Team USA Outlasts Czechia to Secure Spot in Gold Medal Game

In one of the best games of the 2025 Worlds, Team USA narrowly beat Czechia, 2-1, for the chance to play for a gold medal tomorrow. Czech netminder Klára Peslarová sparkled, turning aside 43 shots, while the Americans got timely goals from key contributors to hold off the team that has become the biggest threat to North American dominance in international hockey. 

As they’ve done all tournament, the United States carried most of the play early. Czechia got some quality looks at the other end but struggled to land many of them on goal.

However, once they killed a penalty in the second half of the opening frame, Czechia had all the momentum. They soon capitalized on it, with Klára Hymlárová taking advantage of a tough U.S. turnover behind the net to feed Tereza Plosová, who beat Aerin Frankel to take the lead. The goal marked just the second time Czechia has ever led the United States, with the only other occasion coming back in the 2023 preliminary round.

Czechia continued buzzing but couldn’t add another goal before the horn sounded. So, they returned to the locker room leading 1-0 despite getting outshot 13-5.

The U.S. started the second period predictably hot and dominated the first five minutes. However, they struggled to land shots on goal, leaving Peslarová to make just two saves despite spending nearly all that time in the offensive zone.

A few minutes later, the Americans got their second power play of the day. They did not make the mistake of letting Czechia kill it again. Laila Edwards sent a laser of a shot bar down for her first of the tournament to tie the game at 8:56.

The U.S. continued to pepper Peslarová with shots the rest of the period, but she was dialed in and kept the score even. Shots were 30-7 USA after two periods.

The United States played adventurous defense in the final frame, letting Czechia come charging into the zone at full speed and with odd-player rushes on several occasions. They managed to break those chances up before Czechia got a shot off, but it was uncharacteristically sloppy from a team that has otherwise been tight defensively this tournament.

Luckily for their dreams of gold, it didn’t come back to haunt them. As the period approached the halfway point, Kelly Pannek made a great individual effort, staying with the puck after she missed the wraparound attempt before firing it past Peslarová to give her team their first lead of the game at 8:26.

The Americans swarmed Peslarová in hopes of scoring an insurance goal, but they couldn’t break her again. Pannek made sure to credit her for an outstanding performance postgame.

“She played phenomenal,” Pannek said in the IIHF recap. “In this tournament, great goaltending is kind of expected. She definitely was huge for their team, and I think their team rallied around it. It makes it frustrating right when you’re getting great looks and great chances and can’t find the back of the net maybe as early in the game as we would have liked. She played a great game, and we’re glad we were able to get a few by her.”

At the other end, the Czechs got their chances, but the U.S. held on to secure their narrowest semifinal victory in any of their Worlds tournaments and keep their gold-medal game streak alive. The final shots were 45-11 USA.

Despite the lopsided shot count and disappointing (albeit expected) result, Czechia has nothing to hang their heads about. They harnessed an electric crowd and gave the Americans everything they could handle.

“It hurts for the girls,” Czechia’s head coach Carla McLeod said in the IIHF recap. “We played an incredible game. We didn’t back down, we were highly physical in our own zone, and we kept ourselves in the contest. It’s a heartbreaker that way but it’s another step in our journey of trying to get to the level that we know we want to be at. Today we showed ourselves that we can get there.”

On the other hand, this game should remind Team USA that the gap is closing between them and some of their European counterparts. A trip to the gold medal game is no longer as sure a bet as it was even five years ago, especially if they’re not on North American turf. It’s a phenomenal sign for the sport's growth but also a sober reminder to the North American teams that streaks are meant to be broken. USA head coach John Wroblewski spoke postgame about how much he respects Czechia for how they competed.

“I thought it was just an amazing showing by the Czech players,” Wroblewski said in the IIHF recap. “Every loose puck meant the world to them, every blocked shot meant everything to them. I’ve just got so much respect for the ways the Czechs played and, with that, I’ve got so much respect for the way that our team got the victory. That was a really tough game to play.”

The United States will face off against the winner of Canada vs Finland tomorrow at 6 p.m. local/12 p.m. ET with a gold medal on the line. Those two countries have been their only previous opponents in gold medal games. Meanwhile, Czechia will battle for bronze at 2 p.m. local/8 a.m. ET with the loser of that game. Both teams will look to reclaim those respective medals after missing out last year in Utica.

Fifth-Place Game

The semifinals aren’t the only games today, as Switzerland and Sweden kicked off the day’s slate in the fifth-place game. In a bit of a surprise move, the Swiss returned to goaltender Saskia Maurer, who took over in relief of Andrea Brändli after she let up five goals in the first period of their quarterfinal game against Czechia. Sweden had two separate leads, but the Swiss ultimately found their offense to defeat them 3-2 after scoring just one prior goal this tournament.

Ebba Hedqvist opened the scoring for Sweden with a clean shot past Maurer at 15:36 of the first period.

Just over two minutes later, Rahel Enzler rang a shot off the post and in to tie the game up for Switzerland.

As the game approached the halfway point, Linnéa Johansson ripped a power-play slap shot home to regain the lead for Sweden.

That lead lasted a little longer, but at 15:15, Lara Stadler re-tied the game. 

Finally, with just three seconds remaining in the middle frame, Swedish goaltender Emma Söderberg mistakenly kicked a rebound right to Enzler, who didn’t miss the chance to give Switzerland its first lead of the tournament.

Despite Sweden’s best efforts, Enzler’s goal capped off the scoring. The final shots were 36-23 in favor of Sweden. The groups as we know them are being replaced by “snake” seeded ones next year, so the win no longer promises Switzerland a spot in the quarterfinals. Instead, it pushes them into the group with the teams ranked 1, 4, 8, and 9, while Sweden will join ranks 2, 3, 7, and 10. The top eight teams from this year's tournament will be joined by recently promoted Denmark and Austria. The IIHF will determine pool placements after this tournament.