OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) 鈥� Teddy Stiga at 8:04 of 3-on-3 overtime to give the United States a 4-3 victory over Finland on Sunday night in the world junior hockey championship game.
The Boston College winger 鈥� a healthy scratch at the start of the tournament 鈥� collected a forward pass from Denver's Zeev Buium and beat goalie Petteri Rimpinen through the leg pads to end it.
鈥淵ou got to find a role,鈥� Stiga said. 鈥淭rying to do what I could do best to help the team win. It wasn鈥檛 always points and scoring. Being able to top it off with one there was pretty cool.鈥�
The Americans avenged a 4-3 overtime loss to Finland in group play, overcoming a two-goal deficit in the second period to win their second straight title and seventh overall.
鈥淒ynasty 鈥� it鈥檚 sick,鈥� said Ryan Leonard, the U.S. captain from 小蓝视频 who was the tournament MVP. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no better feeling. We wanted to do something that鈥檚 never been accomplished. It鈥檚 crazy.鈥�
Boston University teammates Brandon Svoboda and Cole Hutson scored late in the second period to tie it. Svoboda cut it to 3-2 with 2:22 left on a , and Hutson from the slot past Rimpinen with 29 seconds remaining.
鈥淧ure joy for the guys,鈥� coach David Carle of Denver said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all worth it. ... I鈥檓 really proud. They鈥檒l walk together forever.鈥�
Michigan State鈥檚 Trey Augustine made 21 saves.
鈥淭hey played really well, but we stuck with it,鈥� Augustine said. 鈥淲e were down 3-1, which isn鈥檛 ideal, but we capitalized in overtime. It鈥檚 unbelievable. There鈥檚 no better feeling. They took it to us in the first period, but the last 40 and overtime, we handled the play.鈥�
Tuomas Uronen gave Finland a 2-1 lead with 6:57 left in the first period, 59 seconds after Boston College鈥檚 James Hagens tied it for the United States. Emil Pieniniemi made it 3-1 at 4:52 of the second.
Jesse Kiiskinen opened the scoring at 7:13.
鈥淲e kept just growing up day-by-day,鈥� Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju said. 鈥淲e were really close to getting the most shining medal. Not this time, but I鈥檓 really proud of everybody on this team.鈥�
In the , Eduard Sale scored in the 14th round of a shootout to give Czechia a 3-2 victory over Sweden on Sunday in the third-place game at the world junior hockey championship. The Czech captain beat Marcus Gidlof on his fifth attempt 鈥� and 28th between the teams 鈥� with a move to the backhand.
The 2026 tournament will be in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
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