OTTAWA, Ontario — Tuomas Uronen scored at 1:46 of overtime to give Finland a 4-3 victory over the United States on Sunday in the world junior hockey championship.
Uronen, who plays for the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League, came down the right side on a rush and beat goaltender Trey Augustine high to the glove side.
Augustine, a standout for the Michigan State Spartans, was back in net Sunday after serving as the backup to Hampton Slukynsky in Team USA’s 5-1 win over Latvia on Saturday. He finished with 29 saves in the loss.
The defending champion Americans lost for the first time in three games. They’ll finish Group A play Tuesday night against Canada, with the Canadians set to face Germany later Sunday at Canadian Tire Centre. Finland has won two straight after an opening loss to Canada.
“Everyone’s going to be really frustrated within themselves and with the outcome today,” Team USA captain Ryan Leonard told nhl.com after the loss. “Ultimately, we’re playing for that first place spot against Canada. It’s not out of the picture yet but we all got to be ready to go.”
Jesse Kiiskinen, Julius Miettinen and Arttu Alasiurua also scored for Finland, and Petteri Rimpinen made 41 saves, much to the delight of the capacity crowd. In fact, 16,433 fans attended the game, which often featured chants of “Let’s go, Finland!”
Carey Terrance of the Erie Otters of the OHL, Cole Hutson of Boston University and Brody Ziemer of Minnesota scored for the United States in the loss.
“Both teams had a lot of chances, but I think for us it’s getting a little bit more consistent in how we want to play. A lot more consistence throughout our lineup and how we want to play,” Team USA coach David Carle told nhl.com after the loss. “I felt like we were chasing the game little bit.”
In Group B at TD Place, Tom Willander had two goals and an assist and Sweden defeated Switzerland 7-5 to improve to 3-0 and wrap up a quarterfinal spot.
Zeb Forsfjall, Otto Stenberg, David Granberg, Victor Eklund and Axel Sandin-Pellikka also scored for Sweden. Kimo Gruber and Leo Braillard each had two goals for Switzerland.
In the other Group B game, Eduard Sale scored twice in the Czech Republic’s 4-2 victory over Slovakia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
