CALGARY -- Can the Finnish National Junior Team pull off the first major upset of the medal round in the 2012 World Junior Championship?

The Finns find themselves one defensive period away from elminating Sweden from gold medal contention. Joel Armia scored an unassisted goal with 4:30 remaining in the second period to give the Finns a 2-0 lead. Armia, who has been playing extremely well this year following a below average debut for Finland at the WJC in 2011, connected for his fifth goal.

Armia skated in on Swedish goalie Johan Gustafsson and snapped a shot that hit the iron to the goalie's left before the disk deflected into the net. Finland goalie Sami Aittokallio stopped 20 shots in the second and has 34 saves for the game.

The survivor of the match advances to Thursday's gold medal game to face either Canada or Russia at 6 p.m. ET.

The Finns opened a 1-0 lead with 1:31 left in the first when Alexander Ruuttu converted a great pass from Miro Aaltonen at the right post. The Finns last reached the gold medal game in 2001. 

CALGARY -- The Finnish National Junior Team is clinging to a 1-0 lead over Sweden midway through the second period of their semifinal round match in the 2012 World Junior Championship.

The Swedes are holding a 31-8 advantage in shots but haven't been able to solve goalie Sami Aittokallio. Mika Zibanejad, a first-round draft choice of the Ottawa Senators, had a great opportunity to even the score for for the Swedes with 7:41 left in the second, but was denied by Aittokallio.

Alexander Ruuttu's first-period goal with 1:31 on the clock remains to be the difference so far.

CALGARY -- Alexander Ruuttu scored off a perfectly placed pass from Miro Aaltonen with just 1:31 remaining in the first period to give the Finnish National Junior Team a 1-0 lead over favored Sweden after one period of their semifinal round match in the 2012 World Junior Championship at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Aaltonen appeared as though he was going to curl behind the Sweden net with the puck but, at the last possible second, zipped a pass to Ruuttu, who popped home his third of the tournament to the left of goalie Johan Gustafsson.

The Swedes held a 14-6 advantage in shots in the opening 20 minutes. Sami Aittokallio turned back all 14 shots. Both coaches had no issues having their top lines matched against the other's until late in the frame.

CALGARY -- So the Swedish National Junior Team and Team Finland are on the ice here at Scotiabank Saddledome getting set for the opening faceoff in what should be a pretty entertaining contest in the semifinal round of the 2012 World Junior Championship.

Finland has been led by the top line of Teemu Pulkkinen, Markus Granlund and Mikael Granlund on offense. In goal will be Sami Aittokaillio.

The Swedes have received major contributions from Johan Larsson, Johan Sundstrom and Max Friberg. The trio of Filip Forsberg, Mika Zibanejad and Rickard Rakell has also been sharp throughout the tournament. The Swedes will start Johan Gustafsson between the pipes.

Sweden lineups:

G-Johan Gustafsson
J. Larsson-Sundstrom-Friberg (Klefbom, Brodin)
Nordstrom-Rensfeldt-Thorell (Granberg-Nemeth)
Filip Forsberg-Zibanejad-Rakell (Backman-Claesson)
Collberg-Karlsson-Rask-Boyce Rotevall (Klingberg)

Finland lineups:

G-Sami Aittokallio
Pulkkinen-Ma. Granlund-Mi. Granlund (Makinen-Hakanpaa)
Armia-Salomaki-Donskoi (Hovinen-Pokka)
Ruuttu-Aaltonen-Barkov (Riikola-Ristolainen)
Ma. Hannikaninen-Ro. Hamalainen-Kuronen-Paajanen

CALGARY -- The U.S. National Junior Team has opened a 4-0 lead on Latvia in the opening period of the relegation round at the 2012 World Junior Championship at Scotabank Saddledome.
 
Austin Watson recorded a natural hat trick and Jason Zucker also connected for the U.S. in the first. A victory and the United States will avoid being relegated. U.S. starting goalie Jack Campbell made nine saves in the opening period.
 
This year, the 10th-place team from the WJC will be relegated to Division I in 2013 and will be replaced by Germany, winner of the Division 1 crown earlier last month. Prior to Tuesday's matchup, the U.S. and Latvia had only met once before in WJC play -- a 12-1 victory by the Americans on Dec. 29, 2009, in Saskatoon, Sask.

