Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine, Team USA advance to gold medal game at World Junior Championship
While his Michigan State teammates were playing Wisconsin in an outdoor hockey game at Wrigley Field on Saturday night, Spartan goalie Trey Augustine was in net for Team USA in Ottawa at the 2025 IIHF U20 World Junior Championship in a semifinal match-up against a dangerous Czechia team, which eliminated host Canada at the Canadian Tire Center earlier this week for the right to play the Americans.
Against a talented Czechia outfit with 13 NHL draft picks, and several additional players that will undoubtedly be selected in the next two drafts, Augustine lived up to his reputation for playing his best in big games in 4-1 victory that earned USA a spot in Sunday’s championship against Finland at 7:30.
With the win over Czechia, Augustine now holds the record for wins at the World Juniors by a USA goalie with 11, according to the NHL Network. On Sunday, Augustine will now try to break more ground by leading USA to back-to-back U20 gold medals for the first time in the 49-year history of the World Juniors.
The championship game between USA and Finland will be televised by the NHL Network at 7:30 pm. on Sunday.
Claiming a gold medal in the World Junior Championship for the second consecutive year will not be easy, as Finland defeated Augustine and Team USA in overtime in pool play. After giving up four goals in that pool-play game against Finland, Augustine bounced back strong with an impressive showing in a win over host Canada.
Like Czechia, Finland is loaded with NHL Draft Picks. Sixteen different Finnish players have already been selected in the NHL Draft. Several more will be selected in the next two NHL Drafts.
“It sucks to lose, but we’ll learn some things,” Augustine told FloHockey after USA’s pool-play loss to Finland, but credit to them. They played hard and had a good game.”
The Finns advanced to IIHF championship with an overtime victory against rival Sweden in the first of two semifinal games on Saturday.
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Augustine made 13 saves for Team USA in its semifinal win over Czechia, which outshot USA. Augustine surrendered his lone goal to 19-year-old St. Louis Blues draft pick Jacub Stanzl midway through the first period.
Boston University freshman Cole Eiserman scored the game winner for USA against Czechia. Boston College standout Ryan Leonard gave USA a 3-1 lead. Minnesota’s Oliver Moore scored the final goal for USA.
Augustine was 4-0 as the starting goaltender for the gold-medal winning Team US at the U20 World Junior Championship in 2024. The Spartan star allowed just 1.75 goals per game at the World Juniors last January.
At the U18 level, Augustine won a gold medal with Team USA in Switzerland in 2023. One year earlier, Augustine was instrumental in helping his country claim the silver medal at the U18 World Junior Championship in Germany.
Drafted in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, Augustine led Michigan State to a Big Ten regular-season championship and Big Ten Tournament Championship as a freshman last season.
Augustine is allowing 2.07 goals per game for Michigan State as a sophomore.
