Finland's Ronja Savolainen (#88) scores her team's go-aheaed goal against Czechia at the IIHF Women's World Championship.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
Finland crashed Czechia’s party, recording a 4-2 win at the Ceske Budejovice Arena to open its account at this tournament. After tough losses against the USA and Canada in its opening games, this was a big recovery for Finland against the team it beat to bronze 12 months ago.
And for defender Ida Kuoppala, who chipped in with two assists in her first Women’s Worlds campaign, this felt like lift-off at last.
“It's great to get our first win this tournament, just a great feeling,” she said.
“We had good pressure in the first period even though they got the first goal. So [we said to] just keep doing our thing. Focus on the details, and then the goals will come.”
For Czechia, meanwhile, defeat was a huge disappointment. After disposing of Switzerland impressively in game one and testing the USA last night, the host lost its way in the second period of this game. A 1-0 lead slipped away and the surge came too late to salvage anything.
Kristyna Kaltounkova, who scored that late power play goal, felt that it was one of those nights. “We had a good start but we just couldn’t find a way,” she said. “The puck wasn’t going our way, which can happen. But once we get down we have to find a way back up and that’s what we couldn’t do.”
With the now-familiar raucous backing of the Ceske Budejovice crowd, Czechia made a fast start to Saturday night’s game. The tournament host restored Klara Peslarova, Katerina Mrazova and Michaela Pejzlova to the line-up after they sat out Friday’s 0-4 loss to the USA and expectations were high among the home crowd.
Finland had Sanni Ahola back in goal and she was busy in the early stages as Czechia looked to turn its enterprise into goals. Kaltounkova came close to unlocking the defence with a feed for Pejzlova on the slot. She got goalside of her defender but could not find a way past Ahola.
However, the first Czech power play brought the opening goal. Tereza Vanisova was active throughout, dictating the play from the blue line. And when she took matters into her own hands, a blast from the blue line deflected off a Finnish defender in front of the net to give Ahola no chance.
Despite her goal, Vanisova admitted she was disappointed with the performance. “I don’t really think we played a good game and I don’t know why,” she said. “Sometime you just have a bad game. We have to get up a little bit and wake up for the next one. Just play better, play our game.”
That kicked the noise up a notch or two further and the hometown heroes responded by pressing for more goals. But Ahola, who endured a rough opening to the tournament in a 1-7 loss to the USA on day one, was showing why she’s Finland’s first choice here. Shutting the door on Klara Hymlarova as she went one-on-one was the highlight of a good first period for the St. Cloud State University netminder.
“Today was big for sure,” Ahola said. “I don’t think I played my best game against the USA, so I can feel good about myself as well. And the D zone got a bit better I would say, so I got a bit more help. Big thanks to them.
Ahola's efforts kept it a one-goal game, and right on the hooter Finland offered a warning of what was to come. Ronja Savolainen worked a neat passing interchange to move in from the blue line and test Peslarova from the circle.
There was another warning shot at the start of the second when Sanni Vanhanen raced clear of the Czech defence only to be foiled by Peslarova. But the Finns turned the game around with two goals in three minutes as the midway point approached. A spell of pressure had the home defence pressed into its zone in the 27th minute and when the puck came to Elli Suoranta on the blue line, that D-core held its shape. Unfortunately for Czechia, that enabled the Tampere native to wind up a big shot that tied the scores with her first World Championship goal.
For a moment, the building was as quiet as it has been with Czechia on the ice. But there was more to come. On 29:23 Kuoppala’s shot was padded away but Savolainen responded first to put Finland in front.
For Savolainen, one of the leaders on the defence for this team, today's result was the reward for some hard work in practice.
“We knew the defensive side wasn’t great [in the first two games],” she said. “We were struggling a lot when the puck was going around, we didn’t have our players in position.
“But we worked on that on the ice this morning and we talked together about how we can do much more. We’re a strong skating team, and we hadn’t really skated that much. Today we showed that we could make the opponent tired when we skate as much as we can.”
Moments later, the puck was in Peslarova’s net again, but this time the ref had already indicated an infringement by Susanna Tapani and the Czechs went to the power play.
By now, though, the momentum had shifted. Comprehensively outshot in the first period, Finland had the better of the play. And Ahola dealt confidently with Czechia’s efforts to get back on terms in the second period.
And the Finns took the game away in the final frame. Savolainen was involved again as Julia Schalin made it 3-1: her shot generated another big rebound for Schalin to profit. And Peslarova’s luck was out midway through the third when Tapani fired against the post and the puck bounced back off the goalie’s skate for Elisa Holopainen to tidy up.
As Savolainen highlighted, those rebounds were a side effect of that willingness to skate more: “In Finnish we say: ‘if you want pizza, go for a pizza; if you want a goal, go to the net’. We just talked a lot about being in front of their goalie. She’s one of the best but we made it hard for her today.”
That felt like game over, but a late power play gave the Czechs one last chance – and Kaltounkova took it with a laser of a one-timer from the top of the right-hand circle to get it back to 2-4 with two to play.
