Team USA will appear in back-to-back gold medal games at the World Junior Championship for the first time in their history. The Americans powered through Team Czechia in the 2025 semifinals with a 4-1 victory on Saturday night.
The USA will now play Team Finland for gold on Sunday at 7:30 pm inside Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre.
Ryan Leonard, team captain, had another huge game, assisting on the USA’s first goal and later potting one of his own. The 19-year-old winger now has eight points (5g, 3a) through six games. He first got on the scoresheet just 3:14 into the opening period after making a diving pass to a hard-charging Gabe Perreault.
After Czechia tied it later in the first period, Cole Eiserman put the USA back up by one with a power-play goal assisted by Cole Hutson 13:41 into the second period. As the game went into the second intermission 2-1, Leonard, wearing a bubble face shield after breaking his nose in the quarterfinals, flipped a puck at a Czech forward.
Leonard’s goal was an insurance marker, finishing a deft feed from Perreault with 4:27 left in regulation.
“It’s so fun out there, playing with [Perreault],” Leonard told Jon Morosi postgame. “He’s so smart. I’ve just got to have my stick on the ice and ready for it.”
Oliver Moore added an empty netter to seal the game and send Czechia to the bronze medal match against Sweden.
“Playing the Czechs, they’re always so tight in their D-zone,” Leonard said. “It’s tough to break them but we found a way to do it tonight so we’re really proud with the team’s victory.”
After the final horn, Leonard and Hutson, both Washington Capitals prospects, were named by their coaches as two of Team USA’s three best players over the six games. With his assist on Eiserman’s goal, Hutson will go into the gold medal matchup tied for the tournament lead in scoring with nine points (2g, 7a).
The two Caps draft picks and New York Islanders prospect Danny Nelson received watches from tournament sponsor Tissot.
#ALLCAPS Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson are apart of USA's 3 best players of the tournament selected by their management pic.twitter.com/8mthewKLPY
— x – Capitals Replays 🍁 (@capsreplays) January 5, 2025
The third Capitals prospect involved in the game, Petr Sikora, saw his pursuit for gold end after notching seven points (4g, 3a) in six games and recording a tournament-best plus-10 rating. The Canadian crowd booed Sikora every time he touched the puck because they still believe he embellished a penalty in Czechia’s quarterfinal win over Canada on Thursday night.
Sikora will play for bronze at 3:30 pm on Sunday.
