This year’s World Junior Championships has moved rapidly. Ottawa is hosting the 2025 WJC Tournament. What started out as a round robin tournament that included 10 countries is now down to the final four. The semifinals will be played on Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre.

The first semifinal will pit old rivals against each other when Finland takes on Sweden. Game time is set for 3:30 ET. After winning Group B, Sweden skated by pesky Latvia 3-2 in the quarterfinals yesterday. Despite outshooting Latvia 50-13, Sweden couldn’t pull away against the upset-minded country.

It had already been their best showing with an upset over Canada and a win over Germany. After falling behind 3-0, Latvia used a pair of goals in the second period to make it interesting. However, Sweden’s territorial dominance was too much for Latvia to overcome. David Edstrom’s power-play goal held up as the game-winner to send the Swedes into the semis.

After dealing USA their only defeat in group play, Finland held off Slovakia 5-3 on Thursday to advance to the semis. Despite a goal from Slovakian star Dalibor Dvorsky that cut it to one, Jesse Nurmi scored with less than two minutes left to put it away. As a result, Finland renews acquaintances with Sweden in the first semifinal tomorrow afternoon.

The second semifinal will feature USA facing Czechia on Saturday night at 7:30 ET. Entering the WJC, the Americans were aiming for a repeat. After falling to Finland in overtime, they rebounded by defeating Canada 4-1 on New Year’s Eve. Even though they didn’t play their best game, they took full advantage of some undisciplined Canadian penalties to win Group A. They connected three times on the power play in the win.

By defeating Canada, that allowed them to avoid Czechia in the quarters. Instead, USA took advantage of a favorable draw by defeating Switzerland 7-2 on Thursday. The Boston College connection of Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, and James Hagens all starred in the win with the trio combining for seven points (4-3-7). Danny Nelson, Zeev Buium, and Brandon Svoboda also scored for USA.

In the featured game, Czechia eliminated Canada 4-3 to send them packing for the second consecutive year. The Czechs built a 3-1 lead in the first period on goals from Petr Sikora, Jakub Stancl, and Eduard Sale. But Canada rallied on goals from Porter Martone and Bradly Nadeau to even the score.

When Nadeau jarred loose a rebound past Czechia goalie Michael Hrabal with less than five minutes remaining in the third period, the pro Canadian crowd went wild. Canada dominated the action by swarming Hrabal. He stopped everything until a Luca Pinelli shot caused him some trouble. Unable to cover the puck for a whistle, Hrabal allowed Nadeau to poke in the rebound with 4:18 left in regulation.

The way Canada played, it looked like they’d find a way to win it and set up a rematch with USA on Saturday. Instead, a loss of discipline proved costly. Christopher Gibson was called for kneeing a Czechia player with 2:27 left to put them on the power play. For most of the two-minute penalty, Canada did an outstanding job on the penalty kill by being aggressive and clearing the zone. But with time winding down, Sikora and Adam Jiricek combined to set up Adam Jecho for a rocket that beat Carter George with less than 40 seconds left in regulation.

From there, Czechia forechecked in the Canada zone to kill precious time off the clock. When it was over, the Czechs celebrated their big triumph in the corner before the postgame ceremony at center ice.

For Canada, it was a bitter pill to swallow. Despite dominating most of the play at even strength, they were unable to advance to the medal round. Instead, they were left to wonder what went wrong. Undisciplined play and inconsistent offense doomed Canada. They never were able to get untracked. Perhaps management deserves the blame for failing to select Beckett Sennecke or Michael Hage. Both could’ve helped the cause.

Most notably, coach Dave Cameron won’t be back. How can he after such a failure? He has been widely criticized for not taking the best players. He also never held any team practices following losses. Considering how his team played, he deserves the criticism.

If there was a bright spot, Gavin McKenna would be it. The 17-year-old looks like he’ll be at the top of the draft board in 2026. He only scored one goal in five games. However, he created numerous scoring chances due to his game-changing speed and skill. He was dangerous against USA, hitting a goalpost when Canada trailed 2-1 in the third period on Dec. 31. McKenna is a player to keep track of.

USA features Hagens, who has had a good tournament with eight points (4-4-8). He’s considered to be one of the best prospects this year. He’s centered Perreault and Leonard as a freshman at BC. Hagens is a fast skater with a laser of a shot. When the 2025 Draft takes place this summer, he could go number one.

The Americans should expect a tough game from Czechia. They have some key players back with Stancl, Sale, and Hrabal leading the charge. That’s a semifinal worth watching tomorrow night. E.J. Hradek and Tony Granato have the call on NHL Network.