The Americans are back to defend their gold medal from last year's World Juniors and will meet Finland Sunday night.
The gold medal game of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship is set, after Finland took down Sweden 4-3 in overtime and Team USA knocked off Czechia 4-1 in the second semifinal matchup Saturday evening in Ottawa.
U.S. team captain and former NTDP forwards Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault each had a goal and an assist in the victory.
The Czechs nearly got on the scoreboard early in the first period when an Adam Jecho shot hit the crossbar.
However, it was the Americans who scored first. Leonard, who was wearing a protective visor after suffering two facial injuries in the quarterfinal game, dove after a loose puck and slid it to Perreault, who fooled Czech goalie and former Omaha Lancer Michael Hrabal for a 1-0 U.S. lead.
The Czechs scored midway through the first after Adam Novotny got a loose puck along the left boards and fired it past the glove of Trey Augustine (NTDP), who wasn’t quite set.
Leonard and Perreault almost connected again, this time with Leonard making the feed, but Hrabal, who came into the game with a .920 save percentage and 2.52 goals-against average, was up to the task and made the save. The two teams went into the first intermission tied 1-1.
The Americans scored next on a power play in the second period when Trevor Connelly (Tri-City Storm) found Cole Eiserman (NTDP), who sent a missile over Hrabal to put the Americans in front to stay.
Novotny attempted to tie the game for Czechia later in the period, but his shot bounced off Augustine’s stomach and he was able to make the stop.
The Czechs ratcheted up the pressure in the third, knowing the gold medal game was on the line. Augustine knew this, too, and made the save of the tournament after kicking a shot onto Jecho’s stick. Jecho had a wide-open net, but Augustine stuck out his right pad to deny Jecho.
That got the U.S. attack going, and Perreault sent a nifty pass through the crease, where Leonard was able to tap it in at the 15:33 mark for a 3-1 lead.
An empty-netter by Oliver Moore (NTDP) at 18:53 sealed the victory and 4-1 final score for the Americans, who will try and defend their title from last season and win their seventh gold medal in the World Juniors Sunday evening.
With his 26 saves, Augustine becomes the all-time winningest American goaltender in World Juniors history. The U.S. went 2-for-4 on the power play, while Czechia was 0-for-3.
The U.S. and Finland have faced each other once before for gold-medal glory, a 3-2 Finland victory in 2019 in Vancouver. Finland is looking for its sixth gold medal. Puck drop for Sunday's game is set for 7:30 Pm ET.