World Junior Championship roundup: Sweden tops Finland in shootout to reach final

The 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, resumes with the semifinals on Sunday. The championship and third-place game are Monday.

All games on NHL Network in U.S., TSN in Canada

Day 10 games

Sweden 4, Finland 3 (shootout): Anton Frondell (Chicago Blackhawks) scored in the eighth round of a shootout to help Sweden advance to the gold-medal game at Grand Casino Arena.

Ivar Stenberg, a projected top 5 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and Eddie Genborg (Detroit Red Wings) each had a goal and an assist, and Love Harenstam (St. Louis Blues) made 33 saves for Sweden, which advanced to the championship game for the second time in three years.

Sweden, which seeks its first gold medal since 2012, is 22-20 with two ties in the all-time series against Finland since the inaugural 1977 World Juniors. The last 10 matches between the rivals has been decided by one goal, including Finland's 4-3 overtime victory in the semifinals at the 2025 WJC in Ottawa.

Sweden's line of Stenberg-Viggo Bjorck (2026 draft eligible)-Genborg combined for five points (two goals, three assists).

Petteri Rimpinen (Los Angeles Kings) made 36 saves for Finland.

Linus Eriksson gave Sweden 1-0 lead just 36 seconds into the first period when his shot from the top of the left face-off circle from along the boards deflected off the glove of Rimpinen and into the net.

Atte Joki (Dallas Stars) pulled Finland into a 1-1 tie at 16:26 of the first when his shot from the top of the right circle beat Harenstam inside the right post.

Stenberg gave Sweden a 2-1 lead during a delayed penalty on a snap shot from the high slot at 1:20 of the second period.

Jasper Kuhta (2026 draft eligible) made it 2-2 just 50 seconds later when his shot attempt from the slot bounced off the glass and back over the net before Sweden defenseman Alfons Freij (Winnipeg Jets) swung and knocked it off of Hrenstam's back and into the net at 2:10.

Genborg gave Sweden a 3-2 lead at 14:07 of the second when his shot at the left post bounced in behind Rimpinen, whose stick got stuck in the netting inside the goal.

Joona Saarelainen (Tampa Bay Lightning) pulled Finland into a 3-3 tie at 14:01 of the third period, scoring from low in the right circle after the puck bounced off two players in the slot.

In the shootout, Matias Vanhanen scored in the second round for Finland, and Jack Berglund (Philadelphia Flyers) scored in the fifth round, and Frondell won it three rounds later.

On Tap

Canada vs. Czechia (8:30 ET) -- For the third straight year at World Juniors, Canada and Czechia will meet after the preliminary-round stage with Czechia celebrating quarterfinal-round wins in 2024 (3-2) and 2025 (4-3). Canada did earn a 7-5 win against Czechia in the prelims and will look to duplicate that result, following a 7-1 win against Slovakia in the quarterfinals on Friday. "It was a wide-open hockey game," Canada coach Dale Hunter said of the Dec. 26 game. "Both coaches didn't script it that way, but it happens in a game sometimes. We know each other a little bit better now because we played them already. So it'll be a good game." Canada has outscored the opposition 32-12 in five straight wins, leads the tournament in power-play percentage (47.0; 8-for-17) and is second in penalty killing percentage (91.6; 11-for-12). Six players have three or more goals, including forwards Brady Martin (Nashville Predators) and Porter Martone (Philadelphia Flyers), and defenseman Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames), each tied for the team lead with four goals. Left wing Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 Draft, has nine points (three goals, six assists) and is averaging 16:45 of ice time. Goalie Jack Ivankovic (Predators), the likely starter, is 2-0 with a 0.99 GAA and .952 save percentage in two games for Canada, which last won a gold medal in 2023. "It's gold medal or nothing and I'm really excited," Martone said. "We got our hands full. We're going to have a tough opponent in Czechia but we're ready for the challenge."

Czechia has medaled three straight years, winning silver in 2023, and bronze in 2024 and 2025 and seeks gold for the first time since winning back-to-back in 2000 and 2001. The country ranks fourth on the power play (31.6 percent; 6-for-19) and third on the penalty kill (75.0 percent; 12-for-16). Defenseman Adam Jiricek (St. Louis Blues) has scored in four straight games (four goals) and forward Vojtech Cihar (Los Angeles Kings) leads the team with nine points (two goals, seven assists). "I still think we can be more dangerous from the blue line," Czechia coach Patrik Augusta said. "We have very creative defensemen, they can make plays, but I wish they were shooting more and they were getting the pucks on the net. I think our power play and penalty kill can get better so there's a lot of room for improvement."

NHL.com deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman, senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale and independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report