Finland forward Jesse Kiiskinen (38) scores on Sweden goaltender Melker Thelin (35) during second-period semifinal IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship tournament action on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
OTTAWA – Finland is back in the gold-medal game at the world junior hockey championship.
Benjamin Rautiainen scored on a power play at 9:22 of overtime to secure the country’s 4-3 victory over Sweden in the semifinals of the men’s under-20 tournament Saturday.
The 19-year-old undrafted forward snuck a shot past Swedish goaltender Melker Thelin on a 4-on-3 man advantage with Vancouver Canucks prospect Tom Willander in the box for holding after his team killed off a penalty of its own earlier in the extra period.
“Very skilful guy at doing things like that,” Finnish head coach Lauri Mikkola said of Rautiainen after his second goal of the tournament. “Nobody expected when he shoots. He’s very good with the puck.”
Emil Hemming, with a goal and an assist, Jesse Kiiskinen and Arttu Alasiurua provided the rest of the offence for the Finns, who got 43 saves from Petteri Rimpinen. Konsta Helenius had four assists, while Topias Hynninen had two.
Otto Stenberg, with two goals, and Wilhelm Hallquisth replied for the Swedes. Thelin stopped 31 shots.
Finland, which hasn’t won gold since beating the United States when the Scandinavians last hosted in 2019, will meet the winner of the late semifinal between the Americans and Czechia in Sunday’s title game. Sweden gets the loser in the battle for bronze.
“Try to reset as much as you can,” Stenberg said. “We don’t want to go home with fourth place.”
Finland’s last podium finish was a silver in 2022 when Canada – eliminated by the Czechs in the quarterfinals for the second straight year Thursday – won gold in Edmonton.
The Swedes, who have secured just two gold medals in tournament history and lost last year’s title game to the U.S. on home soil in Gothenburg, opened the scoring 1:22 into the middle period when Stenberg beat Rimpinen on a 2-on-1 for his second.
Finland tied it when Hemming buried his first off a give-and-go with Helenius at 4:32. The Finns then had a goal called back for offside, but Kiiskinen made it 2-1 at 13:28 with his fifth on a power play.
Stenberg scored his second of the game at 18:07 to knot things up on a Swedish man advantage before Alasiurua pushed Finland ahead 3-2 with 20.8 seconds remaining in the period.
The Swedes tied things again at 11:32 of the third when Hallquisth squeezed a shot through Rimpinen to set the stage for Rautiainen to send Finland, which hasn’t tasted defeat since falling 4-0 to Canada in both countries’ Boxing Day opener, into Sunday’s final.
“Many times you need the time to grow up together,” Mikkola said. “That first game was the big lesson for this team. After that we are doing lots of things right. This is the result.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2025.
