Enzler fires Switzerland to fifth

Switzerland secured fifth place at the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship after defeating Sweden 3-2 in Saturday morning’s placement game. Two goals from Rahel Enzler secured a come-from-behind verdict, with Lara Stalder also on target.

On the face of it, this entrée before the semi-finals might not seem the most important encounter of the tournament. Yet, for both Switzerland and Sweden there was plenty riding on it.

 

The Swiss had one last chance to get a victory in Ceske Budejovice after a disappointing group stage campaign. In particular, they were anxious to end a goal drought that had seen them find the net just once in five games thus far.

“We came from a losing streak, so we know it was going to be a hard battle,” said Enzler after the game. “But it felt really good at the end.

“We’re always a really motivated team and we wanted to finish this tournament on a good note.”

Sweden, meanwhile, believes it is getting back to the level expected from its women’s program. There was also a chance to salve some of the sting from Thursday’s narrow QF loss to Finland.

“I think we came back well [from the QF],” said Swedish goalscorer Linnea Johansson. “The day after was tough for everyone, we were all pretty empty after that game. We tried to come back and fight for this placement, it was important for us to move up in the ranking.

“But unfortunately we couldn’t make it and we’re not happy as we pack our bags and go home.”

Events of the past 10 days shaped the first period play. Switzerland saw more of the puck but was cautious going forward and struggled to create good looks at Emma Soderberg’s net. A Stalder effort off the piping midway through the session was the closest we came to an early Swiss goal.

 

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SWITZERLAND V. SWEDEN

GAME HIGHLIGHTS | CONDENSED GAME

Sweden, full of confidence, was more aggressive in its forward play and at times that threatened to boil over. We saw more than one bout of pushing and shoving on Saskia’s Maurer’s crease before the officials lost patience and assessed coincidental roughing penalties on Lisa Ruedi and Linnea Johansson.

While they sat in the penalty box, Sweden opened the scoring on 15:36. Ebba Hedqvist continued her breakout tournament with a fifth goal. The 18-year-old MoDo forward only found the net once in her two previous visits to the World Championship but is emerging as a real leader for the…