—they were the better team in the second half of this contest and deserved to win. They carried the play throughout the third period, won a lot of the loose puck battles, had better jump, and piled up 44 shots. Team USA only managed 5 SOGs in the third and looked tired as that game wound down. Didn’t see enough jam from them over the last 25-30 minutes.
No time to feel sorry for themselves with a huge game against Canada coming up.
After three games, I’m not quite sure what to make of this US. They certainly have plenty of talent, but I feel like they have yet to put together a complete game over 60 minutes. Beat Canada, though, and that will put these guys in a great position.