World Juniors: Finland Edges Out Russia To Advance To Gold Medal Round

The defending champions are punching their ticket into their second consecutive gold medal round appearance, as Finland would edge out Russia in a close, hard fought battle that would need overtime to settle it.

The first period would be a close battle, in which neither team would be able to find the back of the net. However, in the early stages of the second period it would be the Finns who would get on the board by taking advantage of a Russia penalty, as Jesse Ylonen would find the loose puck in front and bury it past Russia goalie Maxim Zhukov.

Russia would finally get on the board in the third period, as Alexei Toropchenko would carry the puck up the ice, sending a nice crisp pass to the front of the Finland net where Kirill Slepets would be waiting to bury it to tie up the game.

The game would be forced into overtime to decide a victor, as Finland would find a game winner off the stick of Toni Utunen to give Finland the victory, and move them to the gold-medal round.

Now it is only a waiting game for Finland, as they will await the winner of the USA vs Sweden semi-final to see who they will play for the gold-medal tomorrow.