Sweden, United States to play for gold at 2024 World Junior Championship

The United States and Sweden have advanced to the 2024 World Junior Championship gold medal game after semifinal victories on Thursday.

The championship game will take place at Scandinavium in Gothenburg at 1:30 PM ET, with Finland and Czechia battling it out for bronze at 9:00 AM ET.

It’s the second time these two teams have met in the final, with the Americans winning gold back in 2013. Sweden last won gold in 2012, while USA is looking to overtake Finland for third in all-time championships with a potential sixth title.

The Czechs scored first in the game against Sweden, but some questionable goaltending at both ends made for a wild 40 minutes. The two teams sat tied 2-2 after 20 minutes before the Swedes eventually figured things out in the third period, skating away with a 5-2 victory.

The United States, meanwhile, had to erase a two-goal deficit. Oiva Keskinen and Rasmus Kumpulainen both scored in the first period, forcing the Americans to play catch-up. The second period was all United States, though. They outshot the Finns 14-3 while also tying it with two goals four minutes apart. First, Jimmy Snuggerud scored on a blast on the power play to cut the lead in half. Then at 36:16, Will Smith capitalized on a feed from his good buddy Gabe Perreault, beating Niklas Kokko to make it 2-2.

The game stayed close, with the teams training high-quality chances. But at 56:47 on the power play, Cutter Gauthier’s blast off of a Lane Hutson pass made it 3-2, securing the comeback and giving the Americans the victory.

A new champion will be crowned this year, with Canada falling 3-2 to Czechia in the quarterfinal. Canada won gold in 2022 and 2023, and took silver in 2021.