2025 World Junior Championship: Day Eight Preview

It’s hard to believe that we’re one sleep away from the gold medal game at the 2025 World Junior Championship. Today’s slate of games only has two games as the relegation game wrapped up and four teams advanced to today’s semifinal round.

Related: A Quick Guide to the 2025 World Junior Championship

Today’s slate of games will sort out who plays for gold and who plays for bronze. Check out the previews ahead of today’s games with one player to watch from each team.

Semifinal One: Finland vs Sweden (2:30 PM CST)

Finland and Sweden head to battle against each other in the first semifinal matchup of the day. Both teams narrowly avoided losing to Latvia, but none was bigger than Sweden just barely escaping defeat in the quarterfinal game against the strong Latvian group.

This game has a trip to the gold medal game on the line, the Swedes are undefeated which projects them as the heavy favourites, but Team Finland is not to be counted out as they have battled in all of their 2025 World Juniors games so far.

If there is anything to watch out for, it’s for the Swedish team to have a down game at the worst possible time against a team hungry to find themselves in the gold medal game.

One Player to Watch from Each Team

For the Swedes, Otto Stenberg has been just as steady as Axel Sandin-Pellikka in my eyes. He’s got all the right tools to push the Swedes in the direction of a second straight appearance in the gold medal game, but they need to solve the Finnish goaltending first if they want to do just that.

You guessed it, Petteri Rimpinen is the X factor for Team Finland in this game. Five games with a 2.00 goals-against average (GAA) and a save percentage (SV%) of .941 is a great sign heading into Finland’s semifinal matchup. Rimpinen has provided a great deal of confidence and stability for the Finnish group as they look to get into the medal conversation this year.

Semifinal Two: Czechia vs United States (6:30 PM CST)

The defending gold medalists from the 2024 World Juniors look to return to the gold medal stage in their matchup against Team Czechia who is riding high off a second consecutive upset against Team Canada.

This game is a big deal for both countries as the semifinal games are different than last year. The Americans face a resilient opponent in the Czech group who will be firing on all cylinders. However, it’s up to the Americans to play a strong defensive game, like they have been this entire tournament to push themselves to victory.

The main event of the games for Saturday evening is an interesting one as Czechia would love to knock off the defending gold medalists, but the Americans would love to win a second consecutive gold medal, especially on Canadian soil.

One Player to Watch from Each Team

Oliver Moore is my player to watch for the Americans in this game. He has four assists and points in five games. Being held goalless isn’t a great look, but he could be due for a scoring outburst when the Americans need someone to go on a huge tear. However, he might be facing a tougher challenge with the Czechs.

The Czechs need their entire team to step up to the plate if they want to win this game, and their goaltender, Michael Hrabal, carries a lot of responsibility in that effort too. However, the team will be looking towards their top scorers to keep up their scoring ways if they want to beat the heavy favourite USA squad. Jakub Stancl is my player to watch this game as he’s already got eight points (5G, 3A) in this tournament and looks better offensively each game. Trey Augustine could have his hands full with Stancl and Eduard Sale this game.