It’s official. The teams are set. The gold medal game of the 2025 World Junior Championship is here.

Team USA is set to take on Team Finland in the rematch of an earlier group stage game, which the Finns took by a score of 4-3 in overtime.

However, before we get to the biggest game of the tournament (at least in regard to the hardware), there were two back-and-forth semi-final games that occurred. Team Finland beat Team Sweden in overtime, and the United States beat Czechia 4-1 in a contest that was closer than what the scoreboard might indicate.

So, that means without further ado, the second-to-last installation of the daily tournament three stars is here.

Without the Michigan State University goaltender, the Americans do not defeat Team Czechia. It’s as simple as that.

Augustine finished the night with 26 saves on 27 Czechia shots, good for a .962 save percentage. After a couple of shaky outings to begin the tournament, Augustine seems to have found his groove, and it came at just the right time.

Augustine’s biggest save of the night came with the score at 2-1 in favor of the Americans. And had he not made this save, the momentum (and potentially the game’s result) could have looked completely different.

Not only did this win seal a chance for the Americans to go back-to-back for a gold medal, but it also put Augustine in a category of his own. He became the winningest goaltender in American history at the World Juniors.

Augustine will have a serious challenge against Team Finland in the gold medal game, but his efforts to this point, especially against a talented Czechia team, have been phenomenal.

The most exciting contest of the two-game semi-final slate was the offensive shootout between Finland and Sweden.

The Finns got the last laugh as the two teams traded punches through the 60 minutes of regulation and into overtime, and their offense ran through Buffalo Sabres prospect, Konsta Helenius.

Helenius finished the game having produced four assists. In other words, he registered a point on every Team Finland goal with these passes.

Here is Helenius’ first assist:

Here’s his second on a set play off the faceoff:

And here’s Helenius’ assist on the overtime winner. While it wasn’t as eye opening as the other two, he found a way to get rewarded.

The Finnish team doesn’t have the kind of offensive firepower the Americans have, but they still have threats with and without the puck. They play a strong team game, and Helenius has not only been excellent in the AHL as an 18-year-old, but he has helped drive this Finland team’s scoring.

While Helenius led by example on the front end, it was another fantastic performance by Team Finland netminder Petteri Rimpinen that led on the backend.

Rimpinen saw 46 shots from Team Sweden and saved 43 of them for a .934 save percentage. Against a fast-paced Swedish group (who was on the power-play four times no less), Rimpinen made some impressive stops to continue his already great tournament. He has a .940 save percentage through six games and was big against the Americans in Finland’s win over them in the group stage.

Rimpinen’s outstanding performance against the Swedes will give him great momentum heading into the gold medal game, where he’ll look to outlast Augustine in a battle of two fantastic young goaltenders.