{"id":460139,"date":"2025-01-05T09:24:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T14:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460139"},"modified":"2025-01-05T09:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T14:24:31","slug":"wjc-predictions-gold-and-bronze-medal-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/05\/wjc-predictions-gold-and-bronze-medal-games\/","title":{"rendered":"WJC Predictions: Gold and Bronze Medal Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the return World Junior Predictions. The elite Under-20 showcase features plenty of players that could become NHL superstars. Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games and breaks down the head-to-head matchups and other factors that play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered must-watch TV. Today\u2019s featured game of WJC Predictions<\/a> is the gold medal game between the United States vs Finland. This is the final WJC predictions for this year. However, we’ll be back for the 2026 tournament. We thank you for checking in during this entire tournament for these WJC predictions.<\/p>\n

WJC Predictions<\/h2>\n

Bronze Medal Game: Czechia vs Sweden<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> TSN; NHL Network<\/p>\n

We open WJC predictions with the bronze medal game between Czechia and Sweden. The two teams faced each other in the Group B finale with Sweden winning, 4-2. Sweden held off a scrappy Latvia in the quarterfinals while Czechia defeated host Canada to reach the semifinals.<\/p>\n

Czechia is looking to clinch the bronze for the second straight tournament. The Czechs lost, 4-1, to the United States in the semifinals and will try to salvage something. St Louis Blues<\/a> prospect Jakub Stancl is tied<\/a> for the tournament-lead in points with nine. Utah Hockey Club<\/a> selections Vojtech Hradec and Michael Hrabal have been playing well.<\/p>\n

Sweden is coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to rival Finland in the semifinals. The Swedes may have fallen short of expectations. However, they can salvage the tournament with a medal. Detroit Red Wings<\/a> prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka is one of the multitude of players with nine points this tournament.<\/p>\n

Both teams are coming off emotional losses, but Sweden should get the bronze<\/p>\n

Prediction: Sweden wins 4-2.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gold Medal Game: United States vs Finland<\/h3>\n

Time:<\/strong> 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV:<\/strong> TSN; NHL Network<\/p>\n

We close out WJC predictions with the United States battling Finland in the gold medal game. Finland came away with a 4-3 overtime victory in Group A play. However, the Americans were able to bounce back to win the group.<\/p>\n

Team USA rolled past Switzerland to book a spot in the semifinals while Finland pushed past Slovakia to get a spot in the semifinal round.<\/p>\n

The United States are the defending champions and looking to go back-to-back for the first time in program history. Team USA has been lightning up the scoreboard thanks to Washington Capitals<\/a> prospect Cole Hutson and New York Rangers<\/a> choice Gabriel Perreault. Both of these players have nine points, which is tied for first in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Finland has found a way to be clutch with a match 4-3 overtime wins over rivals Sweden and the United States. Buffalo Sabres<\/a> draftee Konsta Helenius leads the team in points with seven. However, goalie Petteri Rimpinen has been impressive this tournament with a .940 save percentage.<\/p>\n

This will be a close game and Finland has a great defensive system. However, the United States edges the Finns to get gold once again.<\/p>\n

Prediction: United States wins 4-3.<\/em><\/p>\n

Main photo by: David Reginek-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the return World Junior Predictions. The elite Under-20 showcase features plenty of players that could become NHL superstars. Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games and breaks down the head-to-head matchups and other factors that play in. We also have a featured game of the day, which is considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":449126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5744,2,4547,304,4548,3462,309],"tags":[8073,5726,1102,617],"class_list":["post-460139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-juniors","category-featured","category-hockey","category-international-hockey","category-nhl","category-nhl-prospects","category-nhl-top-prospects","tag-2025-world-juniors","tag-team-finland","tag-team-sweden","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460149,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460139\/revisions\/460149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}