Finland's Elisa Holopainen (#10) turns away to celebrate her tying goal in the 59th minute of the bronze medal game against Czechia at the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
That’s what you call a big Finnish. Down 0-3 midway through the 2025 Women’s World Championship bronze medal game, Finland roared back to tie it up with 93 seconds left to play.
Then came another heartbreaker for Czechia as dreams of home ice hardware were crushed by Jenniina Nylund in the fifth minute of overtime. As she forced the winner in from close range, the effect of almost 6,000 raucous Czech fans suddenly falling silent was almost as profound as the cauldron of noise that accompanied a memorable game at Arena Ceske Budejovice.
The winning play started in Finnish territory with Sanni Vanhanen bringing play down the right wing. She set up Nylund for a shot from in front of the net which the Czechs scrambled behind the net, then Vanhanen got to the loose puck and returned it for her team-mate to score from the slot. Cue jubilation for the Finns and despair for the exhausted Czech players who lay drained on the ice.
For the second time in two years, these teams could not be separated in regulation in the bronze-medal game. And, for the second time, Finland prevailed. Yet Czechia was so close to securing its target of a medal on home ice.
Within three minutes, most of the 5,859 spectators crammed into the building were on their feet to acclaim Kristyna Kaltounkova’s opener. Once again, she showed why she's among her team's top scorers. Kaltounkova used her strength to shove Susanna Tapani aside before stick-handling past Sanni Rantala to get up close and beat Sanni Ahola. That moves her to 6 (4+2) for the tournament.
Finland almost conjured an immediate response, but Klara Peslarova got a pad behind Petra Nieminen’s attempt after some good work from Holopainen. And hopes of a fightback were undermined when Krista Parkkonen was assessed a boarding major after a crunching hit on Barbora Jurickova.
The Czechs scented blood and scored after 42 seconds on the power play: Natalie Mlynkova joined Kaltounkova on six points when she exploited the extra space to put away a slick combination involving Katerina Mrazova and Aneta Tejralova. After that, though, the Finns dug in and killed the remainder of Parkkonen’s term without sustaining further damage.
In the first half of the game, the Czechs looked a little sharper than the Finns. A combination of a slightly longer rest following yesterday’s games and the much-discussed lift supplied by the fervent home support supplied some additional zip and zest for the home team. And further reward came midway through the second period when Dominika Laskova launched a point shot through traffic to beat Ahola and trigger a big celebration at the bench.
Laskova, 28, only returned to action in February after missing almost a year with a serious knee injury. This was the defender’s first goal since her recovery and it was a stand-out for the defender.
“That was an awesome moment,” she said. “I wish I could change it for a win, but I’m sure it will be one of the things I’ll remember from this championship.
“I’m so grateful that I could be here and be part of this group. It’s a long time since I’ve been able to play [with the national team] and it was great that the girls were around to support me.”
But late in the middle frame, Finland stirred. A point shot from Elli Suoranta clipped Laskova on its way towards the net and that deflection wrongfooted Peslarova. Then, at the start of the third, Holopainen got it back to 2-3 when she danced past Sara Cajanova and Noemi Neubarova to snipe a power play goal to the top shelf from the right-hand circle.
“I don’t know what happened, it could be nerves,” Laskova added. “We started making a lot of mistakes which cost us penalties and then Finland capitalized on the power plays they scored off. I would just say they made less mistakes than we did.”
Suddenly Czechia’s progress towards bronze turned from springtime stroll to gruelling yomp. Both teams had chances to win it, but a late Finnish power play tipped the scales. Klara Hymlarova denied Holopainen a great chance at equal strength, but with 2:15 on the clock, Suomi went for broke. Ahola went to the bench, Finland played six-on-four ... and came up with the goods. Savolainen thundered a shot against the boards, it bounced back to the slot and Holopainen finished off with 1:33 left in the game. Delirium among the Finnish players, deep frustration in the home crowd.
Even then, there were chances for both teams to win it, with Finland’s all-time record scorer Michelle Karvinen screwing a shot just wide of Peslarova’s net in the final seconds after the Czechs twice threatened Ahola in a frantic finale.
It all added up to the first overtime of the competition – 3x3, 10 minutes, first goal wins. Sanni Vanhanen had the first big chance to win it for Finland in the second minute but she couldn’t get the puck out of her skates in front of the net and Peslarova regained her position to force the shot off target.
