The United States beat the Czech Republic 4-1 to reach the IIHF World Under 18 Championship final in Chelyabinsk ©IIHF

The United States are one match away from successfully defending their International Ice Hockey Federation World U18 title after beating the Czech Republic 4-1 in today’s semi-final at Chelyabinsk in Russia.

Their opponents in tomorrow’s final will be Finland, who defeated perennial rivals Sweden 2-0 in their earlier semi-final at the Traktor Ice Arena to earn a fourth consecutive final appearance.

Finland won the title in 2016, but were beaten either side of that final by the United States.

They are the only team to win all their matches in regulation so far and will be eager to earn revenge for those defeats.

The US team, however, are playing in their ninth final in the last 10 years - and seeking their eighth gold medal in that period.

Czech goalie Lukas Dostal put in another excellent effort, but even with 43 saves, he could not mastermind another upset like the quarter-final ousting of Canada.

The US forward line imposed its will as a packed 6,459 crowd raised the noise levels, and Oliver Wahlstrom led the way with a goal and an assist.

Jack Hughes, who has dominated this tournament at the age of 16, also also scored for the Americans, and Joel Farrabee had two assists.

The two other US goals came from Spencer Stastney and Tyler Weiss.

Wahlstrom and Farabee are both appearing in their second consecutive U18 final and know the Finnish style well.

The Czech goal came from their captain, Libor Zábranský.

Sweden pressurise the Finnish goal in their IIHF World Under 18 Championship semi-final but repelled ©IIHF
Sweden pressurise the Finnish goal in their IIHF World Under 18 Championship semi-final but repelled ©IIHF

After his side had earned a fourth consecutive final through goals from Konsta Hirvonen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the Finnish goalie Justus Annunen, who defied everything Sweden threw at him, said: "We have a great chance of winning the gold medal because the tournament is going so great for us.

"We are playing together and, most importantly, we are enjoying to be together."

This was arguably Finland's most complete game of these U18 Worlds as they outskated and outhustled the Swedes from start to finish.

"The change in our mentality is that these guys haven't seen Finland lose to Sweden as much as my generation did," said Finland's coach Tommi Niemela.

"We saw Mats Sundin score twice in 1991.

"We always tended to lose to them in the last minute, but these guys, they have only seen Finland win.

"So, why not win again?

"No reason why not!"

Sweden are due to play the Czech Republic for the bronze before tomorrow’s evening’s final.