Stiga scores golden goal for U.S.

Teddy Stiga took a breakaway pass from Zeev Buium and beat Petteri Rimpinen between the pads at 8:04 of overtime to give the United States the gold medal at the 2025 World Junior Championship. This is the first time the Americans have won back-to-back gold.

Finland looked entirely passive in the unlimited overtime while the Americans time and again moved the puck up ice and created scoreing chances. Rimpinen made medal-saving stops ob Ryan Leonard and James Hagens in quick succession, but he couldn’t stop Stiga. It was Stiga’s first goal of the tournament.

The Finns came out full of confidence and energy while the Americans, surprisingly, looked  a little tight and uncomfortable with the situation at hand. Finland spent the period going hard to the net, showing no fear in crashing the crease and making Augustine work for his saves.

Suomi drew first blood at 7:13 on a power play when Emil Hemming made a great pass forom the corner to Jesse Kiiskinen in front. He wired a shot under the glove of Augustine to send the Fin ns to an early and well-deserved lead.

Finland kept pressing and had several long forays into the U.S. end, the Americans clearly on their heels and the Finns moving the puck around effectively, keeping possession for long stretches.

The Americans tied the game after Finland failed to clear the zone and on a bit of a loose save from Petteri Rimpinen at the other end. He made a glove save on a routine shot, but the puck bounced out of his glove and James Hagens banged it home from close range. 

But the Finns stormed right back. Tuomas Uronen came in over the U.S. line with speed, made a little move inside and cut back outside beyond the reach of defender Colin Ralph, and then snapped a wicked shot past the shoulder of Augustine for a 2-1 lead.

The second period could neatly be divided into two parts. The first part was dominated by Finland. They continued to play keepaway and moved freely inside the offensive end, and at 4:52 they doubled their leads thanks to a smart play by defender Emil Pieniniemi. He had the puck at the blue line when two Americans in front of him collided, creating an opening, which he took. He walked in and beat Augustine with a clean shot.

But just when it seemed Finland would overpower the Americans, they seemed to realize the game was slipping away and they needed to do something about it. They found their mojo, got the puck into the Finland zone, and forced the play for the first time. They gto one…