But there was no time to deny Finland the victory and – surprisingly – give it a first-ever victory over a Women’s World Championship host nation after 16 attempts.
And for defender Ida Kuoppala, who chipped in with two assists in her first Women’s Worlds campaign, this felt like lift-off at last.
“It's great to get our first win this tournament, just a great feeling,” she said.
“We had good pressure in the first period even though they got the first goal. So [we said to] just keep doing our thing. Focus on the details, and then the goals will come.”
For Czechia, meanwhile, defeat was a huge disappointment. After disposing of Switzerland impressively in game one and testing the USA last night, the host lost its way in the second period of this game. A 1-0 lead slipped away and the surge came too late to salvage anything.
Kristyna Kaltounkova, who scored that late power play goal, felt that it was one of those nights. “We had a good start but we just couldn’t find a way,” she said. “The puck wasn’t going our way, which can happen. But once we get down we have to find a way back up and that’s what we couldn’t do.”
With the now-familiar raucous backing of the Ceske Budejovice crowd, Czechia made a fast start to Saturday night’s game. The tournament host restored Klara Peslarova, Katerina Mrazova and Michaela Pejzlova to the line-up after they sat out Friday’s 0-4 loss to the USA and expectations were high among the home crowd.
Finland had Sanni Ahola back in goal and she was busy in the early stages as Czechia looked to turn its enterprise into goals. Kaltounkova came close to unlocking the defence with a feed for Pejzlova on the slot. She got goalside of her defender but could not find a way past Ahola.
However, the first Czech power play brought the opening goal. Tereza Vanisova was active throughout, dictating the play from the blue line. And when she took matters into her own hands, a blast from the blue line deflected off a Finnish defender in front of the net to give Ahola no chance.
Despite her goal, Vanisova admitted she was disappointed with the performance. “I don’t really think we played a good game and I don’t know why,” she said. “Sometime you just have a bad game. We have to get up a little bit and wake up for the next one. Just play better, play our game.”
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That kicked the noise up a notch or two further and the hometown heroes responded by pressing for more goals. But Ahola, who endured a rough opening to the tournament in a 1-7 loss to the USA on day one, was showing why she’s Finland’s first choice here. Shutting the door on Klara Hymlarova as she went one-on-one was the highlight of a good first period for the St. Cloud State University netminder.
“Today was big for sure,” Ahola said. “I don’t think I played my best game against the USA, so I can feel good about myself as well. And the D zone got a bit better I would say, so I got a bit more help. Big thanks to them.
Ahola's efforts kept it a one-goal game, and right on the hooter Finland offered a warning of what was to come. Ronja Savolainen worked a neat passing interchange to move in from the blue line and test Peslarova from the circle.
There was another warning shot at the start of the second when Sanni Vanhanen raced clear of the Czech defence only to be foiled by Peslarova. But the Finns turned the game around with two goals in three minutes as the midway point approached. A spell of pressure had the home defence pressed into its zone in the 27th minute and when the puck came to Elli Suoranta on the blue line, that D-core held its shape. Unfortunately for Czechia, that enabled the Tampere native to wind up a big shot that tied the scores with her first World Championship goal.
For a moment, the building was as quiet as it has been with Czechia on the ice. But there was more to come. On 29:23 Kuoppala’s shot was padded away but Savolainen responded first to put Finland in front.
For Savolainen, one of the leaders on the defence for this team, today's result was the reward for some hard work in practice.
“We knew the defensive side wasn’t great [in the first two games],” she said. “We were struggling a lot when the puck was going around, we didn’t have our players in position.
“But we worked on that on the ice this morning and we talked together about how we can do much more. We’re a strong skating team, and we hadn’t really skated that much. Today we showed that we could make the opponent tired when we skate as much as we can.”
Moments later, the puck was in Peslarova’s net again, but this time the ref had already indicated an infringement by Susanna Tapani and the Czechs went to the power play.
By now, though, the momentum had shifted. Comprehensively outshot in the first period, Finland had the better of the play. And Ahola dealt confidently with Czechia’s efforts to get back on terms in the second period.
And the Finns took the game away in the final frame. Savolainen was involved again as Julia Schalin made it 3-1: her shot generated another big rebound for Schalin to profit. And Peslarova’s luck was out midway through the third when Tapani fired against the post and the puck bounced back off the goalie’s skate for Elisa Holopainen to tidy up.
As Savolainen highlighted, those rebounds were a side effect of that willingness to skate more: “In Finnish we say: ‘if you want pizza, go for a pizza; if you want a goal, go to the net’. We just talked a lot about being in front of their goalie. She’s one of the best but we made it hard for her today.”
That felt like game over, but a late power play gave the Czechs one last chance – and Kaltounkova took it with a laser of a one-timer from the top of the right-hand circle to get it back to 2-4 with two to play.
But there was no time to deny Finland the victory and – surprisingly – give it a first-ever victory over a Women’s World Championship host nation after 16 attempts.
Finland vs Czechia - 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship
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