World Juniors: Czech Comeback Falls Short, Finland Advances

The defending gold medal champions had a tough test in the likes of the Czech Republic in their quarterfinal match up, as the Czech Republic would battle back from a 5-1 deficit, only to be ousted in overtime by Finland by a final score of 6-5.

With the comeback attempt, the Czechs tied the record for the greatest comeback in the history of the IIHF.

The Finns would start the game on the right note, as defenseman Miro Heiskanen would wire a blistering shot from the point to get the Finns on the board only 2 minutes into the contest.

Czech Republic would get the equalizer from a point shot of their own, as Dalimil Mikyaska would beat Finnish goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

The Finns would be able to dominate the rest of the first period, as Linus Nyman would put them back in the lead at the 14:09 mark coming in on a rush and snapping a shot into the back of the net past Jakub Skarek.

The Czechs would get into penalty trouble, and the Finns would take full advantage of it as Urho Vaakanainen would get the extra man tally to put the Finns up 3-1. Before the end of the first period, the Finns would get another goal to increase their lead to 4-1, as Aarne Talvitie would find the back of the net.

Following the fourth Finland goal, the Czechs would give Skarek the rest of the night off in replacement for backup goalie Jiri Patera.

Finland would continue with their scoring ways at the start of the second period, as Talvitie would get his second goal of the game, increasing the Finns lead to 5-1 over the Czechs.

However, the Czech Republic would come alive as they would score two goals in a span of 5 minutes. The first goal would come on the powerplay, as Filip Chytil would find the back of the net. 5 minutes later, it would be Marek Skvrne who would find the back of the net to cut the Finns lead to two.

Penalties would once again get the Finns in trouble, and the Czechs would take full advantage of it as Ondrej Machala would find the back of the net to cut the deficit to one to close out the second period.

In the final frame of the game, the Czechs would finally be able to tie it as Filip Zadina would wire a shot that would find the back of the net.

However, in overtime it would be the Finns who would get the last laugh as Santeri Virtanen would find the back of the net to secure the victory for the Finns.

With the victory, Finland advances to the semifinals where they will face Russia on April 22nd, with faceoff scheduled for 3:30pm (15:30 GMT+2).