Sweden's comeback attempt fell short as Czechia earned the 4-3 edge — and second straight bronze medal bragging rights — in IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship action Sunday evening at Centre 200 in Cape Breton.
SYDNEY, N.S. — Sweden's comeback attempt fell short as Czechia earned the 4-3 edge — and second straight bronze medal bragging rights over the blue and yellow — in IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship action Sunday evening at Centre 200 in Cape Breton.
Czechia's depth was also on display in the first medal game of the day, with four different players scoring en route to the win.
Forward Adela Mynarikova opened it up at 8:49 in the first, forward Adela Krenkova added one of her own at 13:38 and Adela Pankova notched another to make it 3-0 going into first intermission.
And yes, you read right — three different Adelas scored in this first period.
But the Swedes, who fell 9-1 to the United States in semifinal action, stepped into the second period with more speed in their strides, with forward Moa Stridh cracking the scoreboard just under two minutes into the middle frame to start a comeback that had fans on the edges of their seats but unfortunately didn't come to fruition.
An illegal hit by Aneta Paroubkova cost Czechia a penalty and another Swedish goal, though, this time from Inez Nygren, who notched one midway through the second on the powerplay, narrowing the gap to 3-2.
The energy on both benches, and in the stands, picked up with the tight score, which marked an exciting change from some of the large gaps on the board over the course of this international tournament.
The well-matched teams left it all on the ice, with forward Katerina Pencikova adding another for Czechia at 16:35 to make it 4-2 going into the third period.
Another bad Czechia penalty, this time an illegal check to the head, resulted in another Swedish powerplay goal, again from Stridh's feisty efforts, bringing the score to within one again at 4-3 at just over six minutes into the third period.
From then on out, it was a battle to every puck, with Czechia's frustration resulting in three more penalties — and more potential chances for Sweden.
But despite multiple shots and increasingly physical scrambles out front of Czechia netminder Veronika Ortova's net through the third, the Swedes just couldn't put another puck past the goal line.
A potential Czechia goal was discounted by officials and Sweden stayed in the game until the very end, pulling netminder Thea Holmberg with just less than a minute-and-a-half remaining in a final attempt to tie it up.
The on-ice action was heated until the final seconds, with a face-off in the Czech offensive zone giving the Swedes one last chance, but the comeback just wasn't to be and the Czechs skated away with their second bronze medal in U18 women's worlds action, in front of 1,453 fans in Nova Scotia.
In 2025, Czechia beat Sweden 2-1 for the bronze medal, and in 2024, the country claimed silver for the first and only time thus far in history, with a 5-1 loss to the United States in the final game of the tournament. Czechia also won bronze three times in U18 Women's Worlds history.
Sunday's game marks the 15th all-time meeting between these two countries at the under-18 level, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation. Sweden hasn't earned a medal since 2022.
Check back soon for quotes from coaches and players.