ST. PAUL — The night was supposed to be about Cole Hutson.
The star defenseman made his ceremonious return to the lineup, scoring a goal and assisting on another to become the highest-scoring American blueliner in IIHF World Junior Championship history.
Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul was rocking, especially when Ryker Lee tied the game with 93 seconds left in regulation to keep the Americans’ hopes for a 3-peat alive.
But Finland had a redemption arc of its own.
One year removed from losing the gold-medal game in overtime against the U.S. in Ottawa, the Finns avenged the gut-wrenching loss, and the winning goal came from an unlikely hero.
Arttu Valila, an undrafted, 19-year-old, third-pair defenseman, beat U.S. goaltender Nick Kempf 2:11 into the 3-on-3 session, delivering a 4-3 win and a WJC semifinal berth.
“It was so amazing,” said Valila, who hadn’t registered a point before the goal. “I don’t have any words about that. Just amazing. Last year, the finals, I watched that game at home. Talking with the boys about how it’s payback time, and it was.”
There was no Teddy Stiga breakaway. “Freebird” wasn’t heard again. All that was left of the Americans were long faces and the stunned silence from the GCA home faithful.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“That’s sports. It rips your bloody heart out in a situation like that,” U.S. coach Bob Motzko said. “Give credit to Finland. They never change. Down or up, they play the same way. They got their sticks on a puck and the game changed.”
Finland trailed 2-1 for over half of the third period. Then Leo Tuuva tied the game with 7:17 left in regulation before Joona Saarelainen gave the Fins their first lead 65 seconds later.
“They’re a great hockey team, and it’s a really hard tournament,” U.S. forward Cole Eiserman said. “It feels like every year, countries are getting better and better. They played a really good game. I thought we played a really good game. That’s just hockey and life.”
The U.S. went down swinging.
Lee’s tying goal forced the extra session. He buried a pass from James Hagens after Will Zellers, Team USA’s leading scorer in the tournament, got the puck behind the net on a great individual effort on a contested zone entry.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
While going to overtime could’ve given the Finns some pause after last year’s stunner, goaltender Petteri Rimpinen still felt confident after surrendering the tying goal.
“You just have to go to the next puck,” he said. “You can’t start thinking about it. It’s actually easy to do that, because you have to.
“We just tried to say, ‘Keep playing. Don’t stand back.’ Last year in the final, we didn’t have the courage to play. But now we went in there and tried to score the goal, because we can win 3-on-3 overtime without (pinning) ourselves back with only defense. Now we have that courage.”
Rimpinen admitted he was hesitant to celebrate Valila’s winner, worried it might be called back for being offside. However, when he realized there was no review, he let the moment hit him.
“Really emotional to win this game,” said Rimpinen, who played all seven games for Finland in the 2025 WJC. “U.S.A. is a top team (with) so many good players. I feel bad for them; they played a hell of a hockey game and battled right down to the wire. We just game up with the big goal this time, but we know what happened last time around.
“We have huge respect for each other, obviously. They have so many top guys out there who are so skillful. As I said, this time around, it went this way. It’s so even. I feel for them, being on home ice and stuff. It’s about bounces — always. We got that one tonight.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
When Team USA took the ice for pregame warmups, Hutson took a knee near the red line and watched his teammates, reflecting for an extended moment.
“Just how crazy the week was,” he said of what was going through his head during warmups. “Before the game, I thought about how it could be my last game in this jersey, no matter what happens. Just wanted to make the most of it.”
Six days ago, Hutson was on the receiving end of an errant shot from the point. It caught him in the back of the neck, sending him to the ice motionless and unconscious for several minutes. He was escorted off the ice on a stretcher and sent to a nearby hospital before he rejoined his teammates less than an hour after they finished off a 2-1 win over Switzerland on Saturday, Dec. 27.
Hutson returned to practice earlier in the week, which came as a sigh of relief for his teammates.
“It was definitely a scary moment earlier in the tournament,” forward and Boston University teammate Kamil Bednarik said. “Immediately, he had an impact. He’s one of our best defensemen, if not the best. I love playing with him; he’s such an unreal player.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Despite it only being a week since he was last in the lineup, Friday’s quarterfinal was a long-awaited return for Hutson, one of the most impactful American blue liners in WJC history.
It didn’t take long for the BU sophomore to get back on the scoresheet, either.
As Finland’s power play expired 25 seconds into the second period, Hutson jumped into the ensuing rush with Brendan McMorrow and college teammate Kamil Bednarik. Hutson received a pass in the slot from Bednarik and ripped home the game’s first goal.
After Finland’s Heikki Ruohonen tied the game four minutes later, Hutson helped the U.S. get back on top, feeding a pass to another BU teammate, Cole Eiserman, for a power-play goal.
“It was obviously huge having him back,” Eiserman said. “He did a really good job tonight. He’s our backbone, so it was really good having him back and doing his thing out there. Tough we couldn’t get him another game.”
Hutson, a second-round pick by the Washington Capitals in the 2024 draft, now has 15 points in 10 WJC games. He’s the highest-scoring American defenseman ever in WJC play, surpassing Erik Johnson’s 14 points in 14 games in 2006 and 2007.
“It’s just different having him in our lineup,” Matzo said. “He puts our whole defensive corps in order.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Hutson opted not to go into specifics about his injury, but said, “Super happy for the opportunity. I got to spend Christmas with some of my best friends in the world. I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity. Just disappointed we didn’t come away with a gold medal.”
If the Americans had prevailed in overtime, Motzko said there was a “really good chance” Max Plante would’ve also played on Sunday in the semifinals against Canada. Plante has been sidelined with an upper-body injury since midway through Team USA’s game against Slovakia on Monday, Dec. 29.
“I’m going to say it, and it’s going to sound wrong, but injuries really played a huge part and what we lost,” Motzko said. “With the penalties in the two games, our guys just kept battling through.
“What a loss (Hutson) was for us — for any team in this tournament. We lost Max Plante. We lost (Trevor) Connelly. You lose players like that, those are the elite players.
Team USA also lost Brendan McMorrow to injury in the third period. Motzko said McMorrow broke his finger.
“Injuries are the worst part of sports,” he continued. “These kids give their heart and soul. They train so hard, and your heart just bleeds for them any time that happens. It’s crushing for them when that happens. It’s the hardest thing about this tournament.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Full tournament coverage
Click on the image above to read comprehensive coverage of the 2026 World Junior Championship tournament.
Click on image to read comprehensive coverage of the 2026 World Junior Championship tournament.