Czech hockey players entered last year’s prestigious series for the four strongest European national teams as world champions and confirmed their quality form with an overall victory in the Euro Hockey Tour after five years.
The Czechs start their defense as they do every year at the November tournament organized by Finland, which this year changes its name from the Karjala Tournament to the Finnish Hockey Games. It takes place from Thursday November 6 to Sunday November 9 in Tampere, Finland. The only exception was the opening match of the Czech national team against Sweden, which was played in Ängelholm, Sweden.
Program of the Finnish Hockey Games 2025
In the introductory Thursday’s matches first saw Switzerland play Finland, and then Sweden hosted the Czech Republic on home ice. After the traditional day break, the Swedish hockey players will play Switzerland at noon on Saturday, and the Finns will play the Czech Republic in the afternoon. The opening tournament of the season will end with Sunday’s matches – the Czech Republic and Switzerland and the Nordic derby between Finland and Sweden.
| Date and time | Match |
|---|---|
| Thursday, November 6, 5:30 p.m | Switzerland – Finland 3:1 |
| Thursday, November 6, 7:00 p.m | Sweden – Czech Republic 3:1 |
| Saturday, November 8, 12:00 | Sweden – Switzerland |
| Saturday, November 8, 4:00 p.m | Finland – Czech Republic |
| Sunday, November 9, 12:00 | Czech Republic – Switzerland |
| Sunday, November 9, 4:00 p.m | Finland – Sweden |
Table of the Finnish hockey games 2025
| The team | Z | V | VP | PP | P | S | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 3 |
| Sweden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 3 |
| Czechia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:3 | 0 |
| Finland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:3 | 0 |
Interim table EHT 2025/2026
The Czechs are defending their victory from the previous season, when Finland was five points behind them. Switzerland, which for the first time was not the last in the EHT series, finished another four points back. The Swedes were even a point worse this time.
| The team | Z | V | VP | PP | P | S | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 3 |
| Sweden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3:1 | 3 |
| Czechia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:3 | 0 |
| Finland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1:3 | 0 |
Nomination of the Czech national team for the 2025 Finnish Hockey Games
For the first Euro Hockey Tour tournament in the Olympic season, coach Radim Rulík nominated proven names, the only debutant is the third goalkeeper Pavel Čajan from Litvínov. Almost twenty nominees are from the Czech extra league, the Swedish top competition has the second largest representation of players.
| Goalkeepers |
| Josef Kořenář (Sparta), Petr Kváča (Liberec), Pavel Čajan (Litvínov) |
| Defenders |
| Marian Adámek (Třinec), Michal Kempný (Brynäs, Sweden), Jan Košťálek, Libor Hájek (both Pardubice), Libor Zábranský (Brno), Radek Kučerík (Ilves, Finland), Filip Pyrochta (Mladá Boleslav), Tomáš Cibulka (Č. Budějovice), Radim Šimek (Liberec), Jan Ščotka (Brno) |
| Attackers |
| Matyáš Kantner (Kärpät Oulu, Finland), Kristian Reichel (Mannheim, Germany), Luboš Horký (Rögle, Sweden), Ondřej Beránek, Jiří Černoch (both K. Vary), Ondřej Kovařčík, Daniel Kurovský (both Třinec), Jáchym Kondelík, Jakub Lauko, Lukáš Sedlák (all Pardubice), Jakub Flek (Brno), Radim Zohorna (Färjestad, Swed.), Dominik Kubalík (Zug, Switzerland), Filip Chlapík (Sparta), Matěj Stránský (Davos, Switzerland) |
Where to watch Euro Hockey Tour 2025/2026
As is traditional, Czech national hockey team matches are broadcast by public Czech television on its sports channel ČT Sport. An alternative is also the use of streams from various betting offices, but registration or a minimum deposit is usually required here.
