The 2025 World Junior Championship tournament is officially over. The United States came away with the gold medal for the second year in a row, the first time in their history. Team Finland came in second, finishing on the wrong end of Teddy Stiga’s overtime winner in the gold medal game. And, finally, Team Czechia defeated Team Sweden in the bronze medal game with an exciting 14-round shootout.
Unfortunately, this will be the end of our three-star-of-the-day series for one of the most exciting World Juniors tournaments in recent memory.

Third Star: Eduard Sale

After a semi-final defeat to the Americans, Team Czechia still had a chance to come away with hardware in the bronze medal game against the previously undefeated Swedes. And it was about as close of a game as two teams could muster up.
Czechia’s captain, Eduard Sale, was one of many offensive threats for their squad. He finished the tournament with over a point per game due to his performance in the final game, scoring a goal in regulation and two even more important ones later.
The two most important of the pucks he put in the back of the net were in the shootout in the 13th and 14th rounds.
Sale’s goal in the 13th round was to tie the Swedes and keep the game going:
The goal in the 14th won the game and the bronze for the Czechs.
Plenty of eyes were going to be on the Seattle Kraken draftee at the tournament, and he made sure to have an impact on the scoresheet, whether it was games against the lower-rated teams or against Team Sweden in the biggest moments of a medal game.

Second Star: Ryan Leonard

The gold medal game was exciting despite not exceeding its predecessor in elapsed time of the game. Finland and the United States had already played once up to this point, which resulted in a Finnish win in the group stage. So, the USA not only had a chance to do something that had never been done before by them, but they could take revenge at the same time.
Captain Ryan Leonard, drafted by the Washington Capitals eighth overall in 2023, was the catalyst of a lot of the Americans’ offense in the gold medal game against the Finns. Despite not scoring a goal, he finished the game with two handfuls of good chances and a couple of assists.
Both of Leonard’s assists were set-ups for the tying goal at one point or another. The first came thanks to the quick hands and thinking of James Hagens to beat his defender to the net and score a rebound:
The second came on Cole Hutson’s gorgeous tying goal in the late stages of the second:
Leonard could have ended the game after some sweet overtime moves, but he didn’t. Instead, his Boston College teammate Stiga did it. However, he earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award, a pretty good consolation prize.

First Star: Petteri Rimpinen

While Leonard walked away with an MVP trophy, the goaltender on the losing side was the most impressive player in the gold medal game for either squad and could have walked away with the award for the tournament as well.
Rimpinen finished the game with 36 saves on 40 shots for an even .900 save percentage. His overall tournament save percentage was .933 in seven games. But it wasn’t like he was only making routine saves, especially against the Americans. Plenty of those 40 shots were high-danger chances. In overtime, Rimpinen made saves on some of Team USA’s best shots in the game.
And here’s another:
Rimpinen was Finland’s best player all tournament long, and at just 18 years old, he did well for himself at a tournament against the best of his peers. He gave his team a chance every night, and on a Finland squad that doesn’t lack offensive talent, they were a fun squad to watch through the tournament.
Honourable Mentions: Cole Hutson, Team USA (1G, 1A); Teddy Stiga, Team USA (1G, OT GWG to win gold); Emil Hemming, Team Finland (1G, 1A); David Edstrom, Team Sweden (2G); Felix Unger Sorum, Team Sweden (2A)