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Finland advances to world junior semifinals with thrilling 3-2 win over Sweden

EDMONTON — Roni Hirvonen scored with 25 seconds remaining and Finland edged Sweden 3-2 in quarterfinal action Saturday at the world junior hockey championship.
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EDMONTON — Roni Hirvonen scored with 25 seconds remaining and Finland edged Sweden 3-2 in quarterfinal action Saturday at the world junior hockey championship.

Finland completed a comeback from a 2-0 first-period deficit with two goals in the game's final 10 minutes.

Henri Nikkanen and Anton Lundell also scored for the Finns.

Lucas Raymond and Elmer Soderblom scored for Sweden.

Earlier Saturday, Russia edged Germany 2-1 to advance to the semifinals.

Saturday's other semifinals saw host Canada face the Czech Republic and the United States meet Slovakia.

Raymond opened the scoring at 14:28 f the first period, and then set up Soderblom's goal less than two minutes later.

Nikkanen drew Finland within one with the only goal of the second period.

Lundell took advantage of a late Swedish penalty and scored his fourth goal of the tournament to tie the game 2-2 with just under nine minutes remaining.

Hirvonen completed Finland's comeback, tucking the puck in from behind the Swedish goal with time running out.

RUSSIA 2, GERMANY 1

Earlier, Russia overcame a determined German team to advance to the semifinals.

Vasili Ponomaryov and Danil Bashkirov scored for Russia, while goaltender Yaroslav Askarov made 18 saves.

Florian Elias scored his fourth goal and picked up his ninth point for Germany.  Florian Bugl made 25 saves. Germany had a potentially game-tying shot go of the crossbar of the Russian goal in the third period.

Elias's linemates Tim Stuetzle and John Peterka finished the tournament with 10 points each. Stuetzle, drafted third overall in the 2020 draft by Ottawa, is expected in the Senators camp when it opens Sunday.

UNITED STATES 5, SLOVAKIA 2

John Farinacci scored a pair of goals while Trevor Zegras picked up a pair of assists in a 5-2 victory over Slovakia in their quarterfinal matchup Saturday night. 

Arthur Kaliyev, Cole Caufield and Matthew Beniers also scored in the victory. 

American goaltender Spencer Knight made 15 saves for his team while his Slovakian counterpart Simon Latkoczy countered with 39 saves in a losing effort. 

The Americans will meet Finland in the semifinals Monday. 

CANADA 3, CZECH REPUBLIC 0

Bowen Byram, Dylan Cozens and Connor McMichael each scored a goal in a 3-0 Team Canada victory over the Czech Republic in quarterfinal action. 

McMichael and Cozens each picked up an assist to their respective tallies Saturday evening, while Peyton Krebs got two assists. 

Canadian goalie Devon Levi was perfect throughout the game, making 29 saves against the Czechs. Nick Malik made 21 saves for the Czech Republic in the loss. 

Canada will play the Russians in the semifinals Monday. 

The gold-medal and bronze-medal games will take place Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2021.

The Canadian Press