RUSSIANS SCORE FOUR IN THIRD TO BEAT U.S., RETURN TO U17 GOLD MEDAL GAME

VICTORIAVILLE, Que. – Yevgeni Svechnikov scored twice, including the clincher into an empty net, as Russia booked a return trip to the gold medal game at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge with a 6-4 win over the United States on Thursday night.

The Russians will face Sweden in Friday night’s gold medal game at the Colisée (7:30 p.m. ET, TSN2), one win away from becoming the first team since Ontario in 2008 and 2009 to win back-to-back U17 gold medals.

Radel Fazleyev added two goals of his own, both coming in the decisive third period when the Russians turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead with three goals in the first 5:17 of the final frame.

Ivan Nikolishin and Maxim Lazarev also scored, while Lazarev and Eduard Nasybullin added two assists each for Russia, which beat a group winner in the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Chris Wilkie scored the first two goals of the game for the U.S., which missed out on the gold medal game for the first time since 2009 – it had won a gold (2010) and two silver (2011, 2012) in the last three tournaments.

Austin Poganski and Jack Glover has the other American goals.

It is the second year in a row the Russians have beaten the U.S. in the medal round; last year in Windsor, Ont., Russia knocked off the Americans 7-4 to win its first gold medal at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge since 2000.

The U.S. will face Quebec in the bronze medal game on Friday afternoon in Drummondville (3 p.m. ET).