The 2024-25 Euro Hockey Tour kicked off with two Karjala Cup games in Karlovy Vary, Czechia and Helsinki, Finland facing off about 30 minutes apart on Thursday.

Czechia 5 – Sweden 2 (3-0, 1-1, 1-1)

Playing in front of a home crowd of 5738 in Karlovy Vary, the Czechs stormed out to a 3-0 first-period lead, then fought off the Swedes over the last two periods to win 5-2. Defenseman Daniel Gazda opened the scoring at 7:02 when he picked off an errant clearing attempt by Victor Söderström, then beat Erik Källgren to the blocker side. The 27-year-old Gazda, who is playing his first season in Finland for Ilves Tampere, then gave the Czechs a 4-1 lead late in the second period on a one-timer from the point.

“We played great, we determined the tempo of the game and allowed only one shot in the first period,” said Czech coach Radim Rulik. “We were rewarded with goals – to score three in one period is not very common at this level. That resulted from our tempo – the first period decided it.”

Filip Pyrochta on the power play, Pavel Kousal and Jakub Flek into an empty net also scored for Czechia, while Dennis Rasmussen and Oskar Lang replied for Sweden. The Czechs made the most of their opportunities despite getting outshot 29-19, with 34-year-old Ondřej Kacetl making 27 saves in his national team debut.

Both teams will now travel to Finland for the remainder of the tournament on Saturday and Sunday.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRJcl6YXjAk[/embed]

Switzerland 2 – Finland 3 [OT] (0-0, 2-0, 0-2, 0-1)

Robin Salo’s rebound goal 1:11 into overtime capped off a comeback win for the Finns before a crowd of 4,554 at the Helsinki Ice Hall. The Swiss challenged the play for goaltender interference, which was ultimately denied.

“I was already in a TV interview and then I was asked to go back to the dressing room in case something happened,” Finnish coach Antti Pennanen – a winner in his debut after taking over for long-time coach Jukka Jalonen – told MTV Urheilu. “Everyone told me there was nothing to it, but they had nothing to lose. They probably won’t start the (next) game against Sweden shorthanded, even though the challenge didn’t work.”

After a scoreless first period, Switzerland built a 2-0 lead in the second on goals by Giancarlo Chanton and Fabrice Herzog. However, Finnish national team veterans Mikko Lehtonen and Harri Pesonen answered in the third – the equalizer coming on a nice feed out front from Mikael Ruohomaa with 4:57 remaining in regulation time.  

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ouKVEtLIw[/embed]