The U.S. took a 1-0 lead just two minutes into the first period. Schroeder gained the offensive zone and sent the puck to Philip McRae (Chesterfield, Mo.) at the point. McRae then feathered a pass through traffic to a crashing Kyle Palmieri (Montvale, N.J./Univ. of Notre Dame) who tipped in his first goal of the tournament.

Team USA extended its lead four minutes later on the power play. From the far corner, Schroeder found defenseman Matt Donovan (Edmond, Okla./Univ. of Denver) on the near post, who buried the shot to give the U.S. a 2-0 advantage after one period.

Both teams traded goals in the second period. Jerry D'Amigo (Binghamton, N.Y./Rensselaer) fired a wrist shot from the slot past Finland goalie Joni Ortio to give the U.S. a 3-0 advantage. But Finland got on the board later in the frame when Eero Elo collected his own rebound and sent a shot over the glove of Mike Lee (Roseau, Minn./St. Cloud State Univ.).

Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass./Boston College) restored Team USA's three-goal advantage two minutes into the third. Kreider set up in the Finland slot and sent a one-timer over the blocker of Ortio for his fifth goal of the tournament.

The U.S. whethered a third period rally by Finland, who fired 23 shots on net in the game's final frame. Lee allowed only one goal in the final 20 minutes, however, and D'Amigo's empty-net goal with 54 seconds remaining, along with a Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie, Minn./Univ. of North Dakota) tally just nine seconds later, sent Team USA to the 6-2 victory.

Lee, who was named Team USA's Player of the Game, finished the night with 42 saves. Finland's Ortio had 19 saves in the loss.

Team USA's semifinal game against Sweden can be seen live in the U.S. on the NHL Network. It will also be streamed live in the U.S. on FASTHockey.com.

NOTES: The U.S. advanced to the semifinals of the World Junior Championship for the seventh time in eight years ... Jordan Schroeder, whose 20 career World Junior Championship assists are already a U.S. record, moved into third on the all-time World Junior Championship career assists list, surpassing Eric Lindros' 19 ... The 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship runs Dec. 26 - Jan. 5 in Regina and Saskatoon, Sask. For Team USA's full schedule and results, click here... The NHL Network (U.S.) and FASTHockey.com will air every U.S. game live from Saskatoon ... In other tournament action, Switzerland defeated Russia, 3-2, in overtime to advance to a semifinal match-up against Canada. For complete results and stats from the tournament, visit IIHF.com... For full coverage of the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team, including photos, videos and features, click here.

Scoring By Period

FIN 0 - 1 - 1 - 2

USA 2 - 1 - 3 - 6

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Palmieri (McRae, Schroeder), 2:14; 2, USA, Donovan (Schroeder, Stepan), 6:34 (pp). Penalties: FIN, Team (too-many-men), 5:57.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, D'Amigo (Kristo, Stepan), 12:51; 4, FIN, Elo (Kivisto, Lajunen), 15:17. Penalties: USA, Bourque (tripping), 19:34.

Third Period - Scoring: 5, USA, Kreider (Morin, Jenks), 2:05; 6, FIN, Pakarinen (Sointu, Ikonen), 14:31; 7, USA, D'Amigo (unassisted), 19:07 (en); 8, USA, Kristo (Schroeder, Carlson), 19:16. Penalties: USA, Palmieri (interference), 15:47.