Finland Finishes USA World Junior Run

St. Paul, Minn. — The United States were not anointed by many as a favorite for the 2026 World Junior, but exiting the tournament in the quarterfinals with a 4-3 overtime loss to Finland stung the host nation.

Cole Hutson was ‘knocked out cold’ in a preliminary round game with Switzerland, but came back for the quarterfinal game against Finland and made a huge impact on the ice. Hutson played 26:53 minutes, scored the game’s first goal and assisted on the team’s second goal which made him the USA defenseman with the most points scored at the World Junior Championships.

“It did give us a lift having him out there,” said Brodie Ziemer. “He’s such a special player, obviously, just set a new record. So I’m just proud of him and how far he’s come.”

Injuries to a couple key players Trevor Connelly, Cole Hutson, Max Plante and Brendan McMorrow made the path difficult for the Americans. Connelly was injured during camp and didn’t make it to St. Paul. Plante took a high hit and coach Bob Motzko indicated he might have been able to make it back for a semifinal. McMorrow broke a finger during the game with Finland and only played 1:55 in the third period.

Despite the challenges, the United States got off to a two goal lead in the second period with goals from Hutson and Cole Eiserman. That lead evaporated quickly when the red, white and blue lost their defensive structure giving grade A scoring chances to Finland that they converted.

“We made two mistakes in the first period and two in the third and that was it,” said Motzko. “That’s sports, it rips your bloody heart out when you’re in a situation like that. We didn’t change [our play during the game], we were playing to step on it and they started taking more chances… we had a number of chances with the right guys that got the puck to stretch the lead and their guy made the critical saves.”

Finnish Goalie Petteri Rimpinen made 28 saves on 31 shots and benefitted from the team in front of him blocking many USA shot attempts. During last year’s tournament Rimpinen’s team was on the losing side of things in the gold medal game which went to overtime against the Americans, a memory that was top of mind for the Finnish goalie.

“We have a huge respect for each other. They have so many tough guys out there who are so skillful,” said Rimpinen. “This time around, it went our way. It’s so even. I feel for them home ice and stuff like that. They played a really good game and it’s about bounces. If we look at the final last year, it’s much more about bounces, and we got one tonight.”

Arttu Valila was the player getting the right bounce in overtime Friday as crossing Finns got the Americans in a bad spot and Valila took advantage of the scoring chance by picking the far corner just 2:11 for the game winner and ending the host’s tournament.

“It sucks, it kind of fuels me for the rest of the year and hopefully I get another chance next year,” said LJ Mooney. “It doesn’t get much better than this [wearing the USA jersey]. It kind of sucks we let people down here, but it means everything to wear this jersey.”

Mooney emerged as a player counted on for key faceoffs when he could draw on his strong side and was elevated in the lineup as the tournament moved forward. He tallied three assists in five games, was created with nine shots on goal, averaged 17:13 of ice time and often led his group onto the ice to start special teams opportunities.

Ziemer was a player during the tournament whose leadership was highlighted by teammates, he finished third on the team in scoring with one goal and five assists, played minutes in all roles averaging 18:19 of ice time per game which was second to James Hagens among the forwards. Ziemer was one of the three players chosen by the staff as USA’s best with Hagens and Will Zellers.

“I’m so grateful that I’ve been part of four World Junior tournaments. It’ll be one of the most rewarding parts of my career to work for USA Hockey and be a part of this,” said Motzko. “There’s a group of guys in there won gold a year ago, and many of those guys are going to put the jersey on again at some point in their in their career and we got a lot of guys and come back for next year’s team.”

The 2027 World Junior Championship will be in Red Deer and Edmonton next and there are six players (Will Horcoff, Mooney, Cole McKinney, Asher Barnett, Chase Reid and Brady Knowling) who are eligible to participate again.