In the final game of the World U-20 Championship in Canada, the USA team overcame a two-goal deficit and won 4:3 (1:2, 2:1, 0:0, 1:0). Teddy Stiga scored the winning goal in the ninth minute of extra time.
The Finns started the game more successfully, Jesse Kiskinen making it 1-0 in the eighth minute of the match. The Americans fought back in the 13th minute, with James Hagens scoring a goal, but Tuomas Uronen returned the lead to the Finns less than a minute later.
In the second period, Emils PIeninemi scored 3:1 for the Finns, but the Finnish U-20 hockey players did not keep the lead. By the end of the second period, Brandon Svoboda and KOul Hutson equalized the score, no goals were scored in the third period, but 18-year-old Stiga beat Finnish goalkeeper Peter Rimpinen in extra time.
USA U-20 hockey players became the world champions for the second year in a row, but overall this is the seventh junior title for the Americans.
On the other hand, the Czech U-20 national team won the bronze award for the second year in a row, beating their Swedish counterparts 3:2 (1:1, 1:1, 0:0, 0:0, 1:0).
In the fourth minute of the match, the best goal scorer of the tournament, Jakub Štancls, put the Czechs in the lead, but in the 16th minute, Dāvids Ādstrem made it 1:1.
In the middle of the second period, the Czech captain Eduards Shale restored the Czech lead, but another accurate shot by Edstrom allowed the Swedes to equalize for the second time.
No more goals were scored in the third period of the game and extra time, and the bronze medalists were determined in a dramatic shootout after the game, in which the Czechs emerged victorious 3:2.
In total, the hockey players of both teams made 28 shots – 14 for each team. The goals in the second series were scored for the Czechs by Štrancls, and for the Swedes – by captain Axel Sandins Pellika, but the next accurate shots had to wait until the 13th series, when Chale and Otto Stänberjs scored. In the final series, Chalet was again accurate for the winners, while Stanberjs missed the opportunity.
It has already been reported that in the 2025 World Junior Championship, the Latvian national team reached the quarterfinals for the second year in a row, losing to the Swedes 2:3. Last year, the Latvians lost 2-7 to the USA U-20 hockey players in the fight for a place in the semi-finals.
Last year, in the fight for gold, the USA team beat the Swedes 6-2, while the Czechs defeated Finland 8-5 in the bronze match.
Players born in 2005 and younger took part in this year’s world championship.