“Am I dreaming or something?”

Defence wins championships: Czechia’s goalie Julie Pejsova blocks Canada in women’s hockey final.

Czechia’s women’s ice hockey team is the new FISU World University Games champion. On Monday, 20 January, the Czechs shocked tournament favourite and defending champion Canada in the Torino 2025 final with a 2-1 overtime victory at Pala Tazzoli.

Anna Vanickova scored the winning goal with 3:39 left in the first period of 3-on-3 extra time. The hero of the tonight, however, was goalkeeper Julie Pejsova, with a stunning 51 saves.

Second Games, first gold

It was Czechia’s first FISU Games title in the sport, after claiming bronze in its first participation at Lake Placid 2023.

In the American Olympic town two winters ago, the Canadian women had captured their fourth FISU crown but they have to settle for their fourth silver this time around.

Canada is still the most successful country in FISU Games annals in the sport, having competed in all eight championship matchs since the first tournament took place in 2009 in Harbin, China.

Brave Czech defending, Canada regretting chances

Both teams entered the final with unblemished 4-0 records. Canada had beaten Slovakia, Chinese Taipei and Great Britain in group A in the preliminary round, scoring a whopping 36 goals and only conceding twice, both times against the Slovaks. The Canadians followed with another clean sheet in their semi-final contest, a 3-0 blanking of Japan.

Meanwhile, the Czechs defeated Japan, the USA and Kazakhstan in group B. And while they scored less goals than their championship game opponents (21), they were also very tidy defensively, with only four goals against them. Czechia then played neighbouring Slovakia for a spot in the final, coming out on top with a 3-1 win.

The final in a few clicks

Previous Next

Canada came out swinging in the gold-medal contest. The first period ended goalless, with the North Americans getting some great chances without finding a way past a sublime Pejsova.

In the second, Canada kept applying the pressure with 16 shots against two but the Czech defence, again led by Pejsova, wouldn’t budge. The Europeans were mostly looking for chances on the counter-attack, but the finishing wasn’t clinical.

The ice was finally broken in the third period. To the shock of many in Pala Tazzoli, Czechia got on the board first with 8:11 remaining in regulation thanks to Barbora Bartakova, her eight goal of the tournament. But the lead didn’t last long as Canada – at last – managed to crack the Pejsova enigma 40 seconds later.

Extreme tension

In the 3-on-3 overtime, the action was even more nail-biting and tense, with both teams creating numerous chances thanks to the extra space on the ice. Once again, on many occasions, it looked as though Canada was inches away from finding the back of the net but it was not meant to be, as Vanickova beautifully finished off a partial breakaway after 16:21 of extra time.

“I can’t even process what just happened. I am in shock. Am I dreaming or something? It’s unbelievable,” were Julie Pejsova’s first post-game words.

“I had a lot of saves, but every game I’m trying to give my girls a chance to win. I think I’ve done that today. It’ doesn’t matter if I have five or 100 saves, I just want to win the game. We know each other for ten years, maybe more, and we played together for our whole lives. I love them so much, and I’ve done that for them. After a second place in the European cup, I told them ‘One day we are going to win something big’” said the student from Higher school CUS Ltd in Prague.

“We are not the fastest, and probably not the most skilled or the best team either. But we Czechs always find a way to win, it doesn’t matter against who,” added the 21-year-old keeper.

In the third-place match earlier on Monday, Japan secured bronze with a 2-1 win over Slovakia thanks to goals from Kaho Suzuki and Yuka Chujo. Livia Kubekova scored for the Slovak team.

The take place from 13-23 January. Watch all the competitions live on . Click on the link to find the full schedule.

Written by Nejc Molan, FISU Young Reporter, Slovenia

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.

We warmly thank FISU Official Partner Qiaodan Ltd. which provides remarkable uniforms to FISU Family and International Technical Officials since 2015. Qiaodan is a valuable partner for FISU as it continued to provide its support during the postponement of events due to the global pandemic, and recently extended the relationship with FISU up to and including 2025.