Here come the champs!
It’s time to introduce the 2025 champions across Europe.
AUSTRIA (ICE Hockey League) – The ICEHL celebrated its 25th anniversary but Red Bull Salzburg may just have stolen some of the league’s thunder by winning its fourth straight title, and in a 4-0 sweep over regular season champion Klagenfurt no less. And they won Game 4 also 4-0.
Salzburg’s goaltender Atte Tolvanen allowed only two goals in the final series and was voted playoffs MVP. His teammate Peter Schneider led the league in scoring, with 17 points in 13 games.
CZECHIA (Tipsport Extraliga) – In Czechia, the championship final was a battle between Dynamo Pardubice and Kometa Brno, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the regular season.
To get to play for the Czech championship, Brno took care of the regular season champions, Sparta Praha, and Pardubice as regular season runner-up, Mountfield HK, in the semifinal.
As expected, the final was a closely contested battle that went to a Game 7 in Pardubice. Brno took an early lead in the game and never let go. Former NHLer Peter Mueller scored at 12:59, and the 37-year-old’s seventh of the playoffs turned out to be the championship-winning goal.
Kometa Brno’s goaltender Michal Postava recorded a 21-save shutout.
Pardubice’s Roman Červenka won the playoffs scoring title with 19 points.
“I'm incredibly proud of all the guys, our entire organization, fans, families, and the entire Kometa family. Everyone deserves it,” Kometa Brno’s captain Jakub Flek said on the team’s website.
“[Coach] Kamil [Pokorný] is a king! A very kind person. Today, he said such a beautiful sentence before the game, something he heard in a [Daniel Landa] song. It was, "Desire is a miracle, buddy, a miracle." I think this moment captures it beautifully.”
DENMARK – While being a World Championship host city is great, the hockey fans in Herning probably would’ve traded it for another Danish title for their Blue Foxes. But that wasn’t in the cards.
Instead, Odense Bulldogs got to celebrate their first Danish championship. They beat Herning in five games in the final, and Game 5 in OT. Markus Jensen found the back of the net 2:34 into the OT, with his first shot of the game.
“I actually fumbled the puck a little, and then I just sent it away. I think I was lucky. I don't know how it went in. I'm so tired that I can hardly remember it,” Jensen said on the league’s website.
The fans will never forget it.
ELITE ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE– The Belfast Giants entered the season going for a treble – the league title, the Challenge Cup win and the EIHL playoffs –and they got close. The Giants won the league, ahead of Sheffield Steelers, and hold the EIHL Champions Hockey League spot. They also won the Challenge Cup in March, downing the Cardiff Devils 4-0 in the final.
But the hockey gods can be fickle, and in the playoff semifinal, it was the Devils who delivered the final blow to the Giants dreams, crushing them 5-0 in a one-game semifinal.
In the final, the Devils played against the regular season third-place term, the Nottingham Panthers who won the one-game final 4-3 in double overtime. The Panthers’ big hero was Mitch Fossier who scored the game-winner, and his second goal of the game, at 12:15 into the second OT.
“It was all a blur. I heard the crowd, and everyone just started jumping around, so I thought it was a safe bet that I could throw my stuff in the air. It was pure adrenaline,” the 28-year-old American said.
FINLAND (Liiga) – As soon as KalPa Kuopio and SaiPa Lappeenranta hade advanced to the Liiga final, we knew history would be made, as neither team had never won the Finnish title before.
KalPa finished third in the regular season – five points behind the top team, Lukko Rauma – and earned a spot in the quarterfinals. SaiPa, on the other hand, fifth if the regular season standings, had to start their playoff run from the first round for teams finishing 5-12.
Maybe it was that five-game series against TPS Turku that finally caught up with SaiPa in the final against KalPa. The small-town team became a phenomenon in Finland, thanks to their Cinderella story and their charismatic but cryptic coach Raimo Helminen, who was beloved during his active career as a Team Finland regular.
But at the end of Game 6, which KalPa tied with 68 seconds before the buzzer to take it to OT and then won it with Filip Westerlund’s snapshot just six minutes into the OT, it was KalPa captain Tuomas Kiiskinen,39, who hoisted the Canada Bowl as Finnish champion.
“KalPa has been around for almost 100 years, and here’s the prize for all our fans. We made history,” said Kiiskinen, a local Kuopio boy, who made his debut in 2005.
“I think that’s it, I don’t think there are any parts to fix this body, but I couldn’t ask for a better way to finish my career.”
FRANCE (Synerglace Ligue Magnus) – Grenoble has been a French hockey powerhouse for a while, especially in recent years. They’ve made the French final five times since 2018 – only six seasons due to the pandemic – and they’ve won three of them, 2019, 2022, and 2025.
They won the regular season in a convincing fashion, by 14 points, having lost only seven of their 44 games.
In the final, les Brûleurs de Loups de Grenoble beat Angers, in five games, having first taken a 3-0 lead in the series. When Game 5 brought them back to Grenoble, they could clinch their ninth Magnus Cup title.