But there was nothing the Czech goalie could do to stop Nylund’s winner as Finland repeated last year’s bronze medal success in dramatic fashion.
Then came another heartbreaker for Czechia as dreams of home ice hardware were crushed by Jenniina Nylund in the fifth minute of overtime. As she forced the winner in from close range, the effect of almost 6,000 raucous Czech fans suddenly falling silent was almost as profound as the cauldron of noise that accompanied a memorable game at Arena Ceske Budejovice.
The winning play started in Finnish territory with Sanni Vanhanen bringing play down the right wing. She set up Nylund for a shot from in front of the net which the Czechs scrambled behind the net, then Vanhanen got to the loose puck and returned it for her team-mate to score from the slot. Cue jubilation for the Finns and despair for the exhausted Czech players who lay drained on the ice.
For the second time in two years, these teams could not be separated in regulation in the bronze-medal game. And, for the second time, Finland prevailed. Yet Czechia was so close to securing its target of a medal on home ice.
Within three minutes, most of the 5,859 spectators crammed into the building were on their feet to acclaim Kristyna Kaltounkova’s opener. Once again, she showed why she's among her team's top scorers. Kaltounkova used her strength to shove Susanna Tapani aside before stick-handling past Sanni Rantala to get up close and beat Sanni Ahola. That moves her to 6 (4+2) for the tournament.
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Finland almost conjured an immediate response, but Klara Peslarova got a pad behind Petra Nieminen’s attempt after some good work from Holopainen. And hopes of a fightback were undermined when Krista Parkkonen was assessed a boarding major after a crunching hit on Barbora Jurickova.
The Czechs scented blood and scored after 42 seconds on the power play: Natalie Mlynkova joined Kaltounkova on six points when she exploited the extra space to put away a slick combination involving Katerina Mrazova and Aneta Tejralova. After that, though, the Finns dug in and killed the remainder of Parkkonen’s term without sustaining further damage.
In the first half of the game, the Czechs looked a little sharper than the Finns. A combination of a slightly longer rest following yesterday’s games and the much-discussed lift supplied by the fervent home support supplied some additional zip and zest for the home team. And further reward came midway through the second period when Dominika Laskova launched a point shot through traffic to beat Ahola and trigger a big celebration at the bench.
Laskova, 28, only returned to action in February after missing almost a year with a serious knee injury. This was the defender’s first goal since her recovery and it was a stand-out for the defender.
“That was an awesome moment,” she said. “I wish I could change it for a win, but I’m sure it will be one of the things I’ll remember from this championship.
“I’m so grateful that I could be here and be part of this group. It’s a long time since I’ve been able to play [with the national team] and it was great that the girls were around to support me.”
But late in the middle frame, Finland stirred. A point shot from Elli Suoranta clipped Laskova on its way towards the net and that deflection wrongfooted Peslarova. Then, at the start of the third, Holopainen got it back to 2-3 when she danced past Sara Cajanova and Noemi Neubarova to snipe a power play goal to the top shelf from the right-hand circle.
“I don’t know what happened, it could be nerves,” Laskova added. “We started making a lot of mistakes which cost us penalties and then Finland capitalized on the power plays they scored off. I would just say they made less mistakes than we did.”
Suddenly Czechia’s progress towards bronze turned from springtime stroll to gruelling yomp. Both teams had chances to win it, but a late Finnish power play tipped the scales. Klara Hymlarova denied Holopainen a great chance at equal strength, but with 2:15 on the clock, Suomi went for broke. Ahola went to the bench, Finland played six-on-four ... and came up with the goods. Savolainen thundered a shot against the boards, it bounced back to the slot and Holopainen finished off with 1:33 left in the game. Delirium among the Finnish players, deep frustration in the home crowd.
Even then, there were chances for both teams to win it, with Finland’s all-time record scorer Michelle Karvinen screwing a shot just wide of Peslarova’s net in the final seconds after the Czechs twice threatened Ahola in a frantic finale.
It all added up to the first overtime of the competition – 3x3, 10 minutes, first goal wins. Sanni Vanhanen had the first big chance to win it for Finland in the second minute but she couldn’t get the puck out of her skates in front of the net and Peslarova regained her position to force the shot off target.
But there was nothing the Czech goalie could do to stop Nylund’s winner as Finland repeated last year’s bronze medal success in dramatic fashion.