Team USA eliminated from World Junior Championship in 4-3 overtime loss to Finland

There is a holiday hockey story to be written, one with all the joy of the season for a team that can find all the right gifts and win the World Junior Championship.

That story will not be written for Team USA.

The American team won consecutive titles heading into this year’s tournament, which was in the United States for the first time since 2018.

But Finland — which lost to Team USA in last year’s gold medal game — turned the narrative in 2026, beating the Americans 4-3 in overtime on Friday night, Jan. 2, in a quarterfinal game before an announced 11,779 at Grand Casino Arena.

The American players, teenagers all, took it hard.

“I feel like we let down our country,” said team captain Brodie Ziemer, a sophomore for the Gophers.

Petteri Rimpinen was the Finnish goalie last year, when Teddy Stiga’s goal lifted the United States to gold in Ottawa. Rimpinen made 28 saves Friday.

“They battled right down the wire. We came out with the big goal this time. We know what happened last time.”

The game-winner came with the teams skating 3-on-3, a little more than two minutes into OT. Arttu Valila snapped a shot from the right circle past the blocker of goalie Nick Kempf.

“Just got puck and shoot, and that’s it,” Valila said in halting English. “I don’t have any words for it. Great feeling.”

Kempf had 21 stops and said of the winning goal, “I knew the guy on my left side had a one-timer and I knew the shot was coming quick, but just overplayed it a bit and gave him that far side.”

Finland will face archrival Sweden in the Jan. 4 semifinals at 2:30 p.m., while tournament favorite Canada faces the Czech Republic at 7:30 p.m. Both games are at Grand Casino Arena.

“That’s sports. It rips your bloody heart out when you’re in a situation like that,” United States coach Bob Motzko said. “Give credit to Finland. One thing about the Finns, they never change. Down or up, they play the same way. They got their sticks on a puck and the game changed.”

Defenseman Cole Hutson, arguably Team USA’s best player, returned after missing two full games because of an injury, when he was stretchered off the ice after taking a hard shot to the back of the neck in Saturday’s victory over Switzerland. He scored a goal and set up another against Finland.

The Americans were without collegiate scoring leader Max Plante of Minnesota Duluth, who left because of an upper-body injury after a high hit in the first game of the tournament; he could have returned Sunday, Motzko said. They started the tournament without Trevor Connelly, a professional winger who, with Hutson and Plante, would have been among nine returning players from the gold medal team.

Brendan McMorrow left in the second period Friday after breaking a finger while blocking a shot on the penalty kill.

“It’s gonna sound wrong, but injuries played a huge part,” Motzko said. “You lose players like that, those are the elite players. Injuries are just the worst part of sports. These kids give their heart and soul, they train so hard, your heart just bleeds for guys when that happens. It’s crushing for them. That’s the hardest thing in the tournament.”

An unsung player who emerged as a headliner for the U.S. was forward Will Zellers, who led the team in scoring with five goals and three assists. Zellers, from Maple Grove, was a last-minute addition to the team after a strong start to his freshman season at North Dakota.

Zellers helped force the overtime Friday after the Americans gave up a 2-1 lead and trailed 3-2 late. With Kempf pulled for an extra attacker, Zellers bulled his way into the Finnish zone and created some havoc that freed up the puck behind the net. James Hagens centered to Ryker Lee, who scored with 1:33 left in regulation.

“It’s just never over,” said Lee, a freshman at Michigan State who played prep hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault. “You never give up. It was a great feeling, and then ..

“From Day 1, the guys on this team were so close. Just to be able to hang out with them was super fun ... I just wish I could go through it for a couple more days.”

Motzko lamented that the U.S. wasn’t able to get an insurance goal in the third period when it led 2-1.

Finland got two goals in a 55-second span to go ahead 3-2. Leo Tuuva tipped in a savvy pass from team captain Aron Kiviharju at 12:43, then Tuuva centered from behind the net and Joona Saarelainen, uncovered, knocked it past Kempf at 13:38.

A knee injury was the likely reason Kiviharju fell to the fourth round of the 2024 NHL draft, where the Wild got him with the 122nd overall pick. He told Wild General Manager Bill Guerin at the time that it was a steal, and he might be right. The 5-10 defenseman has been captain of the Finnish junior team for the past two tournament, and was playing his first game at the Wild’s home rink — “but I hope to play many more here,” he joked.

“We just got back to simple stuff,” he said. “What comes down to winning is repeating a lot of boring stuff, getting pucks deep, taking the hits against, it’s always not nice always, but ... usually you find a way to win when you do the simple stuff.”

The first period Friday was scoreless before Hutson scored the game’s first goal 35 second into the second, wiring a 35-footer past Rimpinen from the right circle.

Heikki Ruohonen tied the game 1-1 four minutes after Hutson’s goal, beating Kempf from the left circle. Then Hutson set up a power-play goal for Team USA at 10:15, cutting to the bottom of the left circle and finding Boston University teammate Cole Eiserman at the right dot. Eiserman’s one-timer flew past Rimpinen for a 2-1 lead.

Kempf got the start in net for the U.S. ahead of Caleb Heil, who gave up eight goals in 52 shots in his two starts.

“Our guy was great,” Motzko said. “Kemper did a great job.”

The matchup was the only close game among Friday’s quarterfinals, and the American players were happy with their effort after some spotty performances in group play.

“You wish you did this, you wish you scored this one, but the game’s over,” said Hagens, who was on last year’s team. “For me, this is the biggest honor in the world, dream come true. You grow up as a kid and you get to represent your country; it’s something you can’t take lightly.”

Motzko worked the American dressing room afterward, but had few words.

In Friday’s other games:

Canada 7, Slovakia 1: The Group B top seed scored five times in the first period and rolled to the victory before 5,250 at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Seven different players had goals for Canada.

Sweden 6, Latvia 3: The Group A top seed Swedes got a pair of goals from Anton Lundell and 13 saves from Love Harenstam to advance to the semifinals in front of 4,946 at Grand Casino Arena. Defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius had a goal and an assist for Sweden’

Czech Republic 6, Switzerland 2: The Czechs, seeded second in Group B, advanced with a lopsided victory at Mariucci. Petr Sikora had a goal and set up two others for the Czechs before 3,102 fans.