CALGARY -- The Czech Republic Junior National Team is giving Russia -- the defending World Junior Championship gold medalist -- all they can handle through two periods of quarterfinal-round action at Scotiabank Saddledome.
 
After being outshot, 16-5, during a scoreless first period, the Czechs earned the territorial advantage for much of the second when each team connected for a goal. The clubs enter the second intermission in a 1-1 tie. The winner will face Team Canada in the WJC semifinal round slated for Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
 
Russia, which was outshot, 15-9, in the second, pulled even on its third shot of the period when Danil Apalkov ripped one from the left circle that zipped over Petr Mrazek's right pad at the 12:47 mark.
 
The Czechs had taken a 1-0 lead 7:16 into the second when Tomas Hertl sent a nifty backhand pass across the crease to Jakub Culek, who stuffed his attempt home past goalie Andrei Vailevski.
 
Petr Straka barely missed giving the underdogs a two-goal lead midway through the period when his quick wrist shot from the right hash was denied by Vasilevski. The Russian goalie would then stop Daniel Krejci less than a minute later on another left pad save off a backhander from in close.
 
Mrazek would atone for allowing his 12th goal in five games by stoning Apalkov on the doorstep with 3:18 remaining in the second and then Yaroslav Kosov off a 2-on-1 with an incredible left-pad denial at the post a little over a minute later.
 
Mrazek turned aside 16 shots and survived a pair of breakaway attempts by captain Yevgeni Kuznetsov in the opening period. Mrazek, property of the Detroit Red Wings, has yielded 12 goals on 157 shots in the tournament. He entered Monday's game sporting an impressive 2.75 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
 
Kuznetsov broke free with 8:40 remaining in the first but Mrazek got a blocker on the shot. The Russian captain and lone returnee from last year's gold medal-winning team was sent in alone less than two minutes later only to have his backhand attempt from in tight skid across the crease with the goalie spread eagle in the paint.
 
The Russians were given the only power-play of the period at the 5:30 mark when Jiri Riha was whistled for slashing, but the Czechs survived unscathed. Russia's Nail Yakupov, who could be selected No. 1 overall in the 2012 Draft, had a good opportunity turned away by Mrazek with less than 15 seconds remaining in the period.
 
Returning to the lineup for Russia following a one-game absence was Mikhail Grigorenko.
 
Grigorenko suffered an ankle injury on Thursday when he collided with Latvian defender Arturs Salija in the early stages of the second period of an eventual 14-0 victory. The 2012 Draft- eligible forward entered the game having scored 2 goals and 4 points in three games for his country.

CALGARY -- Czech Republic goalie Petr Mrazek was up to his old tricks in the first period of his team's quarterfinal-round match in the 2012 World Junior Championship against the favored Russian National Junior on Monday at Scotiabank Saddledome.
 
Mrazek turned aside 16 shots and survived a pair of breakaway attempts by captain Yevgeni Kuznetsov to help his team escape with a 0-0 deadlock after 20 minutes. The winner of the contest will meet Team Canada in the tournament semifinals scheduled Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
 
Mrazek, property of the Detroit Red Wings, has yielded just 11 goals on 148 shots in the tournament. He enters Monday's game sporting an impressive 2.75 goals-against average and .917 save percentage.
 
Kuznetsov broke free with 8:40 remaining in the first but was denied by Mrazek's blocker before being sent in alone less than two minutes later only to have his backhand attempt from in tight skid across the crease with the goalie spread eagle in the paint.
 
The Russians were given the only power-play of the period at the 5:30 mark when Jiri Riha was whistled for slashing, but the Czechs survived unscathed. Russia's Nail Yakupov, who could be selected No. 1 overall in the 2012 Draft, had a good opportunity turned away by Mrazek with less than 15 seconds remaining in the period.

Russian goalie Andrei Vasilevski made five saves in the first.
 
Returning to the lineup for Russia following a one-game absence was Mikhail Grigorenko, who suffered an ankle injury on Thursday when he collided with Latvian defender Arturs Salija in the early stages of the second period of an eventual 14-0 victory. The 2012 Draft-eligible forward entered the game having scored 2 goals and 4 points in three games for his country.

CALGARY -- The Swiss are safe.

After edging Denmark 4-3 in overtime at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday, Switzerland has avoided relegation and can finish no lower than eighth at the 2012 World Junior Championship.

