The game was a tight one between Czech Republic and Finland – until the third period. Suvi Hamalainen made sure Finland won the first semi-final by scoring a hat-trick.

Both teams started very intensively. In general Finland had the ball but they had a hard time to get to the czech’s goal. First period ended with Finland leading 2-0.

–  We made more mistakes than we should have and that’s what decided the match, said Czech MVP Pavlina Bacova.

After the break the match had totally changed when Czech Republic managed to equalize in just a few seconds. The goal was made by Vanessa Rebecca Keprtova. It seemed like the czech team arrived to the arena. Although the czech players shot on the goal in every minute the finnish team had a massive defense wall in front of their goal. Second period’s end result was 2-1 for Finland.

–  Even though they came pretty strong we were still able to play well, said finnish MVP Alisa Kettunen

The game was totally balanced at the beginning of the third period. The Czech team was pressing the whole time but wasn’t able to score goals. Finland found the perfect moments when the Czechs weren’t on top and scored two goals in one minute, with that making sure to lead the game. Before the end the finnish team made a mistake in front of their goal and gave one more chance to the Czech Republic with a penalty. Even though Michaela Kubecková made no mistake, Finland were too far ahead and finally won the game 5-2.

MVP Czech Republic: Pavlina Bacova

MVP Finland: Alisa Kettunen

You can follow all the games of the tournament at IFF:s YouTube channel, click the link here.