OTTAWA - The United States is golden again.
Teddy Stiga scored at 8:04 of overtime as the Americans battled back from a 3-1 deficit late in the second period to defeat Finland 4-3 and win the country's second straight world junior hockey championship Sunday.
Cole Hutson, with a goal and an assist, James Hagens and Brandon Svoboda provided the rest of the offence in regulation for the U.S., which secured consecutive men's under-20 titles for the first time in the program's history.
Trey Augustine made 20 saves for the Americans, who took gold for a seventh time and will host the 2026 tournament in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. Tournament MVP Ryan Leonard had two assists.
Jesse Kiiskinen, Tuomas Uronen and Emil Pieniniemi replied for Finland, which last won the event in 2019 in Vancouver. Petteri Rimpinen stopped 36 shots for the Finns, who suffered their only other defeat on Boxing Day against Canada. Emil Hemming had two assists.
Czechia beat Sweden 3-2 in a 14-round shootout to take bronze. Canada finished a disappointing fifth for the second straight year after being ousted by the Czechs in the quarterfinals.
THE Golden Goal 🤩 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/Ww9Rsxilof
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 6, 2025
Never gets old 🇺🇸 #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/HtldQXAxbE
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 6, 2025
13 and 21 with us every step of the way. ❤️ #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/Ct7WKUr0w2
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) January 6, 2025