Finland will meet Sweden in the semifinals of the Junior World Championships in Edmonton.
The Czech Republic unexpectedly knocked out the United States. ZUMAWIRE / MVPHOTOS
The Young Lions, who defeated Germany in their World Cup quarter-final match on Wednesday, will face Sweden in the semi-final match.
That was confirmed when the Czech Republic unexpectedly knocked out the reigning world champion, the United States, in the final quarter-final on Wednesday, 4-2.
The Czech Republic scored the goals it needed to win in the second period. The winning goal was scored by an attacker in 30:45 Matyas Sapovaliv.
The final set of the match saw two outs, when the United States Brett Berard first flew into the shower from a leg sweep and later the Czech Republic Stanislav Svozil knee tackle.
If the pre-favorite USA had won the match, Finland’s opponent in the semi-final would have been Canada.
In the other quarter-final matches of the day, Sweden narrowly defeated Latvia 2–1 and Canada beat Switzerland 6–3.
Canada and the Czech Republic will meet in the second semi-final. The semi-finals are played on the night between Friday and Saturday, Finnish time.