Russia has advanced to the gold-medal game of the world junior ice-hockey championship with a 2-1 victory over the United States.
Russia will face host country Finland for the gold on January 5 in Helsinki.
It was the third straight year the Russians ousted the United States from gold-medal competition in the tournament.
The Americans will have a chance to win the bronze medal in a game with Sweden, also scheduled for January 5.
The Russian team's head coach, Valery Bragin, attributed the win to good prematch strategic analysis of the U.S. team.
"I did not have to psych them up for the game today. The most important thing is that they had analyzed their rivals' game well and won," Bragin told TASS.
Bragin said forward Yegor Korshkov's delivery of the second point also was key to the Russian victory.
