Czechs Win Swiss Ice Hockey Games, Lead Euro Hockey Tour Standings At Midpoint

With a 5-3 win over Sweden, Czechia finishes the Swiss Ice Hockey Games with a perfect nine points and leads the 2024-25 Euro Hockey Tour at its midpoint with 15 of a possible 18 points. Switzerland’s 1-0 win over Finland in the last game of the weekend means that the Swiss overtake Sweden for third place in the overall standings.

The above standings include the Swiss Ice Hockey Games and the Karjala Cup, which was played in November in Helsinki, Finland. The tour’s remaining two legs will be hosted by Sweden in February and by Czechia in early May, just before the start of the IIHF World Championship.

Czechia 5 – Sweden 3 (1-0, 1-2, 3-1)

Czechia’s Filip Chlapík, the ex-Ottawa Senator, scored the lone goal of the first period, the Swedes struck twice early in the second period to take the lead but the Czechs then scored three straight to take control of the game. They eventually won 5-3 to finish the Czech Ice Hockey Games with a perfect nine points. Sweden won one out of three, beating only host Switzerland.

Filip Zadina and Lukáš Sedlák each recorded two assists to lead the Czechs offensively, while Andreas Wingerli and Mathias Bromé scored the goals for Sweden. The Swedes outshot the Czechs 41-32 but Utah HC prospect Josef Kořenář, on the heels of Šimon Zajíček’s shutout on Saturday, made 38 saves.

Switzerland 1 – Finland 0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0)

Ex-Minnesota Wild forward Christoph Bertschy scored the game’s lone goal, taking a stretch pass from Fabian Heldner and skating in alone, beating Finnish goaltender Emil Larmi on a forehand deke. After that, Larmi and his Swiss counterpart, Stéphane Charlin, stopped everything. Charlin recorded the third shutout in the six Swiss Ice Hockey Games this weekend.