Lisbon’s Greg Moore sets up the winning goal for the Americans.
From staff and wire reports

HELSINKI – Dan Fritsche picked a perfect time to get on the board at the IIHF World Junior Championships on Saturday.

Fritsche knocked home a pass from Lisbon’s Greg Moore at 14:07 of the third period to give the United States a 2-0 lead. The Americans hung on for a 2-1 win over host Finland in Saturday’s semifinal game in Helsinki.

For Moore, who plays for the University of Maine, it was his second assist of the tournament, and perhaps the most important point of his young career, giving the U.S. just enough of an edge to eke past Finland.

The victory sets up an all-North Amwerican final between the U.S. and Canada.

In goal, Al Montoya, who stifled Maine in last season’s NCAA quarterfinals, held off the Finland attack for 59 minutes, allowing one shot to sneak past him with 59 seconds left to backstop the win. Montoya made 25 saves.

University of Massachusetts forward Stephen Werner made it 1-0 for the U.S. with a shorthanded goal at 8:31 of the first period on an assist from the tournament’s leading scorer, Zach Parise. Both teams traded penalties in the second, but neither could solve the goaltending.

In the third, Fritsche got help from Moore and David Booth.

Finland tallied their lone goal with an extra attacker on the ice in place of goaltender Hannu Tiuvonen (27 saves). Teemu Nurmi cut the U.S. lead to 2-1 with his second of the tournament at 19:01.

Canada checks Czechs

Jeff Carter scored two goals and Sidney Crosby added two assists to help Canada to a 7-1 win over the Czech Republic in the other semifinal contest.

Nigel Dawes, Michael Richards, Daniel Paille, Ryan Getzlaf and Braydon Coburn also scored for Canada, which will appear in its third consecutive Under-20 final. In each of the last two years, Canada lost in the finals to Russia by one goal.

The Canadians executed their plan of hitting the Czechs hard at the start of the game to give themselves room to score.

Dawes scored on Canada’s second shift of the game when linemates Anthony Stewart and Richards dished out some checks.

When the Czechs score first, they tend to protect their lead by playing conservative offense and trapping in the neutral zone.

Ondrej Nemec scored on the Czechs’ first shot of the game during a power play in the final minute of the first period. He beat Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury high at 19:11 to cut Canada’s lead in half. But the Czechs would not score again.

Canada killed off the major that straddled the second and third periods. Carter’s short-handed goal 43 seconds into the third period was a back-breaker.

Carter, a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick who plays for Sault Ste. Marie, pressured the Czech defense into coughing up the puck on Canada’s blue-line. He skated in alone to beat Czech goaltender Marek Schwarz to make it 4-1 for Canada.

Fleury stopped 15 shots for the win.