Finland's Jenniina Nylund (#18, centre) celebrates with teammates after opening the scoring in a 3-2 quarter-final win over Sweden at the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDREA CARDIN
Finland's medal hopes live on after a hard-fought and emotional 3-2 victory over Sweden in the first quarter-final of the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Ceske Budejovice. The Swedes will head home emptyhanded again, their last medal at this tournament being 2007's bronze.
Susanna Tapani scored the go-ahead goal just past the midway mark after the Swedes fought back from a two-goal first-period deficit. The Finns, who won the bronze medal at both the 2022 Olympics and 2024 Women's Worlds, outshot their Nordic archrivals 25-12.
"I think we have grown during this tournament, and this was our best game so far," Tapani said. "This is what we needed. We need to get better in the next one. But I'm pretty happy for for what we did today."
Jenniina Nylund and Ronja Savolainen also scored for coach Juuso Toivola's squad, and Julia Liikala chipped in two assists.
"It’s the first time I’ve been here and we won the group and didn’t have to play USA or Canada. so I think this is another step forward," Bouveng said. "But it’s also hard because we’ve beaten Finland several times. They’ve beaten us too, but we know we can win this game, and we just didn’t today."
Finnish starting goalie Sanni Ahola made 10 saves for the win, while Swedish netminder Emma Soderberg had 22 stops.
The unusual 10:00 am start didn’t seem to trouble the Finns. They carried the early play and disrupted Swedish breakouts. Nylund drew first blood at 8:35, looping into the left faceoff circle and beating Soderberg high to the glove side.
"I was kind of surprised with the space I got up there," said Nylund, a self-described "early bird" who didn't mind the start time. "I saw that there was traffic in front of the net, and I could see a hole in there. I just tried to get it through, and I was happy to see it go in."
Savolainen doubled the Finnish lead at 17:15, waltzing in from the centre point and scoring on a quick wrister. The Ottawa Charge blueliner, competing in her ninth Women’s Worlds, leads all tournament defenders with three goals.
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Just 50 seconds into the second period, Sweden pushed back with an opportunistic mindset. It started with an impressive Hedqvist goal. The 18-year-old MoDo forward, coming off a hat trick versus Norway, took a pass from Sara Hjalmarsson in the neutral zone, raced into the right faceoff circle, and eluded defender Elli Suoranta's outstretched stick to beat Ahola under the cross bar.
Near the four-minute mark, Sweden's Hanna Thuvik had a glorious opportunity to tie it up on a shorthanded breakaway, but Ahola stretched out to foil her backhand move.
At 5:54, Bouveng, who has twice led the SDHL playoffs in goals, made it 2-2. Off a faceoff in the Finnish zone, Jenna Raunio fired the puck into the slot. Bouveng got two cracks at it, making no mistake on the rebound.
However, the ice then tilted back in Finland's favour.
Tapani put Finland back on top at 11:46, hustling in to convert the juicy rebound that her Boston Fleet teammate Soderberg gave up on an Elisa Holopainen shot off the rush. It was Tapani's first goal of these Women's Worlds. The Swedes objected as they felt there was interference in the neutral zone, but to no avail.
"'Ella' took a nice shot and the rebound came to me," Tapani said. "We talked about that before the game, that we need some rebound goals and some dirty goals too."
In the third period, Tapani and Holopainen continued to buzz, testing Soderberg off the rush in the early going. With about six minutes left, Holopainen, the SDHL scoring champ with Frolunda this season, put the puck wide on a partial break. Suomi didn't generate a bonanza of third-period opportunities but kept control with a 5-1 edge in shots on goal.
With under three minutes remaining, there was concern after Sweden's Lisa Johansson went down at centre ice in a heavy collision with Savolainen. The two teams exchanged words in the aftermath. Both players had to be helped off the ice, but no penalties were assessed.
Nylund offered her take: "I think they were kind of both just stepping on the same puck. It was a little bit of an unlucky collision, and I hope they both are OK."
Swedish coach Ulf Lundberg pulled Soderberg for the extra attacker in the late going, but the puck was mostly tied up on the sideboards, and no equalizer was in store. More rough stuff ensued at the final whistle, with no love lost between these teams.
The Finns have historically dominated Sweden in the Women’s Worlds playoffs. This was the first elimination game between the Nordic neighbours in the 2020’s, as the Swedes have been undergoing a long process of revitalization.
Finland previously defeated Sweden in the quarter-finals in 2011 (5-1), 2012 (2-1), and 2017 (4-0). In the heyday of their women’s hockey rivalry, the Finns beat the Swedes in six bronze medal games (1990, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2009), while the Swedes returned the favour twice (2005, 2007).
"We’ve been on a journey now these last couple of years and we’ve been taking steps every year," Swedish captain Anna Kjellbin said. "I must say we did better this year. We won the group and gave ourselves the best opportunities in the quarter-final here. We couldn’t go all the way, but again, we definitely took one more step on our journey. We’ve got to keep working hard and working towards the next one."
