The 2023 World Junior Hockey Championships continued with the semifinals Wednesday as four teams tried to get one step closer to a gold medal.

The United States and Czechia each had dominant showings in the quarterfinals while Sweden and Canada both needed late goals to advance, but none of it matters at the start of the semifinal. One knockout round game means either competing for the championship on Thursday or settling for a chance at the bronze medal.

Here is the latest from the two games at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Canada.

Schedule/Results

Czechia def. Sweden, 2-1 OT

Canada def. United States, 6-2

Czechia 2, Sweden 1

Jiri Kulich sent Czechia to the WJHC finals with a goal in the final minute of the first overtime.

There had been limited action through much of regulation with Sweden holding a 1-0 leading, but David Jiricek came through for Czechia with a game-tying goal with just 39 seconds remaining in regulation.

Czechia had scored nine goals in an easy win over Switzerland last game, but couldn't get anything past Sweden goalie Carl Lindbom for most of the day.

It took the team pulling their own goalie and adding an extra attacker in the final minute to finally find the back of the net and force overtime.

Sweden had been the more composed team before that, holding the red-hot team scoreless through the first two periods. Ludvig Jansson then gave his side the 1-0 lead in the second period.

This was seemingly enough to pull out the win, but Czechia made sure there was more drama.

Tomas Suchanek made some key saves down the stretch and Czechia finally completed the comeback to clinch a spot in the finals.

The squad had been the only one of 10 teams not to suffer a loss in regulation during the preliminary round, while the win over Canada showed this was a legitimate contender to win the gold.

After showing plenty of resolve in Wednesday's win, the Czechs will be tough to beat in the gold medal game.

Canada 6, United States 2

The United States jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a goal from Logan Cooley in the slot that beat Canadian goaltender Thomas Milic just over one minute into the first period.

The Americans dominated the opening frame, and their hard work paid off as Kenny Connors found the back of the net at the 10:30 mark of the first period to extend their lead to 2-0.

However, Canada's Connor Bedard—the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL draft—found the back of the net at the 11:49 mark of the first period to cut the Red, White and Blue's lead in half.

The United States entered the second period with a 2-1 lead, but saw the advantage quickly slip away when Logan Stankoven scored just 47 seconds into the middle frame to make it a 2-2 game.

Stankoven's goal opened the floodgates for the Canadians in the second period as both Adam Fantilli and Joshua Roy each scored to extend the team's lead to 4-2.

However, it should be noted that the United States had two goals overturned for goaltender interference in Wednesday's game.

Jackson Blake put one past Milic with 12:38 remaining in the second period. Blake's goal would have tied the game 3-3, but it was waived off for goaltender interference. Rutger McGroarty then scored just seconds into the third period, which would have cut Canada's lead to 4-3, but his goal was also waived off.

Things only worsened from the United States from there as Brandt Clarke extended Canada's lead to 5-2 with about 10 minutes remaining in the third period.

Canada effectively put an end to the United States' gold medal hopes on an empty-netter from Roy with about three minutes remaining in the third period.

Canada will now move on to the gold medal game for the third consecutive year. The Canadians won gold in 2020 and 2022, and finished with the silver medal in 2021 when the U.S. won gold.

Canada and Czechia will meet in the gold medal game on Thursday for the first time since 1985, when the Canadians won their second gold medal. If Canada wins gold this year, it will mark the country's 20th gold medal in the tournament dating back to 1977.

The United States, meanwhile, will meet Sweden in the bronze medal game on Thursday.