Finland forward Topias Hynninen (21) and teammate Finland forward Benjamin Rautiainen (37) fight USA defenceman Aram Minnetian (14) and USA forward Brandon Svoboda (8) for the puck during second period IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal game action in Ottawa on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Teddy Stiga started his journey as a healthy scratch.
He ended it bathed in glory with a gold medal hanging from his neck.
The 18-year-old forward scored at 8:04 of overtime as the United States battled back from a 3-1 deficit late in the second period to defeat Finland 4-3 and secure the country’s second straight world junior hockey championship Sunday.
“Unreal,” Stiga said in front of a throng of reporters and cameras. “Being able to win a gold and in that way, nothing better.”
The Boston native and second-round pick of the Nashville Predators started the tournament on the outside before finding his place in an ultra-skilled lineup.
“You gotta find a role,” Stiga said after burying his one and only shot of the event. “Trying to do what I could do best to help the team win. It wasn’t always points and scoring. Being able to top it off with one there was pretty cool.”
Cole Hutson, with a goal and an assist, James Hagens and Brandon Svoboda provided the rest of the offence in regulation for the U.S., which secured consecutive men’s under-20 titles for the first time in the program’s history. Hutson became the first defenceman to lead the world juniors in scoring.
“Pure joy for the guys,” said head coach David Carle. “It’s all worth it.”
Trey Augustine made 20 saves for the Americans, who took gold for a seventh time and will host the 2026 tournament in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Tournament MVP Ryan Leonard had two assists.
“Dynasty “¦ it’s sick,” said Leonard, the U.S. captain booed every time he touched the puck by the pro-Finnish crowd at Canadian Tire Centre. “There’s no better feeling. We wanted to do something that’s never been accomplished. It’s crazy.”
Jesse Kiiskinen, Tuomas Uronen and Emil Pieniniemi replied for Finland, which last won the event in 2019 in Vancouver. Petteri Rimpinen stopped 36 shots for the Finns, who suffered their only other defeat on Boxing Day against Canada. Emil Hemming had two assists.
“We kept just growing up day-by-day,” said captain Aron Kiviharju. “We were really close to getting the most shining medal. Not this time, but I’m really proud of everybody on this team.”
Czechia beat Sweden 3-2 in a 14-round shootout to take bronze. Canada finished a disappointing fifth for the second straight year after being ousted by the Czechs in the quarterfinals.
Rimpinen made huge stops on Zeev Buium, Leonard and Hagens in the extra period before Augustine made a nice save on Benjamin Rautainen, who scored the OT winner against Sweden in the semis.
That set the stage for Stiga’s five-hole clincher on a breakaway after taking a Buium pass in stride.
“I’m so happy for him,” said Augustine, one of nine returnees from last year’s squad. “Guys like that who have lesser ice-time roles, it’s hard for them to stay motivated in such a short tournament.
“Shows the character of our team that everyone was like that.”
Despite the loss, the Finns won their first medal since grabbing silver at the pandemic-delayed 2022 event when the Canadians secured world junior extra-time glory in Edmonton.
Finland beat the U.S. 4-3 in OT in the preliminary round and went ahead on a power play at 7:37 of Sunday’s opening period when Kiiskinen scored his sixth.
Expected to be one of the first names off the board at June’s NHL draft, Hagens made it 1-1 at 12:04 when he scored his fifth off a rebound.
The Finns went up 2-1 when Uronen fired past Augustine’s blocker for his second just 59 seconds later. Pieniniemi added his second at 4:52 of the middle period for a 3-1 lead.
The Americans, who topped hosts Sweden in the final of last year’s event in Gothenburg and have three gold medals since 2021, didn’t have a lot going on, but caught a break when Svoboda’s point shot hit a Finn in front of Rimpinen for his third at 17:38.
Hutson then fired home after cutting into the slot for his third with 28.7 seconds left in the period to tie things through 40 minutes.
Rimpinen stopped Leonard on a breakaway five minutes into the third. In the middle of the action all night, the Washington Capitals prospect then fanned on a tap-in moments later as the teams played an even period to set up Stiga’s OT heroics.
“I’m really proud,” Carle said of his group. “They’ll walk together forever.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2025.