Susanna Tapani scored the go-ahead goal just past the midway mark after the Swedes fought back from a two-goal first-period deficit. The Finns, who won the bronze medal at both the 2022 Olympics and 2024 Women's Worlds, outshot their Nordic archrivals 25-12.
"I think we have grown during this tournament, and this was our best game so far," Tapani said. "This is what we needed. We need to get better in the next one. But I'm pretty happy for for what we did today."
Jenniina Nylund and Ronja Savolainen also scored for coach Juuso Toivola's squad, and Julia Liikala chipped in two assists.
Ebba Hedqvist and Josefin Bouveng replied for Sweden, which topped Group B with a perfect record but didn't have enough offensive punch on Thursday to put this one away. The Swedes will play in the fifth-place game on Saturday.
"It’s the first time I’ve been here and we won the group and didn’t have to play USA or Canada. so I think this is another step forward," Bouveng said. "But it’s also hard because we’ve beaten Finland several times. They’ve beaten us too, but we know we can win this game, and we just didn’t today."
Finnish starting goalie Sanni Ahola made 10 saves for the win, while Swedish netminder Emma Soderberg had 22 stops.
The unusual 10:00 am start didn’t seem to trouble the Finns. They carried the early play and disrupted Swedish breakouts. Nylund drew first blood at 8:35, looping into the left faceoff circle and beating Soderberg high to the glove side.
"I was kind of surprised with the space I got up there," said Nylund, a self-described "early bird" who didn't mind the start time. "I saw that there was traffic in front of the net, and I could see a hole in there. I just tried to get it through, and I was happy to see it go in."
Savolainen doubled the Finnish lead at 17:15, waltzing in from the centre point and scoring on a quick wrister. The Ottawa Charge blueliner, competing in her ninth Women’s Worlds, leads all tournament defenders with three goals.
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FINLAND V. SWEDEN
GAME HIGHLIGHTS | CONDENSED GAME
Just 50 seconds into the second period, Sweden pushed back with an opportunistic mindset. It started with an impressive Hedqvist goal. The 18-year-old MoDo forward, coming off a hat trick versus Norway, took a pass from Sara Hjalmarsson in the neutral zone, raced into the right faceoff circle, and eluded defender Elli Suoranta's outstretched stick to beat Ahola under the cross bar.
Near the four-minute mark, Sweden's Hanna Thuvik had a glorious opportunity to tie it up on a shorthanded breakaway, but Ahola stretched out to foil her backhand move.
At 5:54, Bouveng, who has twice led the SDHL playoffs in goals, made it 2-2. Off a faceoff in the Finnish zone, Jenna Raunio fired the puck into the slot. Bouveng got two cracks at it, making no mistake on the rebound.
However, the ice then tilted back in Finland's favour.
Tapani put Finland back on top at 11:46, hustling in to convert the juicy rebound that her Boston Fleet teammate Soderberg gave up on an Elisa Holopainen shot off the rush. It was Tapani's first goal of these Women's Worlds. The Swedes objected as they felt there was interference in the neutral zone, but to no avail.
"'Ella' took a nice shot and the rebound came to me," Tapani said. "We talked about that before the game, that we need some rebound goals and some dirty goals too."
In the third period, Tapani and Holopainen continued to buzz, testing Soderberg off the rush in the early going. With about six minutes left, Holopainen, the SDHL scoring champ with Frolunda this season, put the puck wide on a partial break. Suomi didn't generate a bonanza of third-period opportunities but kept control with a 5-1 edge in shots on goal.
With under three minutes remaining, there was concern after Sweden's Lisa Johansson went down at centre ice in a heavy collision with Savolainen. The two teams exchanged words in the aftermath. Both players had to be helped off the ice, but no penalties were assessed.
Nylund offered her take: "I think they were kind of both just stepping on the same puck. It was a little bit of an unlucky collision, and I hope they both are OK."
Swedish coach Ulf Lundberg pulled Soderberg for the extra attacker in the late going, but the puck was mostly tied up on the sideboards, and no equalizer was in store. More rough stuff ensued at the final whistle, with no love lost between these teams.
The Finns have historically dominated Sweden in the Women’s Worlds playoffs. This was the first elimination game between the Nordic neighbours in the 2020’s, as the Swedes have been undergoing a long process of revitalization.
Finland previously defeated Sweden in the quarter-finals in 2011 (5-1), 2012 (2-1), and 2017 (4-0). In the heyday of their women’s hockey rivalry, the Finns beat the Swedes in six bronze medal games (1990, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2009), while the Swedes returned the favour twice (2005, 2007).
"We’ve been on a journey now these last couple of years and we’ve been taking steps every year," Swedish captain Anna Kjellbin said. "I must say we did better this year. We won the group and gave ourselves the best opportunities in the quarter-final here. We couldn’t go all the way, but again, we definitely took one more step on our journey. We’ve got to keep working hard and working towards the next one."