Finland made amends for their historic loss to Germany a year ago, winning today’s game by a 3-1 score on less than 18 hours rest. A year ago, Germany won, 4-3, their first win over Finland at the World Juniors after 25 consecutive losses.

The Finns move to 1-1 with the Group A win while Germany drops to 0-2. Both teams now have a day off. Finland plays the early game on Sunday, against the United States, followed by a Germany-Canada tilt.

"The last period yesterday was pretty good for us, so we tried to carry through from that and play more relaxed," said Finnish forward Kasper Halttunen. "Yesterday, the first two periods we were backing up too much, but then we got into our own game."

"We played pretty well today," said German Noah Samanski. "We tried to keep it simple. I think we played a pretty decent game yesterday as well, but we let more goals in. We learned from yesterday's game. The boys did a good job today."
 

The Finns had the better of play in the opening period and were unlucky to score only once. They had a great chance early on when Kalle Kangas beat goalie Linus Vieillard with a shot from close range, but defender Sebastian Soini swept the puck off the goal line to keep it a goalless game. 

A little later, Arttu Alasiurua missed an open net from in close, but at 17:30 they finally connected. Captain Aron Kiviharju set up Emil Pieniniemi for a one-timer, and his quick shot beat Vieillard under the blocker. The 18-year-old German goalie was making his top-level debut with Germany, having played previously only one game in Division I-A of last year’s U18, when the team finished first to earn promotion to this year’s top level of that event. Vieillard was sensational today, stopping 40 of 42 shots and earning Best Player honours.

Julius Sumpf had two excellent chances for the Germans in the opening period but came up empty. He made a nice steal at his blue line and went in alone, only to blast a shot wide. Near the end, he outwitted a Finnish player from the slot but again couldn’t convert.

The Finns doubled their lead early in the second on a beautiful three-way passing paly off the rush. Jesse Nurmi fed Tuomas Uronen who in turn found Alasiurua on the doorstep. All he had to do was re-direct the puck into the empty side at 5:10 for a 2-0 lead.

But German coach Tobias Abstreiter thought the play was offside and challenged. Officials, however, confirmed the call on ice and penalized the Germans for delay of game. They killed off the penalty to perfection and then replied with a goal of their own. 

It started with a pass by Sumpf well behind his intended target, Clemens Sager, but Sager reached back, turned, and fired a blind shot that beat Petteri Rimpinen to the far side at 7:24. 

Germany had a great chance to tie the game midway through the third. Simon Seidl had the puck alone in front, but he was in tight and didn't have much room to make much of a move on Rimpinen. That was as close as Germany got. Jesse Kiiskinen added an empty netter at 18:43 to seal the victory for Suomi.