At the World Junior Championship in Ottawa:
Jesse Kiiskinen scored a goal on 1 shot in 12:59 of playing time as Finland took a 4-3 overtime decision over Sweden. Axel Sandin Pellikka finished even with 4 shots in 29:52 of ice time for Sweden.
Sandin Pellikka had this to say to Expressen’s Tim Dahlbacka and Johan Eriksson:
“It sucks. I think we played our hearts out there, so it sucks, especially when you feel that you deserve the final place,” says Sweden’s team captain Axel Sandin-Pellikka.
“We had the feeling all along that ‘we had them.’ The third period is the best period I’ve ever seen a team play, they had three shots and we had 20. It sucks,” the captain said.
In the other semifinal, Trey Augustine stopped 26 of 27 shots as Team USA won 4-1 over Czechia. Max Plante was scratched finished even in 11:10 played for the Americans.
Team USA and Team Finland will play for the Gold Medal on Sunday at 7:30 PM EST, on the NHL Network and TSN; Team Sweden and Czechia will battle for Bronze on Sunday at 3:30 PM on the NHL Network and TSN.
According to FloHockey’s Chris Peters, Augustine set a USA Hockey record on Saturday:
With three wins at this year’s WJC, Augustine became USA Hockey’s all-time wins leader among goalies at the World Junior Championship. The Michigan State standout surpassed fellow Michigan native Jack Campbell for sole possession of first on the all-time wins list with the 11th of his career.
Augustine is playing in his third straight WJC after making his debut at 17 years old in 2023. Saturday night’s semifinal marked his 14th appearance, which ties him with Campbell for second most all time, behind Alan Perry who made 18 appearances in three-straight World Juniors from 1984-86.
Augustine is 11-0-1-1 in his career at the World Juniors. The second-round pick of the Red Wings now has a career save percentage of .916 at the WJC.
Augustine will be looking for his 12th career win on the biggest possible stage as he looks to become the first-ever American goalie to win two gold medals at the World Junior Championship.
Additionally, on Sunday Augustine will be making his fourth appearance in an IIHF championship game, having played in gold-medal games for the Under-18 Men’s World Championship twice and in each of the last two World Junior Championships.
Here's to the winningest American goaltender in #WorldJuniors history! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/FRK6pzvned
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 5, 2025
Max Plante played 11:10 against Finland. Zero points, but I thought he played well.
Sorry Czechia