Helisomppi erupts for six points as Finland dominates Czechoslovakia 9–2

Olympic Ice Hockey  ·  Round Robin Week 1  ·  Final

Helisomppi erupts for six points as Finland dominates from first shift in stunning 9–2 Olympic statement

Ryan Helisomppi was the fastest skater in the building — and the most unstoppable. Finland led wire to wire across three periods and sent a message to every team remaining in the field before the first frame was even halfway gone.

Friday, April 10, 2026  ·  Olympic Hockey Desk

There was no grace period. There was no feeling-out process. Michael Cosensalo put Finland ahead just 2:27 into the opening frame and the Finns never looked back, building a commanding 4-0 lead across the first 12 minutes and 52 seconds before Czechoslovakia managed its lone first-period response — a goal from Andrew Cankar with 29 seconds remaining on the clock. It was a footnote to a frame Finland had already won with authority.

The final score — Finland 9, Czechoslovakia 2 — was not close, was not flattering to the Czech side, and was by the time the final horn sounded a shocking but complete portrait of the gap between these two rosters across 3 periods of Olympic hockey. The prediction here called for Czechoslovakia 8 Finland 5. What arrived instead was a statement performance anchored by a six-point night from Helisomppi that will be discussed long after this tournament concludes.

The first period

Finland seizes control before the crowd settles in

Cosensalo opened the scoring at 2:27, converted off a Hetfleischqvist setup, and announced Finland's intentions immediately. The pace did not relent. Cosensalo struck again at 3:57, with Helisomppi picking up the assist and making clear from early that he intended to be involved in everything Finland did offensively. Helisomppi then scored himself at 10:35 — Doug Kressiharju and Adam Carltonen combining on the helpers — to make it 3-0 with nearly a third of the period still to play. Hetfleischqvist closed the first-period Finnish scoring at 12:52.

Cankar finally beat Moranqvist at 14:31 — Donchez providing the setup — with just 29 seconds left on the clock. In a period that Finland had dominated from the 2:27 mark, it was a small mercy rather than a momentum shift. The Czechs trudged to the intermission down 4-1, having been outplayed, outscored, and outworked for nearly the entire frame. The narrative the preview had built around Cankar as the difference-making force — the 4.0 ppg superstar who could carry a team — had not materialized in any meaningful way until he scored at the close of the period and there was a buzz in the crowd that the Czechs were about to storm back into the game.

The second period

Three more in the final four minutes — a rookie writes his name in

If there was any hope in the Czech locker room during the first intermission after that late marker, the second period's opening ten minutes offered a strange kind of intensified encouragement — neither team scored, and Czechoslovakia actually generated quality looks. But the moment Finland found its opening, the damage was sudden and clustered. Helisomppi scored at 11:19, Kenninen picking up the assist, to push the lead to 5-1. Then, with 2:38 remaining in the period, Kressiharju converted off a Hetfleischqvist feed for his first point of the night. The rookie no one had picked to be a factor finished Thursday's game with three points. Kressiharju is a player to watch.

Helisomppi completed his hat trick at 14:14, with just 46 seconds left in the period, assisted by Cosensalo and Carltonen. Three Finnish goals in the final three minutes and 55 seconds of the second period buried any further hope of a Czech revival. Seven to one heading to the third. Czechoslovakia had been shut out entirely across the middle frame despite continuing to generate shots, and the scoreboard was now delivering a verdict that no reasonable effort could overturn.

The Third Period

Adam Carltonen strikes 49 seconds in — Helisomppi adds a fourth for good measure 

The third period began with perhaps the most demoralizing moment of the night for Czechoslovakia. Carltonen — the streaky Finnish winger the preview had flagged as dangerous when hot — scored just 49 seconds into the frame, with Hetfleischqvist and Kressiharju assisting, to make it 8-1. The Czechs had not managed a goal in over 28 minutes of hockey at that point, and they were now staring down a seven-goal deficit with fourteen minutes and eleven seconds remaining.

Helisomppi added his fourth of the night at 11:27 — unassisted, his individual excellence by that point simply too much to contain — before Brian Donchez gave the Czech fans something to celebrate at 12:20, converting off an Orzechowski feed for Czechoslovakia's second and final goal of the evening. It was a genuine moment for Donchez, who showed throughout the night the quality that his career numbers promise. But the final buzzer made it 9-2, and the story of this game had been written long before the third period ever started.

Goaltending

Moranqvist was immovable — Friddle could not hold the line

Here is the number that tells the whole story: Czechoslovakia outshot Finland 32 to 29 across 45 minutes of hockey and lost by seven goals. They were not passive. They were not absent. The problem was Shaun Moranqvist, who made 30 saves and treated a 32-shot Czech night as a routine evening's work, and Michael Friddle, who allowed nine, struggled with the speed and number of Fins crashing his net. There were times where the Czechs had two converted forwards on the ice as defensemen on a shift against the Finnish top line and that gave Friddle fits as the Fins were afforded multiple high danger scoring chances. There were flashes of brilliance from Friddle as well, he gloved an absolute point blank blast from Paul Silvas with 5:04 left in the second that elicited a huge response from the crowd and he had some masterful leg pad kick saves when he looked all but beat. If he can find that groove and the Czech D Corps tightens up, the team will compete well.  

Moranqvist was everything the preview projected — battle-tested, positionally sound, unflappable when the Czechs threatened. He did not need to be spectacular because he was precise, and against a team that outshot his own by three, he held firm through every push Czechoslovakia made. The defending two-time FHL Legend Cup champion performed exactly as his record suggested he would on a big stage.

Looking ahead

Finland is a title contender. Czechoslovakia needs answers — fast.

Finland leaves the Inwood Ice Arena Thursday night not just with two round-robin points but with the undivided attention of every other team in the field. Nine goals across 45 minutes, contributions from five different skaters including a rookie who wasn't supposed to factor in, and a six-point eruption from Helisomppi that rewrites the conversation about who the most dangerous offensive player in this tournament actually is. Hetfleischqvist was the playmaking force the preview anticipated. Moranqvist was a champion. And Helisomppi — the fastest skater in the building — proved that speed is only the beginning of what he brings to the ice.

Czechoslovakia faces a harder morning. The talent is genuine — they outshot Finland, Cankar is still Cankar, and Donchez showed real quality and Orzechowski clearly had an off night. Friddle will need to find his best form before the next game, the Czech tournament run risks ending before it truly finds its footing. The conversations happening in that locker room tonight will say everything about what kind of team this is. The next game will confirm it.

Finland sent a message Thursday night across 3 full periods. It arrived loudly, completely, and with no room for misinterpretation.

All statistics per official HockeyShift game sheet. Olympic Hockey Desk.  ·  Inwood Ice Arena, April 9, 2026.