After winning a faceoff in Denmark's end, Tanner Richard buried a rebound off of Dario Trutmann's shot from the point behind Denmark goalie Sebastian Feuk with just 1:33 remaining in the extra period to lift Switzerland to victory, clinching its appearance in the 2013 World Juniors in Russia.

"For sure it's a relief," Richard said. "It's a lot of pressure because we're representing our country. It's for the guys next year, too. We have a young team and we all want to be in the A division next year. It's just great for our country."

The overtime loss gives Denmark their first ever points at the tournament. Nicklas Jensen, who had two goals in the losing effort, found little comfort in the fact.

"Obviously it's great to get a point for us," Jensen said. "Right now we're kind of disappointed. I thought we could've won the game in regulation time. We're not too happy with the score. We could've done better."

With a win over the United States on Wednesday, Switzerland will finish seventh. It's a game Richard said his Swiss can get up for.

"For sure, we can," he said. "We were quite disappointed when we blew the game against Slovakia. We wanted to be top-six. Now our goal is to finish seventh."

Cedric Schneuwly, Alessio Bertaggia and Gregory Hofmann also scored for Switzerland. Jensen's pair and a single goal by Oliver Bjorkstrand composed Denmark's offense.

Denmark opened the scoring in the first period when Oliver Bjorkstrand converted a 3-on-1 opportunity just 1:10 into the game.

Schneuwly countered just 35 seconds later for the Swiss, banging in a rebound from Sven Andrighetto's original offering. Switzerland went up 2-1 just two minutes later when Bertaggia beat Feuk over the blocker from the slot.

Denmark tied it before the period was out with the first of Jensen's two goals. On the power play, Jensen's point shot beat Swiss goalie Tim Wolf over the glove.

The teams traded goals in the second, with Jensen answering Hofmann's shorthanded penalty shot goal.

The loss pushes the Danes to the brink of relegation. Denmark would need a Team USA victory over Latvia on Tuesday, coupled by their own win over Latvia on Wednesday, to avoid demotion to Division I.

"We just have to take the positives from this game and our hard work and bring it against Latvia and not think too much about the past," Jensen said.

CALGARY -- Not surprisingly, Finnish National Junior Team coach Raimo Helminen announced that goalie Sami Aittokaillio will get the start against Slovakia on Monday in quarterfinal-round play in the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Helminen made his decision following the team's brisk morning practice at WinSport's Canada Olympic Park facility.

Aittokaillio is the tournament leader in save percentage (.987) and goals-against average (0.50) in his two victories in the tournament. Fellow Finn Christopher Gibson sports an .865 save percentage and 4.50 goals against average in two starts for the Finns.

Helminen knows his team, winner of three straight, will have to be on the top of its game to have any measure of success against the Slovaks.

"We have to be careful with them, they're a hard-working team and they look very dangerous," Helminen told NHL.com.

Follow Mike Morreale on Twitter: @mike_morreale

EDMONTON - So now that pool play in each bracket is complete, it's time for the teams in each bracket to congregate in Calgary for medal and relegation-round competition in the 2012 World Junior Championship.

In Group A, Sweden, Russia and Slovakia were the top three teams and in Group B, Canada, Finland and the Czech Republic earned spots in the medal round. The United States joins Denmark, Switzerland and Latvia in the relegation round, which will also take place at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.

Canada is the only country to win all four games in regulation during preliminary-round play, outscoring the opposition, 26-5. Sweden, the Group A winner and also unbeaten, outscored its foes, 26-11.

The teams receive a day off on New Year's Day but will commence action on Monday.

Quarterfinal Round
Monday
Finland vs. Slovakia, 5 p.m. ET
Russia vs. Czech Republic, 9 p.m. ET

Semifinal Round
Tuesday
Sweden vs. Finland/Slovakia winner, 5 p.m. ET
Canada vs. Russia/Czech Republic winner, 9 p.m. ET

Wednesday - Placement Round (5th/6th), 11 p.m. ET
Thursday - Bronze medal game at 3:30 p.m. ET
Thursday - Gold medal game at 10 p.m. ET

RELEGATION ROUND
Tuesday - Team USA vs. Latvia, 1 p.m. ET
Wednesday - Latvia vs. Denmark, 1 p.m. ET
Wednesday - Switzerland vs. Team USA, 5 p.m. ET

Follow Mike Morreale on Twitter at: @mike_morreale