The Czechs are on the march again. Last year’s silver medallists overpowered host nation Finland to return to the medal games.

Despite the absence of the top scorers from 2024, the class of ’25 produced an emphatic 6-0 win in a game that many reckoned to be the most evenly matched of Thursday’s quarterfinals in Vantaa.

The first period saw a Czech stranglehold limit Finland to just two shots on goal, while Adela Fromova got the opening goal. A power play goal at the start of the second offered some breathing space before two short-handed tallies at the start of the third put the outcome beyond doubt.
 
Today's defeat sees Finland fail to reach the medal games for the first time since 2018. In six tournaments since then, the young Lionesses have won bronze twice and had a quartet of fourth-place finishes. This year's performance repeats the outcome when the Finns last hosted in 2013, and lost to Czechia at the same quarterfinal stage.

“The score was harsh, but maybe the game in itself was a little closer than that. They were very effective in the goal scoring while nothing went in for us. Maybe you have to earn your luck, but we certainly didnt have any,” said Finnish head coach Mira Kuisma.

There was a slow start before Finland carved out the first moment of interest in the fifth minute. Yenna Kolmonen produced some great stick handling to get a close look at Daniela Novakova, but her shot was turned away. At the time, you would have got long odds against that being the host’s first and best chance to seize the initiative in this match-up, but the game quickly tipped in Czechia’s favour.

The Czechs responded to that scare almost immediately: Julie Jebouskova brought the puck into the Finnish zone, her pass picked out Fromova and the defender’s deflected shot wrong-footed Kerttu Kuja-Halkola to open the scoring.

After that, the Finnish attack found it hard to get much change from a solid Czech rearguard. The host nation managed only two shots on target in the first period as Czechia dictated much of the play. At the other end, Linda Vocetkova was closest to extending the lead with a shot against the piping.

“We didn’t shoot enough in the tournament, we also didn’t do the other things you need to score goals,” Kuisma admitted.

A tough first period for Finland ended with more problems. Nelly Anderson followed Tinja Tapani into the box on the hooter, meaning the Czechs would resume the game with a five-on-three advantage. That meant a fast start, with Magdalena Felcmanova scoring 18 seconds into the second. Fromova was involved again, with a shot that Kuja-Halkola padded away. However, the goalie could not control the rebound and the loose puck dropped kindly for Felcmanova to steer it home.

That was a special moment for a player whose day job is with Rovaniemi in the Finnish Auroraliiga. 
“My team is the not the best one in the Finnish league, so it was nice to beat a Finnish team here,” she smiled. “I think that we really came together as a team, and we deserved the win.

Midway through the game, the Czechs added a third. Vocetkova got the goal she threatened in the first period after Veronika Hujova sliced open the Finnish defence and sent her captain clear on the net. Vocetkova used her frame to shield the puck from her marker before lifting a well-placed backhand past Kuja-Halkola.

“It was kind of hard to pick up the puck, but somehow I did it and managed to get it upstairs,” Vocetkova said of her goal. On the game as a whole, she added:  “I think we were in the game from the first minute, and when we got an early goal, it helped us, and we stayed calm. We were really motivated to get through.” 

Finland responded by calling a time-out as head coach Kuisma tried to restore some composure among her players. The latter stages of the middle frame brought the best Finnish offence of the game. First, Emmi Loponen’s rush down the right culminated in a fierce shot that Novakova could not hold. The subsequent scramble saw Tinja Tapani battling to stuff the puck home, but the Fromova got it clear of danger.

Then, right at the end of the second period, that line caused more trouble right. Tapani led a two-on-one rush and tested Novakova with a shot from the left-hand channel.

However, any hope of a home revival was extinguished when a Finnish power play early in the third led to not one, but two shorthanded Czech goals. First, Viktorie Jilkova took the puck away from Elli Pohjanaho in her own zone, then advanced to find a shooting lane between the retreating defender and the near post.

Next, Pohjanaho found herself exposed again as Andrea Kantorova held off her challenge before scoring on the wraparound to make it 5-0. And a great day for the Czechs got even better as Dana Brezinova added a sixth to complete the scoring in the 55th minute. Novakova finished with 18 saves to take the shut-out.