The U.S. National Junior Team got goals from Carey Terrance (OHL’s Erie Otters), Cole Hutson (Boston University) and Brodie Ziemer (Minnesota), but dropped a 4-3 decision to Finland in overtime Sunday afternoon in preliminary round play at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ont.
“We need more consistency up and down the lineup and I shared that with the team after the game,” said Team USA coach David Carle (Denver) in a statement. “I was proud of the comeback and particularly our penalty kill. We’ll continue to work on coming together as a group and I have confidence in our guys that we can get to where we need to be.”
Finland opened the scoring at 9:50 of the first period thanks to a short-handed goal from Arttu Alasiurua.
U.S. netminder Trey Augustine (Michigan State), who made 40 saves in the contest, kept Alasiurua from netting his second short-handed goal with 6:58 remaining in the stanza, denying a breakaway opportunity.
Terrance tied the contest at 14:20, skating through defenders and firing one home from between the circles. Brandon Svoboda (Boston University) and Joey Willis (OHL’s Saginaw Spirit) assisted on the play.
Hutson, named the U.S. Player of the Game, gave Team USA its first lead of the game 1:45 into the middle frame when he ripped a shot over Finnish netminder Petteri Rimpinen’s blocker that rang off the post and in.
Jesse Kiiskinen tied the game with a power-play goal, redirecting a shot from the point at 4:09, before Julius Miettinen put Finland back in front with a goal at 9:19.
Gabe Perreault (Boston College) nearly tied the game with on a breakaway with 3:33 remaining, but his shot hit the post after a successful deke past Rimpinen.
Ziemer tapped home a cross-crease pass from Teddy Stiga (Boston College) to tie the contest 3:26 into the third and Perreault nearly gave the U.S. the lead two and a half minutes later, but his breakaway attempt glanced off the crossbar. The U.S. successfully killed off back-to-back minor penalties shortly after and ultimately the game went to overtime.
Tuomas Uronen scored 1:46 into the extra session to give Finland the 4-3 victory just after a golden chance by Danny Nelson (Notre Dame) was stopped.
The U.S. National Junior Team closes the preliminary round Tuesday against Canada at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
