With a 3-1 win over Sweden and a fifth place finish in Brampton, Finland will return to Group A for the 2024 Women’s World Championship.

"This was one of the goals," Finland's Ronja Savolainen said of returning to Group A. "We wanted to be in the top four, but we had one goal, to come back to the A group, and we did it, so I’m really proud of this team. I think the Czech game we played really good, but we couldn’t get the puck in—but that’s hockey and that’s life. I think everyone should be proud. We want to play those hard games against Canada and USA, so I’m really happy with [this game]."

The captains exchanged goals in the first period, starting with Sweden’s Anna Kjellbin. Her slap shot—Sweden’s first shot of the game in the first minute of play—just trickled past Finnish netminder Sanni Ahola.

Sweden would only manage two shots in the first period, the second coming 15 minutes later from Lina Ljungblom on a power play. Meanwhile, Swedish goalie Emma Soderberg made 17 saves through the first 20 minutes, including a breakaway attempt by the tournament’s leading scorer, Petra Nieminen. 

Finnish captain Jenni Hiirikoski’s points total in Brampton reached double digits with a power play goal scored after just 12 seconds with the player advantage, a wrist shot from the blue line that sailed over Soderberg to tie the game. 

Kiira Yrjanen, playing in just her second Women’s World Championship, gave Finland the lead with her first career Women’s Worlds goal 6:48 into the second period. Off a face-off won by Viivi Vainikka, defender Savolainen skated the puck deep into Sweden’s zone and found Yrjanen open in front of the net to put Finland up 2-1.

"It felt amazing," said Yrjanen. "I have had so many places to score in this tournament and now it finally went in, so it was relieving."

"We have four good lines, it’s not only one who is going to score those important goals," said Savolainen. "We know that everyone can score, and everyone has that confidence to do whatever they want out there. We’re just trying to get the group to have such a confidence that we can just be ourselves, come here and have fun. I think that was something we didn’t have last tournament. I think this is just the start."

Savolainen made her Women's Worlds debut in 2015, but was never a big contributer to the scoresheet—until this tournament that is, where she's emerged as a smart and confident offensive defender.

"I think I’ve been just enjoying playing hockey," said Savolainen, who is a force to be reckoned with in the SDHL (her +51 led the league in plus/minus this past season). "I’ve been talking a lot with the D coach, and I know my few years with the national team hasn’t been the greatest from my side. I think I hadn’t found my own game, and now I think I’ve been talking about it a lot and just trying to relax and find my own game. I like to have the puck. I like to shoot it and play it to people, and I'm just trying to have fun out there."

Sweden got a few more shots through to Ahola in the second and third period, but play remained mostly in Sweden’s zone, with the Finns continuing to clog the middle of the ice and take away shooting lanes whenever the Swedes found some momentum.

"They were really good in the shooting lanes," said Kjellbin. "It’s always hard to play around and then to get the pucks in in those games, and sometimes you succeed to do it, but today was not enough."

Noora Tulus also hit 10 points in Brampton with a power play goal in the final minutes of the third, and Hiirikoski reached a new career high in points at a single Women's World Championship (11) with an assist on the goal.

"I’ve never seen a player getting older and even better all the time," Savolainen said of Hiirikoski. "You can just see her enjoying every moment she’s having out there and her confidence—I don’t know how people can have that kind of confidence. I wish I had the same. She’s doing so much work every day, going to the gym so that she’s going to be better on the ice. It’s nice to go behind her and in her footsteps. She’s a great leader."

Soderberg was pulled with two minutes remaining for the extra attacker, and a penalty called on Hiirikoski gave Sweden some 6-on-4 action to close out the game, but there were no last minute heroics, and Finland held on to win 3-1.

"I think if you would compare to Denmark in August last year, we lost to Japan in the first [placement round] game and this Worlds we take this step all the way to actually playing for a spot in the A group, and I think that’s an improvement," said Kjellbin. "But also, not to forget the game we did against Canada, we showed that we can be close when we have a really good day, and the team effort that we had that day, I think that’s really memorable. Even though we lost today, I hope that we can remember all those good things and I think we have something going on here."

Finnish captain Jenni Hiirikoski’s points total reached double digits with a power play goal scored after just 12 seconds with the player advantage, a wrist shot from the blue line that sailed over Soderberg. 

Kiira Yrjanen, playing in just her second Women’s World Championship, gave Finland the lead with her first career Women’s Worlds goal 6:48 into the second period. Off a face-off won by Viivi Vainikka, defender Ronja Savolainen skated the puck deep into Sweden’s zone and found Yrjanen open in front of the net to put Finland up 2-1.

Sweden got a few more shots through to Ahola in the second and third period, but play remained mostly in Sweden’s zone, with the Finns continuing to clog the middle of the ice and take away shooting lanes whenever the Swedes found some momentum.

Noora Tulus also hit 10 points with a power play goal in the final minutes of the third, and Hiirikoski reached a new career high in points at a single Women's World Championship (11) with an assist on the goal.

Soderberg was pulled with two minutes remaining for the extra attacker, and a penalty called on Hiirikoski gave Sweden some 6-on-4 action to close out the game, but there was no last minute heroics, and Finland held on to win 3-1.