Finland took a 3-2 win, earning a bronze medal at the 2024 IIHF women's World Championships in Utica, New York, winning in a shootout.

Czechia was looking for their third straight bronze medal and Finland was looking for their first bronze medal since 2021 in Calgary. The two teams played 60 minutes of regulation and 10 minutes of overtime needing a shootout to decide who would take bronze, with Finland eventually earning the 3-2 win.

"It's nice to be back on the medal podium again," said defender Ronja Savolainen. "These two years have been pretty tough...this is just the beginning but it's nice to be back with a medal again."

The teams had met in a preliminary round game against Czechia, but knew if they played their game, the result would be different today for the Finns.

"We knew that we were going to beat them today if we just play our own game, and how we played against the US and Canada," said Savolainen.

After a scoreless and even first period where the teams went about feeling each other out, Finland's veteran line  of Petra Nieminen, Susanna Tapani, and Michelle Karvinen were the first to strike. After carrying the puck into the zone herself, Karvinen dropped a pass to Nieminen, who fed Tapani, and after a shot and another pass from the trio, the puck ended up on a wide open Karvinen's stick at the right of the crease who scored to break the deadlock.

It didn't take long for Czechia to answer back with Michaela Pejzlova banking a puck off a Finnish defender and in.

The back and forth continued, this time in breathtaking fashion as a streaking Viivi Vainikka watched a deflected puck rise over the heads of a crowd before batting it out of the air to score and put Finland ahead 2-1.

In the third period, Finland dominated puck possession and zone time but Czechia scored the lone goal tipping home a Tereza Radova point shot to tie the game at 2-2 and send it to overtime.

In overtime, both teams exchanged chances with breakaways from Michelle Karvinen and Natalie Mlynkova at either end being turned away by Klara Peslarova and Sanni Ahola respectively. Peslarova stopped 46 shots in the game, while Ahola turned aside 29, with both making notable saves.

In the shootout, Michelle Karvinen and Petra Nieminen scored for Finland, while only Klara Hymlarova could score for Czechia giving Finland the 3-2 win and the bronze medal.

For Czechia, it was a loss, but as head coach Carla MacLeod said, at the stage in her team's development, wins and losses don't define their success.

I watched my team give their heart and soul into this one, and I walked into that room and said I need to hold your head up...the result doesn't change anything, this is a stinger, and I've been on the side of it as a player, these sting you, and it's ok to be stung, you care, you want to win, but how do you channel that energy now to make sure we're motivated to get even better. That's the privelege of these games, is they sit with you a little bit longer than the wins do, and it will motivate us."

That motivation will take Czechia to home ice next season as Ceska Budejovice in Czechia will host the 2024 World Championships.