For the last week or more, Sweden has looked like a team of destiny, with all the trappings of an exceptional group bound for a gold medal. 

The Swedes have had solid goaltending from Love Harenstam. An impressive 10 players have recorded five or more points through six games. And they've seemed to be a crash course for the tournament final, looking to avenge their medal-less finish a year ago. 

However, at multiple points during Sunday's semifinal win over Finland, there appeared to be one hiccup on Sweden's march to glory. 

His name is Petteri Rimpinen, and for four periods, the Finnish netidner foiled chance after chance for the Swedes, eventually forcing the game into a shootout, where it took eight rounds to knock out the Finns. Rimpinen finished with 29 saves, including multiple breakaway stops against Sweden in the three-on-three overtime session. 

"He's a really good goalkeeper, but today, we scored four goals, so it's a nice win," Swedish forward Eddie Genborg said after the win. 

It was a nice win for Genborg, too. 

The Detroit Red Wings' second-rounder scored a goal and assisted on another, dropping a blind backhand pass to Iver Stenberg near the top of the Finnish zone on a delayed penalty that turned into Sweden's second goal. Between the two of them, they've scored six goals, with Genborg assisting on two of Stenberg's and Stenberg assisting on one of Genborg's. 

"It's amazing," Genborg said of playing with Stenberg, who is considered to be a lock for the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft. "We're really good friends out of hockey, so I think that's helped us on the ice, too."

Heading into tomorrow's championship, Genborg and Stenberg have combined for 15 total points. 

Outside of Genborg and Stenberg, Sweden got its first goal from Linus Eriksson, and Anton Frondell scored the shootout winner. 

Having Frondell, the third overall selection in last summer's NHL Draft, in the circle to take the most crucial shot of the tournament gave the Swedes a great deal of confidence, according to Genborg. 

"He's an amazing player. We knew he could score on the penalty," Genborg said. 

Atte Joki, Jasper Kuhta, and Joona Saarelainen each scored once for Finland, with Saarelainen's goal coming with just under six minutes to play in regulation. Despite having a 4-on-3 power-play chance in overtime, Finland failed to capitalize and finished 1-14 with the man advantage in its last four games. 

Genborg, who wasn't on the Swedish World Juniors team last year, laid out a simple formula for the Swedes to win their first gold medal since 2012. 

"Just go out there and play as a team," Genborg said. "We're going to do whatever it takes to win."

The Canadian Dream Crushers are on the move again. 

After ending Canada's run in the quarterfinals of the last two World Junior Championships, the Czech curse has followed the Canadians into the semifinal round, where the Czechs downed Canada 6-4 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Sunday night. 

"It's insane," Czech forward Vaclav Nestrasil said after the win. "The rivalry was there, and I think winning a third time against them and getting into the finals, (it's) the best thing that could have happened to us."

Not only did Czechia continue its trend of knockout-round dominance over Canada with the win, but it also avenged a 7-5 loss to the Canadians in the opening game of the tournament, and guaranteed that the tournament will have a European champion for the first time since Finland took home the gold in 2019. 

Canada opened the scoring at the 15:14 mark of the first period on Tij Iginla's fourth goal of the tournament, but Czechia's Maximilian Curran tied the game with just over three minutes left in the period to make it 1-1. 

Goaltender Michal Orsulak provided some extra juice in the second, stopping Michael Hage on a penalty shot, and then stopping Hage again when it was determined that Orsulak had tripped Hage on the first try. 

"I think really big," Orsulak said when asked if he gave his team a boost with his saves. "This was an important part of the game, because if they score, they lead." 

Orsulak finished with 20 fabulous saves in the win and said after the game that he was pleased with the team's defensive effort. 

"We played better defense than the last game (against Canada)," Orsulak said. "This is all about defense," he added, referring to the knockout rounds of the tournament. 

Czechia led 3-2 after the second, but the real fireworks came in the third, when the teams combined for five goals in the last 16 minutes of play. With 1:14 to play in regulation, a bouncing puck caromed off Tomas Poletin's skate and into the Canadian net. After a review, the goal was upheld. Vojtech Cihar iced the game with an empty-netter with 26 seconds left, his second of the game. 

Adam Titlbach and Adam Benak also scored for Czechia in the win. In addition to Iginla, Zayne Parekh, Cole Reschny, and Porter Martone scored for Canada. 

With the victory, Czechia has a chance to win its first gold medal since 2001, when it competed as the Czech Republic. 

Nestrasil said he hopes the rest of the country is just as excited as the players for that opportunity. 

"I hope the kids waking up today, you know, going to school, are going to be screaming in the kitchen, just being happy to represent Czech."