Arttu Valila scored the overtime winner at 2:11 as Finland ended the host U.S.'s reign as two-time World Junior champions with a thrilling 4-3 quarter-final victory.

In the 3-on-3 period, playmaking wizard Matias Vanhanen slipped a pass to Valila down low in the right faceoff circle, and the Lukko Rauma defender whipped a shot past U.S. goalie Nick Kempf's blocker. St. Paul's Grand Casino Arena fell silent.

"Gotta give credit to the U.S," said Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju, who returned with an assist after missing the 7-4 loss to Canada due to illness. "That's a helluva team, full of great individuals and a well-coached team. But I said we wanted that revenge from last year, and I think we kind of earned it tonight."

It was a back-and-forth rematch of the 2025 final in Ottawa, which the U.S. won 4-3 in overtime. The Finns trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before taking a 3-2 third-period lead, only to see the Americans tie it up with under two minutes remaining.

This was sweet revenge indeed in Minnesota. The Finns last won gold in 2019 and have taken a huge step toward ending their title drought.

In regulation time, Finland's Joona Saarelainen and Leo Tuuva each recorded a goal and an assist. Assistant captain Heikki Ruohonen added a single.

"Saarelainen has played the whole tournament very well, and got rewarded for his good work,," said Finnish coach Lauri Mikkola. "Tuuva is a very skillful player. He has been a little bit up and down this tournament. He has very good games and then some other games are not so good. Today, he was very good all the time, giving 100 percent for our team."
 

Top U.S. defenceman Cole Hutson returned from a two-game injury-related absence with a goal and an assist. Cole Eiserman and Ryker Lee had the other American goals. James Hagens added two assists.

The U.S. outshot Finland 31-25.

"I thought we made good plays for a lot of the game," said Hutson, the 2025 scoring leader. "But the little bounces that they got, a lot of their Grade-A chances came from our mistakes."

In net, Finland's Petteri Rimpinen, 2025's Best Goalie, got his fifth consecutive start, while U.S. coach Bob Motzko elected to go with Kempf. The Notre Dame netminder played in the 2-1 win over Switzerland and was inserted for the third period in the 6-3 loss to Sweden. 

After a scoreless first period, Hutson broke the deadlock just 35 seconds into the middle frame. Joining the rush, the top Washington Capitals prospect took a cross-ice pass from Kamil Bednarik and zinged the puck past Rimpinen.

The Finns answered back at 4:45. Max Westergard held on to the puck with a gritty effort along the side boards and sent it across to Ruohonen, who sniped it past Kempf on the short side.

After the Finns were penalized for too many players on the ice, Eiserman put the U.S. up 2-1 at 10:15 with one of his trademark one-timers, coming off a beautiful saucer pass from Hutson. The U.S. goal song "Free Bird" echoed through the arena as the partisan Minnesota crowd erupted.

Rimpinen did his level best to keep Finland in it with big saves as the third period wore on. It paid off at 12:43 as Kiviharju found Tuuva going to the net for the back-door equalizer.

Kiviharju praised Rimpinen's play: "Showtime! That's all I'm saying about him. No, he's unbelievable. He's just so good once again today. If he wouldn't be there, we would probably not be [the winners] right now."

Saarelainen converted Tuuva's beautiful feed from behind the net at 13:38 for a 3-2 Finnish lead.

Motzko loaded up his top line, putting leading goal-scorer Will Zellers (five goals) with captain Brodie Ziemer and Hagens. Zellers sparked the U.S. equalizer, which came with 1:33 left and Kempf pulled for an extra attacker. Zellers rushed the puck down the middle through the Finnish defence. Hagens got to it behind the net and sent it out front to Lee, who made no mistake to send the game to overtime.

KIviharju told a story about Valila's overtime winner: "It was actually funny! I was supposed to go next on the ice, and Arttu was close to our bench with the puck. The coach was saying: 'Hey, change! Change!' And I'm like, 'No, don't change. Stay on the ice!' And I think it went pretty well. Amazing goal, and it's pretty nice, especially for a player where I think it was his second goal of the year! I think he made it in a pretty good place."

Noteworthy scratches at forward included the U.S.'s Max Plante, who was injured in the 6-5 win over Slovakia, and Finland’s Aatos Koivu.