Germany bounced back after dropping its opening game, picking up a first victory in the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship against Norway.

Although many in the Ceske Budejovice arena arrived in anticipation of an appetiser ahead of tonight’s clash between Czechia and Finland, they were treated to an entertaining encounter between two teams seeking their first win of the tournament. High stakes produced an absorbing contest before superior German firepower settled the outcome.

“Both teams did a good job today, and both played very well in their zone but I think we were the better team,” said Celina Haider, who scored the opening goal. “[After Swede] we played more to our system. We were getting straight out of our zone, playing tape-to-tape passes and trying to shoot more.

“We wanted to cut out the difficult plays, get the puck deep and onto their net, that was the key.”

Yet Haider's opening goal on 7:29 was anything but a playbook move. She gathered the puck behind the net then took off on a tour of the Norwegian zone. No defender could get near the Ingolstadt forward as she circled back to the foot of the left-hand circle and rifled a shot to the top shelf and straight onto the day’s highlight reel.

“I saw that there was a lot of space and I tried to skate around and look for the pass,” she said. “But when I saw an open net, I just took a shot. Hopefully it will look good on the highlights!”

Not to be outdone, Franziska Feldmeier produced a similar move to double the lead in the opening frame. This time, the rush came from centre ice and culminated in a successful wraparound. Germany was having joy whenever it came at the Norwegian defence at speed; Emily Nix was also close to scoring when she drove through the heart of the Scandinavian zone, beating one opponent for skill but failing to get her shot past Nystrom.

However, Norway always posed a threat on the counter and got itself back into the game 63 seconds before the intermission. Captain Mathea Fischer collected a stretch pass from Emilie Kruse and raced away to beat Sandra Abstreiter in a one-on-one to conclude an entertaining opening frame.

“I think honestly we deserved better today but it’s about our own performance,” Fischer said of the game. “It was tight and we were in it to the end. I think we took a step forward from the Japan game.”

Given the ease with which Germany was able to carry the puck in the Norwegian zone, it’s a fair bet that the intermission chat focused on a more aggressive defence. Certainly, when Feldmeier came forward early in the second stanza, she was met by a robust check that sent her skidding into the net. Unfortunately for the Norwegians, she was immediately followed by the puck as Jule Schiefer’s follow-up shot beat Nystrom. There was an unsuccessful bench challenge, with netminder feeling she was impeded by Feldmeier’s inadvertent goalward journey; Norway lost the goal but won the sympathies of the neutrals in the 5,435 crowd.

And those adopted Norwegian fans had something to cheer when Andrea Dalen got her team back into the game midway through the session. Dalen’s second goal of the competition, a turn and shot through traffic from the deep slot, kept her team in the game after a strong response to that third German goal.

But just before the second intermission Norway’s hopes suffered a major blow. Nystrom made a fine blocker save to deny Luisa Welcke, but nobody tracked Katarina Jobst-Smith as she got the puck on the left and drove to the goal line before squeezing home a shot from a tight angle.



Norway needed the next goal to keep the contest alive in the third period, and Abstreiter had to come up big to deny Dalen when the Frolunda forward got clean through on the German net.

However, for the most part the Germans did a good job of shutting down any scoring opportunities in the final stanza to close out the win. And, in the last minute, Lilli Welcke chased down her sister Luisa's clearance to pot a short-handed empty-net and seal the 5-2 scoreline.

“Both games have been close,” she said. “We were a little bit inconsistent and that cost us the games. We take too many penalties and that loses the momentum for us and when we get the chance, we’re not that sharp on the finish. 

“It’s a lot for us to be here for the first time so I’m proud of the group and we’re moving in a positive direction.”

Norway is back in action tomorrow against Hungary, the other team promoted from Division IA last season. Germany plays the Hungarians on Monday morning.

“If we go on with the way we played today, just playing it straight and keeping it simple, I think we can beat all the other teams in this group,” Haider concluded.