2025 World Championship, Day 4: Finland’s Defense Answered the Call

It’s the international rivalry the home crowd was excited about: a rematch of the 2024 World Championship Bronze medal game between Czechia and Finland.

Czechia came off a shutout loss to the United States on Friday, hoping that with a win in this game, they would be able to draw even with Group A leaders the USA and Canada. Meanwhile, Finland was looking for their first win in their third game of the preliminary round.

Czechia had reinforcements available, as Klára Peslarová, Kateřina Mrázová, and Michaela Pejzlová returned to the lineup after sitting out Friday’s 4-0 loss to the USA.

Finland was trying to settle in after allowing seven goals to the USA in the opening game and five more to Canada in their second game. The biggest question was how their defense would respond against a Czechia team on home ice.

Finish defender Ronja Savolainen knew her team needed to tighten up. As she told the IIHF, “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,” she added.

It took a bit for the defense to settle in, though. Czechia controlled the first period early. They had two good scoring chances quickly but both were stopped by Sanni Ahola. The starting netminder was looking for some redemption after allowing seven goals against the Americans in her first appearance of the tournament.

The Czechs applied pressure early to the Finns, leading to noticeable turnovers and messy puck control too. The Finns didn’t record their first shot on goal until almost eight minutes into the game. Czechia was easily in control, so when they went on the power play with less than nine minutes left in the period, it felt like something would come out of it. Some great passing by the power play unit led to Tereza Vanišová firing a one-timer that bounced off a Finnish player’s skate and redirected into the back of the net through Ahola’s five-hole.

Peslarová was hanging out in net for the first period. She faced four shots in the period and stopped all four. Part of the reason she was chilling was due to Finland spending a lot of time in their defensive zone and not being able to get the offense going.

But the tide changed in the second period in a few ways. First, the Finns made sure to continue to block shots with their bodies and were excellent with checking and winning board battles. They got more shots on goal, with eight in the first seven minutes of the second period. And as Czechia started to find it hard to finish plays and get scoring chances, Finland was settling in and taking advantage of theirs.

In the second period, Noora Tulus skated into the offensive zone and found Elli Suoranta, the 22-year-old defender, who took a seeing-eye shot from the blue line and found the back of the net. Czechia’s goal from the first period had gone off her skate, and now she managed to tie the game at one.

The momentum continued to shift in Finland’s favor as Ahola settled in and kept making stops and to keep the game tied at one. The defense in front of her continued to answer the call, as less than three minutes after their first goal, the Finns scored another. Defender Ronja Savolainen joined the rush on the weak side and cleaned up the rebound after Ida Kuoppala’s shot was blocked. Finland now had a one goal lead thanks again to their defense.

The Finns continued to shut down Czechia during penalty kills, even keeping them from recording any shots on goal during a Czech power play in the second period. They also spent more time in their offensive zone and were the ones adding pressure during the last two periods of the game.

The great defense shined by suffocating opposing chances, supporting a goalie who could stand tall no matter the shots she faced, and scoring two goals to keep the team in the game, allowing the rest of the team to blossom throughout.

Forward Julia Schalin, in only her second World Championship appearance, gave the Finns a 3-1 lead when she scored from a puck that had bounced off the backboard and landed on her stick. Finland added another goal with nine minutes left in the game, thanks to Elisa Holopainen. Now the forwards were getting in on the offense too, making it four unanswered goals late in the game.

The Czechs were able to break through with a goal on the power play with two minutes left in the game, taking advantage of a miscue by the Finns. But Finland stood strong and shut down any other opportunities from Czechia. And even with the extra attacker on, Ahola made a nice save with 30 seconds remaining in the game to give the Finns their first win with a 4-2 score.

Though it took them a bit to get their feet under them in this game, Finland found a way to bring together the best of their team. They were led by a defense and a goaltender that took control when they saw their chance. “Today was big for sure, I don’t think I played my best game against the USA, so I can feel good about myself as well,” Ahola said in the IIHF recap. “The D zone got a bit better, I would say, so I got a bit more help. Big thanks to them.”

It felt like desperation for Finland, who was looking for their first win after lackluster starts to the tournament. They had scored one goal in their first two games but allowed 12. But in a game against their rivals, who had home ice advantage and a crowd that couldn’t be louder, the Finns arrived and answered the call once again.

Other Games Today:

Germany 5, Norway 2

Germany recorded their first win after defeating Norway 5-2 in the day’s early game.

The Norwegians fell behind early but managed to pull close to the Germans, being down 4-2 at the second intermission. In the third, Germany kept Norway off the scoresheet and sealed the game with another goal.

Tomorrow’s Games (April 13)

• 🇭🇺 Hungary vs Norway 🇳🇴, 11 am (local) / 5 am (EST)
• 🇯🇵 Japan vs Sweden 🇸🇪, 3 pm (local) / 9 am (EST)
• 🇨🇦 Canada vs USA 🇺🇸, 7 pm (local) / 1 pm (EST)

Game to Watch: Canada vs USA.

Who doesn’t love a rivalry? USA has exploded with offense while the Canadians have not allowed a single goal. This one should be fun!

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the number of goals that Finland allowed in their first two games to 12.