Czech Women’s Summer Cup Final

19 Aug 2012 | Tyler Bilton

Today was the final day of the Czech Women's Summer Cup and the tournament organizers couldn't have put on a better event. The whole tournament was professionally run with no delays or any complaints by the clubs.

The day started off with Slavia Praha firing 53 shots against the Netherlands Claudia van Leeuwen and managing to get 5 by her. The Netherlands finished the tournament in 6th place and Praha finished 2nd .

Everyone in the Zimni Stadion for the second game didn't need to know any Russian to understand that there is a fierce rivalry between Tornado Moscow and HC Agidel Ufa. The two Russian clubs faced off in a spectacular battle that included 34 minutes in minor penalties. The final score was 4-0 in favour of Moscow, but despite the loss, Ufa's Sara O'Toole remained positive, “I feel like every time we play Tornado we get better and better.”

Ufa finished 4th in the tournament, ahead of the Vienna Sabres who lost to Slavia Praha 6-1 today. The Sabres Janine Weber finished the tournament with 5 goals and one assist.

Pantera Minsk definitely didn't have the tournament they expected, but showed improvement as the tournament went on. They competed hard but could not fight off ESC Planegg today as Danielle Ward had 2 goals and an assist that ended Minsk's tournament with a 3-0 loss. Minsk finished last in the tournament.

That lead up to the final game and if ESC Planegg won, they would win the tournament. The first period was a back and forth battle that had Zuzana Tomcikova face the most action she had seen all tournament. It ended with Moscow up 2-0 with two goals by Marina Sergina. The game turned into a special teams game with the last 30 minutes featuring 24 minutes of minor penalties. Planegg couldn't capitalize on some key chances on the powerplay and Moscow was quick to regain momentum and scored one in the second and three in the third. Despite the 6-0 lead, Planegg didn't give up and managed to break Moscow's tournament long shutout as Monika Bittner beat Tomcikova, making the final score 6-1.

With the loss, Planegg finished 3rd and Moscow took the tournament championship for the second year in a row.

It was only a pre-season tournament, but the teams played every game as a championship was on the line. With some of the best women's clubs in Europe, the games played were great previews of how competitive the EWHL, EWCC, and league games will be this season.