TAMPERE, Finland (CP) - It was a valiant effort by a Canadian team that gave its all only to lose in a shootout.

The United States eked out a 4-3 win to advance to the title game of the world under-18 hockey tournament against Russia, which got a last-second goal to defeat Sweden 5-4 in the other semifinal Friday.

"They battled hard and I'm very proud of the way they competed," said Canada's coach, Trent Yawney. "They were trying to find a way but it just didn't happen.

"It was one of those games between two teams that are evenly matched and that can go either way. We'll pick up the pieces and move forward."

Canada will play Sweden for bronze before the Americans take on the Russians for gold Sunday (11 a.m. ET).

"They're pretty disappointed right now but they have to rebound," Yawney said. "We've got another game to play.

"As much as (losing in the semifinals) is a low point, you can't get too low. They've been here too long and been too good a group not to give it their best, which I know they will in the next game."

Most of the Americans skated together all season out of the USA Hockey development centre in Ann Arbor, Mich., while Hockey Canada had to hastily assemble players from teams that didn't qualify for playoffs or were eliminated in the first round. Some of the best juniors in Canada were unavailable, but having 14 returnees from the team that lost to Finland in the 2006 semifinals was of benefit to Yawney.

"The fact they are together all year showed," Yawney said of the U.S. players. "When you've played with each other the whole year, it makes a bit of a difference.

"It's not an excuse on our part. They played well and deserve credit. They played a solid game."

It's been a long season for captain Angelo Esposito and his temporary teammates.

"A lot of the guys have played a lot of hockey," said Yawney. "But I'm proud of the way they gutted it out."

They'd set their sights on gold but the under-18 tournament has always been a tough one for Canadian teams. There's been one championship won, in 2003. The best showing since was silver in 2005. Now another year will pass before there is another chance to win it all.

"It's part of life," said Esposito. "It's an experience and we have to learn from it.

"Obviously, we wanted to win, but it didn't go our way. We'll learn and move on. We're looking forward to the third-place game."

The boys are tired but "we have to focus on the next game and after that we've got all summer off."

It was early to bed after dinner.

"Tomorrow's a new day and the sun will shine again," Esposito said before turning out the lights.

James vanRiemsdyk scored the only goal in the shootout to give the U.S. a chance for a third straight championship.

Trevor Cann of the OHL's Peterborough Petes and American counterpart Josh Unice were in the spotlight. Canada had beaten the U.S. 3-2 in a shootout in the preliminary round.

Unice stopped Kyle Turris of the BCHL's Burnaby Bulldogs and Cann stymied American Ryan Hayes to begin.

Steve Stamkos of the OHL's Sarnia Sting couldn't score and then it was vanRiemsdyk's turn. The top-five prospect for the NHL entry draft in June deked, pulled the puck to his backhand, and slid it through Cann's legs to the back of the net.

Canada's fate then rested on a shot by Zac Boychuk of the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes, who scored Canada's first two goals during regulation time. Boychuk also scored the decisive shootout goal five days earlier.

Boychuk glided to within 10 feet of Unice and took a shot that Unice stopped on his stick side.

Turris also scored for Canada in regulation time, while captain Kevin Shattenkirk, Vinny Saponari and vanRiemsdyk scored for the U.S.

With the score 3-3 with five minutes remaining in the third period, Turris had the puck five feet in front of the U.S. net and he beat Unice with his shot, but the puck hit a post.

"We all thought it was going in," said Esposito.

The puck caromed out to Logan Couture of the OHL's Ottawa 67s and he, too, had an excellent scoring chance. Unice made a huge save.

After a 10-minute overtime, vanRiemsdyk, a six-foot-three left-winger projected as a top-five NHL draft prospect, emerged as the shootout hero.

"We hit that post and then it goes to a shootout," said Yawney. "It's a tough way to lose, but we won (a shootout) earlier in the tournament and lost this one and that's the way it goes.

"It's a tough way to decide a game but those are the rules and we have to play by the rules."

The Russia-Sweden game also was a thriller. Sweden's Mikael Backlund scored on a penalty shot with 4:48 remaining to tie it 4-4 and Cherepanov, touted by some as the No. 1 prospect for the NHL draft, scored his second goal of the game on a power play with one second left.

Notes: Stamkos leads tournament scoring with 10 points (2-8) . . . The American players wore black arm bands on their left sleeves in memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings earlier in the week . . . Former NHL players Rick Vaive and Carey Wilson were in the crowd to watch their sons - Justin Vaive and Colin Wilson - skate for the U.S. team . . . In one of the biggest surprises in tournament history, the Czech Republic, the bronze medallist last year, was relegated in losing 6-3 to Germany, coached by James Setters of Calgary. It's the first time in tournament history that a previous year's medallist was demoted.