“You got to find a role,” Stiga said. “Trying to do what I could do best to help the team win. It wasn’t always points and scoring. Being able to top it off with one there was pretty cool.”
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.
“Dynasty … it’s sick,” said Ryan Leonard, the U.S. captain from BC who was the tournament MVP. “There’s no better feeling. We wanted to do something that’s never been accomplished. It’s crazy.”
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 deflected shot, and Hutson fired a wrist shot from the slot past Rimpinen with 29 seconds remaining.
“Pure joy for the guys,” coach David Carle of Denver said. “It’s all worth it. ... I’m really proud. They’ll walk together forever.”
Michigan State’s Trey Augustine made 21 saves.
“They played really well, but we stuck with it,” Augustine said. “We were down 3-1, which isn’t ideal, but we capitalized in overtime. It’s unbelievable. There’s no better feeling. They took it to us in the first period, but the last 40 and overtime, we handled the play.”
Tuomas Uronen gave Finland a 2-1 lead with 6:57 left in the first period, 59 seconds after Boston College’s 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.
“We kept just growing up day-by-day,” Finnish captain Aron Kiviharju said. “We were really close to getting the most shining medal. Not this time, but I’m really proud of everybody on this team.”
In the third-place game, 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 — and 28th between the teams — with a move to the backhand.
The 2026 tournament will be in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
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