Alexis Binner scored the championship-winning goal, assisted by Matias Bachelet and Damien Fleury. Binner also added three assists.
GERMANY (Penny DEL) – Four championships in five years is a dynasty, and since that’s exactly what Eisbären Berlin has done since 2021, they certainly are a German hockey dynasty.
This year, they also went all the way with an impressive 12-2 record, dropping only one quarterfinal game against Straubing Tigers, and one game in the final against Kölner Haie.
And if that wasn’t enough, Berlin beat Cologne 7-0 three times in a row. Let’s repeat that, Games 3, 5, and 6 all ended 7-0 to Berlin. The goal difference favoured Berlin 27-3 in the series.
Jake Hildebrand posted a 180-minute-long shutout streak, and Eisbären Berlin’s Ty Ronning, son of former NHLer Cliff, led the league in scoring both in the regular season and the playoffs. He also collected a point in every game in the playoffs and was named MVP.
It was the 11th German title for Eisbären Berlin.
HUNGARY/ROMANIA (Erste Liga) – The new champion is the champion from 2023, Gyergyói HK, who beat SC Csíkszereda in six games in an l-Romanian Erste Liga final.
“First of all, I would like to thank the fans here and at home, both fan bases, for creating such a wonderful atmosphere in both arenas. What a year we had! We were up, we were down, but in the end, we became a real family, fighting for each other, and now we are here,” Gyergyói coach Markus Juurikkala said.
“I feel a bit empty right now; we have invested a lot of energy in this dream. Hockey is a real fighting sport; as a player, you have to win the little battles to get the puck and then pass it on. That was the key to our success.”
NORWAY (EliteHockeyLigaen) – It was Storhamar Hamar’s season from beginning to end as the regular season champs went all the way in the playoffs, winning their second consecutive Norwegian championship.
Oh, and they were undefeated in the post-season.
Storhamar’s defenseman Sverre Rønningen scored 15 points in 12 games, won the playoff scoring title, and was named MVP.
The last time Storhamar didn’t play in the Norwegian final was in 2017.
SLOVAKIA (Tipos Extraliga) – Regular season runner-up HC Košice returned to the top of the Slovak Extraliga, after a one-year hiatus, when they beat HK Nitra in Game 7 of the final.
On home ice. In overtime.
The OT hero was Danick Martel, who ended the game barely a minute into the first overtime period, assisted by team captain Michal Chovan.
“It's the best feeling in the world. I don't even know how I scored that goal. I know I fired it, but then I just went blank," the Canadian said. "The emotions were simply unbelievable. I'm happy for the team and the fans. It was a difficult season, during which we had many injuries. There were better and worse moments, but we still stuck together."
It was Košice’s 10th Slovak title. In addition, the club won the Czechoslovak Extraliga twice in the late 1980s.
On their way to the title, Košice beat Dukla Trenčín in the quarterfinal in six games and then Zvolen in the semifinal, also in six games, before taking on Nitra.
SWEDEN (Svenska Hockeyligan) – Brynäs Gävle and Luleå Hockey were the two top teams in Sweden in 2024-25, without a doubt. Brynäs, having earned promotion to the SHL a year ago, won the regular season – a first – with Luleå five points behind as the runner-up.
This year’s SHL had no Game 7s, but Luleå had to go through five OTs on their way to the championship. The final series was tied at two when Luleå managed to take an important, and convincing 6-2 win in Gävle, setting up the celebrations on home ice.
And you have to hand it to Brynäs, they gave their all. The game was 3-1 after two periods, and Brynäs won shot attempts 18-6 in the third, but two of Luleå’s shots went in, and they won the game 5-2.
It was their first Swedish title – and their fourth final – since 1996.
“Finally,” said head coach Thomas Berglund, who was on the 1996 team as a player, and behind the bench in 2022 when Luleå lost Game 7 to Färjestad Karlstad.
“We’re finally back on the throne.”
SWITZERLAND (National League) – The men’s team did what the club’s U18 and U20 teams had already done and won the Swiss championship to cap the Zurich Lions’ memorable season during which they won the double: NL championship, and the Champions Hockey League.
The Lions beat regular season champion Lausanne HC in five games in the final. Jesper Fröden scored the championship-winning goal on power play, with seven minutes remaining in Game 5, giving ZSC Lions a 3-2 lead, and win.
Zurich native Patrick Geering got to hoist the championship trophy for the third time as team captain.
“It's better every time,” he told Blick. "I've never been on a team where people said from the start that they want to win the Champions League and defend the title. I am very proud of everyone involved and the fans. If you want to win, everyone has to deliver. And with us everyone delivered.”
The Lions won the NL title in 2024 as well.
It was the club’s eleventh Swiss championship and eight since its formation in 1997 as a merger of Zürcher Schlittschuh Club (ZSC) and Grasshopper Club Zürich (GC).
Photo: Vít Golda / Kometa Brno
