World Junior Hockey Championship 2026 Quarterfinal Bracket Scores and Results

For the first time in three years, the United States will not win the World Junior Championships.

Team USA was eliminated from the quarterfinal round of the 2026 World Juniors when Finland's Arttu Valila scored in overtime of a Friday night matchup in Minnesota.

Finland will now advance to join Czechia, Sweden and Canada in the semifinals.

Teams were re-seeded after the quarterfinals, setting top-seeded Sweden on track to play Finland. Canada and Czechia will then battle for the other spot in the championship game.

Here's a look back at Friday's quarterfinal results before the puck drops Sunday for the next round of the tournament.

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Quarterfinals scoreboard

Sweden 6, Latvia 3

Czechia 6, Switzerland 2

Finland 4, United States 3 (OT)

Canada 7, Slovakia 1

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Upcoming schedule (all games on NHL Network and TSN)

Sunday, Jan. 4

Sweden vs. Finland: 4:30 p.m. ET
Canada vs. Czechia: 8:30 p.m. ET

Monday, Jan. 5

Third-place game: 4:30 p.m. ET
Championship game: 8:30 p.m. ET

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Friday recaps

Sweden 6, Latvia 3

Sweden will head into the weekend having joined Canada as the only two undefeated teams left in the tournament.

After capping off the group stage with a win over the United States, the Swedes started out the knockout round with a 6-3 blowout of Latvia.

It took just 10 seconds for Chicago Blackhawks prospect Anton Frondell to open the scoring Friday afternoon.

Latvia evened the score on a power-play goal later in the first period, but held onto the tie for less than four minutes before Sweden reclaimed the lead.

The Swedes dominated from there, with Frondell contributing again to extend the lead to 5-1 early in the third.

Latvia, which has made the quarterfinals for three straight years, was ultimately eliminated by Sweden for the second tournament in a row.

Sweden is now headed to the semifinals for the third straight winter. The Swedes are looking to improve on their 2025 run, which saw them lose the third-place game to Czechia, and push for the nation's first championship since 2012.

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Czechia 6, Switzerland 2

The second quarterfinal game started with another early goal as Washington Capitals prospect Leon Muggli opened scoring for Switzerland on the power play.

A busy first minute of the second period saw Switzerland come just short of scoring on a netfront turnover, shortly before Czechia's Tomas Galvas tied the game.

Switzerland got back in front with a power-play tip-in from the side of the net by Jamiro Reber.

The Czechs regained the lead with a flurry of three goals in five minutes, capped off with a tally from team captain Petr Sikora.

Czechia added two more goals in the third period to close out the win, eliminate Sweden and advance to the semifinals.

After two consecutive third-place finishes in the tournament, Czechia will now get a shot at making it back to the championship game for the first time since 2023.

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Finland 4, USA 3 (OT)

Finland has officially gotten revenge for last year's overtime loss to the United States in the World Juniors championship game.

The United States got out to an early lead Friday when Cole Hutson, in his return from taking a puck to the back of the head the week prior, opened scoring early in the second period.

That lead only lasted four minutes, however, before Philadelphia Flyers prospect Heikki Ruohonen scored to tie the game.

Hutson answered by feeding his BU teammate, New York Islanders prospect Cole Eiserman, for a go-ahead goal later in the period.

Late in the third period, goaltender Petteri Rimpinen stoned Boston Bruins prospect and BC star James Hagens on a point-blank opportunity.

Finland then stunned the United States by scoring two goals in a span of 55 seconds.

The United States made a late push to extend their hopes of a third straight tournament win.

With just a minute and a half remaining in regulation, Hagens got the puck to Ryker Lee for the tying goal.

It was ultimately Finland's Valila, however, who played hero with a goal just over two minutes into overtime to eliminate the two-time defending champions.

Finland will now continue their quest for redemption from last year's championship game defeat.

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Canada 7, Slovakia 1

Canada gave fans who crossed the border for Friday night's game very little time to doubt the team's hopes of a trip to the semifinals.

After Calgary Flames prospect and North Dakota center Cole Reschny opened scoring just over six minutes into the game, Team Canada took control with a five-goal first period.

The Canadians extended the league with a pair of tallies just over a minute apart in the second period.

Los Angeles Kings prospect Jan Chovan got Slovakia on the board late in the second, although by then his team faced a six-goal deficit.

Tempers flared between the two teams toward the end of the blowout's second period.

Canada will now advance to the semifinal round with the hope of making it to the championship game for the first time since a team led by Connor Bedard won the tournament in 2023.