United States falls to Finland in world junior hockey tournament

David Carle won’t want to get used to this.

Carle experienced his first loss in 10 games as coach of the United States’ junior hockey team when Finland won 4-3 in overtime Sunday at the world junior championships at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

Carle coached the United States to the championship a year ago on seven victories in seven games, and the United States (2-0-1-0) won its first two games this time.

Tuomas Uronen, a draft pick of the Vegas Golden Knights, scored at 1:46 of overtime Sunday. His shot on a 2-on-1 from the right face-off circle deflected off the glove of goalie Trey Augustine and into the net. Augustine had made 40 saves to that point.

“I just didn’t get enough of it and, honestly, it’s one I’d like to have back,” said Augustine, who was in goal after Hampton Slukynsky of Warroad got the victory Saturday against Latvia.

Petteri Rimpinen, a potential late-round pick in the 2025 NHL draft, made 30 saves, including two in overtime, for Finland (1-1-0-1).

“I thought both goalies played great,” Carle said. “[Rimpinen] made a lot of great saves. The margins get tighter the longer into this tournament you go. So it’s what we do with this game and how do we respond from it ... that’ll be our challenge.”

The Gophers’ Brodie Ziemer, from Chaska and Shattuck-St.Mary’s, sent the game to overtime when he tipped in a cross-ice pass from Teddy Stiga at the left post at 3:26 of the third period.

“I think a goal like that kind of turns the momentum, and we had some chances,” Ziemer said. “Ultimately, I don’t think we had our best game.”

The United States also got goals from Carey Terrance and Cole Hutson.

The U.S. had won the past three games against Finland at World Juniors, with Finland last winning 1-0 in 2020’s quarterfinal round.

“We had meetings with the players and then also coaches and we talked about how we’re not at the 100 percent level,” said Finland captain Aron Kiviharju, a draft pick of the Wild. “We got to be consistent, playing offense, playing defense, and I think we did that pretty well tonight.”

Next up for the United States is intense rival Canada — 2-0-0-1 after beating Germany 3-0 on Sunday night — on Tuesday in the final game of group play. The quarterfinals begin Thursday.

“Everyone’s going to be really frustrated within themselves and with the outcome today,” U.S. captain Ryan Leonard said. “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.”