It’s semifinal day at the World Juniors.
Each team will have a chance to play for a medal. The Americans’ drive for back-to-back gold medals remains alive, while Sweden can still have their revenge after a silver medal last year. Finland seeks its first gold medal since 2019 while Czechia hopes for a gold medal after earning silver and bronze medals at their last two tournaments.
The semifinals won’t include the Canadians, who were shocked in their quarterfinal encounter with Czechia earlier this week. It’s something Canadian fans did not take well.
It’s over. Czechia hangs on to defeat Canada 4-3. Canada is eliminated from the quarters for a second consecutive year.
Fans are throwing debris onto the ice. Including a Team Canada jersey. pic.twitter.com/bgeuE6lRcC
— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) January 3, 2025
It was a much different reaction from Czechia’s group, obviously. Czechia led for most of the game but needed to compose themselves after Canada tied the game at three in the third period.
“After the third goal, 3-3, the team was a little bit down,” Czechia forward Eduard Sale said. “But I just say something, just keep going. We will have a chance again.”
Sure enough, Czechia’s power-play goal from Adam Jecho was what they needed to seal the deal.
“I’m very proud,” Czechia head coach Patrik Augusta said. “I think it’s a big game. I know for this tournament, it doesn’t mean anything right now. We’re in the semifinals. It’s not going to give us any medals or nothing. But, you know, playing the big game like this in Canada, the big stage like this with 18,000 people cheering for Canada, I think it’s going to be something the players will remember and it’s going to be something that’s going to make them better and stronger character-wise into the future of their career.”
Let’s break down today’s semifinal matchups.
Today’s schedule
• Sweden vs. Finland, 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT
• USA vs. Czechia, 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT
Sweden vs. Finland
Latvia didn’t make it easy, but Sweden won 3-2 in the quarterfinals and continues its quest for gold after coming one win short at last year’s World Juniors against the USA. Defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka has a tournament-leading nine points (four goals, five assists) while forwards Anton Wahlberg (4G, 3A) and Felix Unger Sorum (1G, 6A) have seven points each. Sweden’s blue line also boasts Tom Willander, Theo Lindstein and Rasmus Bergqvist. Sandin Pellikka and Willander have helped lead the tournament’s best power play (8-for-22).
The Swedes put 50 shots on Latvia. Captain Sandin Pellikka credited Latvian goalie Linards Feldbergs, one of the feel-good stories of the World Juniors, with standing on his head but said Sweden didn’t let his opponent’s good goaltending get to him.
“I still think we played pretty good. And I mean, first period, I think they had three shots and same with the last period. So we played pretty solid, solid defense and we had good offense, but we just need to capitalize,” Sandin Pellikka said after Sweden’s quarterfinal win.
“We take the good things from this game and just look forward here. We want to give this all we want. And so now we’re looking forward for the semifinals here.”
Finland advanced with a 5-3 win over Slovakia in the quarterfinals and will surely lean heavily on goaltender Petteri Rimpinen, who recorded 33 saves in the quarterfinal win and enters the matchup versus Sweden with a leading .940 save percentage. The Finns’ offense has come from Jesse Kiiskinen (4G, 1A) and Jesse Nurmi (2G, 2A) as well as Konsta Helenius and Heikki Ruohonen and their penalty kill ranks first in the tournament (16-for-17), tied with Germany.
USA vs. Czechia
Team USA returns to the semifinals as they aim to repeat as gold medalists for the first time in the tournament’s history. They made short work of Switzerland in a 7-2 quarterfinal win on Thursday afternoon. Their top line of Gabe Perreault, James Hagens and captain Ryan Leonard has powered the team throughout the tournament. The Boston College trio combined has 10 goals, 11 assists and 21 points through five games. Hagens and Leonard scored twice against the Swiss while Perreault contributed three assists.
Hagens feels communication has played a great role in their success, and not getting “frustrated” whenever they have a moment when they’re not on the same page.
“We’ve had a lot of chances,” Hagens said. “We might miss a couple. We don’t get frustrated. We just know we’ve just got to keep sticking to it. We’ve had a long year together. Especially being here and being able to come from school, it’s awesome.”
“We’re really fortunate and lucky enough to play with those two guys throughout the season and then here,” Leonard said. “It’s been so fun. You know their tendencies out there.”
Czechia, meanwhile, will play its first game since upending Canada in the quarters. Vojtech Hradec and Jakub Stancl are tied for second in points through the tournament while Stancl and Sale are among four players for the goal-scoring lead (5) at the tournament. Stancl and Sale both scored in their victory over Canada.
“It’s something special,” Sale said. “Like, I mean, playing against Canada in Canada, in Ottawa is something special for us. It was a tough game. In the first period, I would say it was better. In the second period how they played on the puck, it was tough to defend. But yeah, our goalie was pretty good (Thursday night) and that was the key. And the last penalty, maybe that was the key of the game.”
Required reading
(Photo: Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP)
