Sale and Jakub Stancl (St. Louis Blues) scored in the second period for Czechia, which won a medal at the World Juniors for the third straight year for the first time. It won the bronze medal at the 2024 WJC and the silver medal at the 2023 WJC. Michal Hrabal made 32 saves.

The United States is on a quest to win the World Juniors title in back-to-back years for the first time in the country’s history. Despite losing to Finland in the group stage, their loaded offense, powered by Ryan Leonard and James Hagens, helped them win Group A and ran away with a 7-2 win over Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

The USA defeated Czechia and Finland beat Sweden in the semifinals of the world junior hockey championship. Highlights from Saturday's action.

The U.S. will seek a seventh tournament championship and a chance at winning back-to-back titles for the first time when it plays Finland in the gold medal game at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).

Boston University’s Cole Eiserman broke a second-period tie and the defending champion United States beat Czechia 4-1 on Saturday night to advance to the world junior hockey championship game

Eduard Sale scored in the 14th round of a shootout to give Czechia a 3-2 victory over Sweden on Sunday in the third-place game at the world junior hockey championship. The Czech captain beat Marcus Gidlof on his fifth attempt — and 28th between the teams — with a move to the backhand.

The defending champion United States beat Czechia 4-1 on Saturday night to advance to the world junior hockey championship game against Finland.