The Northern Conference quarter-finals began during the weekend in Finland and Sweden. In the Men’s Champions Cup the Finnish teams were victorious but in the Women’s Champions Cup it was Pixbo IBK and Thorengruppen who won their first matches. Next matches are just around the corner as the quarter-finals continue this week.
Men’s Champions Cup
Champions Cup 2025 began on Friday with the first Men’s Northern Conference quarter-final match between Pixbo IBK and Esport Oilers. Oilers captain and Finnish national team player Justus Kainulainen was on fire and scored a hat-trick in the game. Oilers won the match 9-4 – it was their first Champions Cup game and first win!
Next match: Esport Oilers v Pixbo IBK on Saturday 31st August at 14.30 in Tapiolan Urheiluhalli
Nokian KrP welcomed the Swedish champions and 757 spectators to their new home arena in Nokia on Saturday. The match between the two was very tight but ended positively for the home team. Vili Liponen scored the 6-5 goal for “Näätä” Team which was also the winning goal. All goals for Nokian KrP were scored by their first line but will this be problematic for future games?
Next match: Storvreta IBK v Nokian KrP on Thursday 29th August at 18.30 in IFU Arena
Women’s Champions Cup
Classic and Thorengruppen are the teams that know each other pretty well, especially as they met also last year in the Champions Cup quarter-finals. Reagardless of an early match start, 501 spectators arrived to Bläk Boks to cheer for their teams on Sunday afternoon. Classic could not stop the reigning Swedish champions and Thorengruppen won the first match 9-1. Player of the match from Thorengruppen was Oona Kauppi, who scored a hat-trick and was happy to start the season with important games.
Next match: Thorengruppen IBK v Classic on Saturday 31st August at 13:30 in Thoren Arena
In another repeat of the 2024 quarterfinals, Pixbo and TPS women’s side took each other on in game 1 of their 2025 Champions Cup match series on Sunday August, 25th. Last season in the same series it was Pixbo who were dominant with two victories (13-6, 9-4) and this time around game 1 was in Gothenburg, Sweden as Pixbo were hosts to TPS. Mira Markström scored a hat-trick against TPS and without her the match would for sure have been a lot closer between the two. Final score 8-5 for Pixbo and they continue the trend from last year.
Next match: TPS v Pixbo IBK on Saturday 31st at 16:00 in Kupittaan Palloiluhalli
ALL MATCH REPLAYS, HIGHLIGHTS, AND STATISTICS AVAILABLE ON THE IFF APP!
More Champions Cup updates on the Champions Cup website
