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Over The Last Few Years, Finland vs. Czechia has become the great rivalry in European women’s hockey, and its greatest chapter so far was written on Sunday afternoon in České Budějovice. In the bronze-medal game of the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship, the Czechs, playing on home ice before a sell-out crowd, led 3-0 and seemed in full control before the Finns stormed back, tied it late in regulation time and won in overtime.
“I don’t know if I have the words right now,” Ronja Savolainen smiled after the game. “Something just happened between the second and third periods. We just had a helluva speech in the locker room and something changed. So when we came out for the third period, we were just, ‘F**k it, let’s just go and ruin their party!’
“I mean, what a comeback!”
“It’s hard to find the words right now,” Denisa Křižová echoed, although in a much quieter tone. “I’m super proud. They were such a great team on and off the ice, and they were the most deserving team to get the medal.”
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Ahola Bounces Back Against Czechs: 'It's Always Fun To Play Against Them' After dropping their first two games at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship to the USA and Canada, the Finns were looking to put a more complete game together against host Czechia and they did it, winning 4-2. The two teams met in the group stage with Finland winning 4-2. With high hopes on home ice, the Czechs were somewhat disappointed to only win one Group A game, but they seemed to have their game on track in the playoffs. Starting with a 7-0 dismantling of Switzerland in the quarterfinals, followed by an impressively narrow 2-1 defeat to the USA in the semis, and then through half of the bronze-medal game, the Czechs seemed to have the right balance of skill and hard-nosed play, with the medals waiting for them at game’s end.
Kristýna Kaltounková at even strength and Natálie Mlynková on a five-minute power play gave the Czechs a 2-0 led in the first period. Almost halfway through the second, defender Dominika Lásková sent a shot from the point that floated over Sanni Ahola’s shoulder, then dove head-first into her team’s bench to celebrate. With the world-class Klára Peslarová in net and the team playing a great defensive system, what could go wrong?
“That was awesome,” Lásková recalled with a smile, tempered by the knowledge of what was to come. “I wish I could trade that for a win, but it will be one of the moments I remember from this World Championship.”
Asked what happened after that, Lásková sighed, “I don’t know. We could’ve been nervous and started making mistakes, which cost us penalties, then Finland capitalized on power plays, which hurt us.
“I would just say they made fewer mistakes than we did.”
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Kristýna Kaltounková: 'My Priority Was Getting Back With The Team Once I Was 100% Ready' Kristýna Kaltounková is playing in her first IIHF Women’s World Championship and she’s added a goal-scoring element that has sometimes been lacking on the Czech women’s national team. Through three games, she has scored two of the team’s five goals and her rocket from the point on the power play late in Saturday’s game against Finland got everyone’s attention. Finland’s first goal was a bit of a lucky break – a shot from the point by Elli Suoranta that deflected off the glove of a Czech defender and past Peslarová late in the second period.
“I’m so proud of my team,” said Elisa Holopainen, who scored both of Finland’s third-period power-play goals. “It was an awesome third period and overtime. Yeah! We did it.
“On the power play I got the puck and saw that I had a chance to go, so I shot and scored,” she said about the 3-2 goal early in the third. “The second goal, I just got the puck on the net and I put it in.”
“I mean, she’s a heck of a player,” said Savolainen, who assisted on the equalizer with 1:33 remaining in regulation time. “She played so well the whole season in the SDHL and I was just trying to pass the puck to her because I knew what she can do, and she did today.”
The comeback was completed 4:52 into overtime.
“It was amazing,” said Nylund. “I was kinda surprised how the puck just bounced out there, Sanni (Vanhanen) gave me a nice pass and, yeah, I was happy to be able to put it in.”
The sell-out crowd of 5,859, which was festive most of the game and angry at others, fell silent after the tying goal and the winner. With the final already long sold out, a new attendance record for a Women’s World Championship will be set.
And while the Finns spoke of their desire to “silence the crowd,” they were nonetheless impressed by the Czech fans throughout this tournament.
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Ronja Savolainen On Finn-Czech Rivalry: 'I Loved To Make (The Fans) Quiet' It’s become the big rivalry in European women’s hockey over the past few years, and so it felt good for the Finns to beat Czechia 4-2 on Czech ice in the third game for each team at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship. “Hockey’s supposed to be fun and you could see the crowd the whole game, no matter who’s winning or losing, they always supported their team,” said Savolainen. “This has been, for sure, one of the greatest tournaments I’ve been in. The Czechs should be very proud of this.”
“The fans were amazing,” Křižová agreed. “We could hear them, we could feel their energy all tournament. They were loud, and we’re excited and proud that they came and supported us. It meant a lot to us.”
Křižová, Lásková and Savolainen are three of the many players from this game and this tournament that will now return to finish their PWHL seasons. Savolainen had brief words for Ottawa Charge teammates Aneta Tejralová, Kateřina Mrázová and Tereza Vanišová after the game.
“I just told them to be proud,” Savolainen said about the handshake line. “What a tournament for them too. I mean, what can you say? They wanted the same thing we did and we were just luckier today. But I’m happy to go back to Ottawa and play with them again.”
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Michelle Karvinen Breaks Finnish National Team Scoring Record Michelle Karvinen, captain of the Finnish women’s national team, scored the eventual game-winning goal at 7:27 of the second period of Finland’s 2-1 victory over Switzerland in IIHF Women’s World Championship action on Monday. Continue reading...
