The first leg of the 2025-26 Women's Euro Hockey Tour wrapped up Saturday in Kloten, Switzerland. National teams from Finland, Sweden, Czechia, and Switzerland came together for a round robin event, their first in an Olympic season. While none of the teams fielded all of their top players, each had PWHL and NCAA players on board for this stop, and some early trends emerged. Finland was far and away the top team at this event finishing undefeated [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/international/karvinen-and-holopainen-lead-finland-to-undefeated-finish] while outscoring their opponents 15-4 in three games. That included Michelle Karvinen leading the event lead in goals and points with four goals and eight points, followed closely by Elisa Holopainen's four goals and seven points. Here's a look at a key takeaway from each national team. FINLAND FOUND THEIR TOP LINE Write down the names Michelle Karvinen, Elisa Holopainen, and Susanna Tapani, seal them inside an envelope, and do not open it again until the opening ceremony of the 2026 Olympic Games. It's an almost certainty that trio will be Finland's top line in Milano Cortina as they displayed innate chemistry. Holopainen was the dynamic scorer, Karvinen the cerebral playmaker, and Tapani the power and punch. The trio worked, and they produced. Karvinen and Tapani will play in the PWHL this season with Vancouver and Boston respectively, while Holopainen enters her second season in the SDHL where she looks poised to light up the league. Even Canada and USA will be honing in on this group come the Olympics. Michelle Karvinen CZECHIA'S BLUELINE A CONCERN Czechia had a decent offensive attack that will only get stronger when Katerina Mrazova, Adela Sapovalivova, and Tereza Plosova return to the lineup, but their blueline was not up to par. Czechia has Dominika Laskovo and Andrea Trnkova who weren't brought to Switzerland, who will both be significant upgrades to their blueline. Czechia's inexperienced teens had a few highs and lows as they learned the level of competition, and the team experimented with Noemi Neubauerova at the position with mixed results. Czechia had far too many turnovers, found themselves on the wrong side of pucks, lost too many foot races in their own zone, and missed coverage resulting directly in goals and prime scoring opportunities. Czechia can't afford to adopt too conservative of a team structure given their need to score against Canada, USA, and Finland, so their defenders will need to be more consistent. Another option for Czechia is Klara Hymlarova, a forward who played defence in her final season in the NCAA before moving back to forward in the PWHL. SWEDEN STILL HAS WORK TO DO Sweden has taken massive leaps in their competitive level internationally in recent seasons, and they have waves of talent still coming. But from last year to this year, Sweden showed a bit of a stall at this event. Yes, they were missing some key young players like Hilda Svensson and Jenna Raunio, but it shouldn't be enough to drop them to the bottom of this event. They should have started to grab the odd win by now. One of the nations continued worries is consistency in net. Emma Soderberg just hasn't looked the same since her tournament attention stealing performance at the 2023 Worlds. Soderberg posted an .889 save percentage and Ebba Svensson Träff posted a .833 save percentage. You just don't win games with those numbers. How much longer can Sweden's senior national team afford to ignore Lisa Jönsson, who could be the best goaltender in their program right now? A SWISS REVIVAL IN THE MAKING The players who needed to step up for Switzerland to stay a step ahead of Sweden, and in competition with Czechia, did. That's good news for Switzerland's hopes at the 2026 Olympics. Alina Muller of course did what she's supposed to do, but it was the secondary players who moved closer to primary players. Nicole Vallario showed her breakout performance at Worlds this year wasn't a one-off. Andrea Brandli was stellar earning a shutout against Sweden. And even though she didn't replicate it against Finland...she can. Rahel Enzler looked like she's ready to give Switzerland another offensive threat up front that opponents can't ignore. If she continues on that trajectory, it would take a lot of stress off Alina Muller and Lara Stalder. Overall, this was a good showing for Switzerland.
