Czechia recovered from falling behind in the second period to secure bronze at the 2025 IIHF Women’s U18 World Championship in Vantaa. A power play goal from Tilde Grillfors gave the Swedes the edge, but the Czechs hit back in the final frame.

Linda Vocetkova, who plays her club hockey in Sweden with Djurgardens, grabbed the winner with six minutes to play. Goalie Daniela Novakova finished a strong tournament with 36 saves.

"She was incredible, and she saved our game," Vocetkova said of the winning goalie. "It's good to have someone like her behind us."

The Czech fightback brought it back-to-back women’s U18 medals for the first time, following last year’s silver in Zug, Switzerland. It also puts the Czechs clear in second place for medals won by a European nation in this competition. Sweden still leads the way with seven (two silver, five bronze), but Czechia now has four (one silver, three bronze), ahead of Finland and Russia with three bronzes apiece.

"We played better and better as the tournament progressed," Czech head coach Dusan Andrasovsky said. "We didn't play well in the first two periods [today]. Maybe the players just thought Sweden would come and hand us the medals.

"Sweden played a great game, but we've taken a huge step in recent years."

That "huge step" involves the Czechs denying Sweden hardware at the U18 World Championship for two seasons in a row. Twelve months earlier, Czechia defeated the Swedes in the quarterfinal. Maybe we’re seeing a shift in the balance of power in European women’s hockey?

Sweden's head coach Andreas Karlsson felt that there was little between the teams at the end of a draining tournament: “The differences between the teams are so small, had we scored another one, it would have been a completely different game.

“I feel bad for the players, this was a tough loss. We weren’t alert enough in front of the nets and when we had our chances on the power play, we just couldn’t get the puck in. They owned the net fronts and deserved the win."

A bronze medal game is always a big ask. For both Sweden and Czechia, returning to the arena a day after they threw everything into their semi-final battles against the USA and Canada was a challenge.

On top of the physical effort both countries produced to push their North American rivals all the way on Saturday, the draining emotional intensity of those games took its toll. Not surprisingly, two tired teams came back for a sixth game in nine days in Vantaa.

That fatigue was noticeable in a first period that failed to ignite. The spirit was willing. Both sets of players remained committed to their gameplans and competed hard. But it was hard to summon up that X factor that could blow the game apart.

That was certainly an issue in the first period, as both teams struggled to generate clear-cut scoring chances. Defensive discipline played its part, and when opportunities arose goalies Maja Helge and Novakova came up with the answers. Novakova, in particular, made a smart stop early in the game after Edit Danielsson skipped menacingly through the Czech defence. 

Novakova also impressed in the second period, making a huge double save to pad away Ebba Hessenvall’s effort before recovering to get a blocker to Grillfors’ shot on the rebound.

The breakthrough, when it finally came, arrived on the Swedish power play. Czechia has been the most frequently penalized team here in Vantaa, and a penalty on Julie Jebouskova in the 28th minute had big consequences.

Sweden’s PP got to work and Grillfors already had a couple of good looks before she smoked Danielsson’s cross-ice feed past Novakova from the top of the left-hand circle. It was a lead that Sweden deserved, but Czechia wasn't done.

“We needed to step up somehow, we focused on what we had done right in this game and in the previous games, and somehow find the same habits in the third period. The energy was better on the bench and on the ice," said Vocetkova.

“We knew we could win it. We believed in ourselves and we knew we had enough energy to turn it around. It was tough but we were well-prepared for the game, and it paid off. Our legs weren’t dead tired and we still have some faith.”

But the Czechs still posed a threat. Sweden could not finish off the game despite some good chances, and Helge found herself increasingly busy at the other end. 

Pressure led to a Swedish penalty, its first of the game at 5:55 of the third period. The Czech power play, fuelled by emotion and a sense of ‘last chance’, almost lost its way amid a skirmish in front of Helge’s net. However, five seconds before Nygren was due to return, Veronika Hujova’s low shot took a wicked deflection off a Swedish skate in front of the net, wrongfooting the goalie and tying the game.

Fittingly, the winner came from Vocetkova, Czechia’s leading scorer in this year’s competition. With six minutes to play, her deft redirect knocked down Johanna Tischler’s point shot into the net. After an agonizing wait for the video review, the goal was awarded and the Czechs had hardware within their grasp.

“I had a similar chance earlier and I just wanted to tip it towards the net and I was sure it was going to be a goal. I was just praying that the referees saw it the same way," Vocetkova said of her winning goal.

“I had practiced that tip a lot, and I realized I could do it in a game. We just wanted to create pressure on the net."

But there was work still to do. Sweden had another power play chance but could not force a tying goal. By this stage, nerves were jangling on both sides and every whistle seemed to bring another confrontation between two sets of players desperate to win the game. Helge went to the bench for the last three minutes, but even with the extra skater Sweden could not find the tying goal.