Norway Open 2025: Drama, world stars and cinnamon buns

It was a bright and sunny Saturday, August 23rd, when 29 players from Norway, Latvia, Sweden, and the Czech Republic gathered at Frøyland Elementary School for an international tournament. Whether the Czechs had slept well at Hotel Fjermestad is unknown, but they brought energy from morning until night. While it was a pleasure to welcome international stars like Edgars Caics and Eddie Nilsson, the organizers had hoped for more traveling Norwegian players than just D. Nygård, Ø. Klippen, and Brådland.

After a preliminary round with few surprises, and with political discussions and pizza for lunch, the real tournament finally got underway.

The second division was convincingly won by Benjamin Nygård, while only a single point separated 2nd through 7th place. In the playoffs, three Czechs faced off against five local Jærbu players. As expected, B. Nygård and S. Moberg reached the semifinals, joined by Gruncl who eliminated a fellow countryman, and Johansen who, from 7th place in the preliminaries, pulled off a strong 3–2 win against the tournament’s top female player, Skadsem. The Johansen express was now unstoppable: he powered through the semifinals alongside B. Nygård and went on to claim an impressive 3–0 victory in the final. Rising from 7th in the preliminaries to the B-cup champion was nothing short of remarkable.

Sinus secured 3rd place and delivered one of the tournament’s most memorable moments when he celebrated a 7–0 goal in the first bronze match so loudly that the entire venue took notice.

Top three in the second division. From left: Benjamin Nygård, Sondre Efteland Johansen and Sinus Moberg

In the final group, expectations were high for the top trio of M. Klippen, Nilsson, and Caics. In the intermediate stage they had been in a league of their own: the gap of 7 points between 3rd and 4th place was the same as the gap between 4th and 15th. The standout performances in that stage were likely D. Nygård’s strong 4th place and V. Klippen’s disappointing 14th.

All players in the final group advanced to the playoffs. Fylling and A. Fjermestad were the only ones outside the top eight to make it through the quarterfinals. The undersigned (ranked 257th) felt almost on par with Gints Lasmanis (32nd), but the pre-tournament favorite advanced as expected.

It was not until the quarterfinals that the real drama began. The clash between Eddie Nilsson and Øystein Klippen will be remembered as one of the most thrilling and iconic matches ever played in the Frøyland Elementary School auditorium. After five games, the youngest Klippen held a surprising, though by no means undeserved, 3-2 lead. With a bit of luck, he was even up 3-0 in the sixth game. A frustrated Eddie, insisting the puck never bounced his way, nevertheless showed his class by leveling the match at 3-3 and forcing sudden death. Unfortunately for Ø. Klippen and his Brent Plast teammates, Nilsson carried the momentum through sudden death and on into the deciding seventh game. It was so close, but not enough. The other quarterfinals were far less memorable.

E. Nilsson - Ø. Klippen:

3-1, 3-4 (OT), 1-3, 3-2, 0-3, 4-3 (OT), 3-2

In the semi-finals, the mid-ranked Klippen showed true international class when he defeated Nilsson with relative ease. Caics, who had not yet broken a sweat, overcame his fellow Latvian Gints. The feeling in the hall was that Caics had not yet faced any real opposition - perhaps the home players could change that. It was encouraging that almost all participants stayed to watch the finals. Whether this was due to the abundance of cinnamon buns from Kanelsnurren and Hagerup, the cup semi-finals, the impressive big-screen setup, or simply the excitement of the final match, is uncertain - most likely it was a combination.

Unfortunately for the Norwegians and neutral spectators, Caics showed why he is a former world and European champion. He defeated M. Klippen in convincing way, while a slightly disappointed Nilsson had to settle for the bronze medal.

Top 3 in Norway Open 2025. From left: Magnus Klippen, Edgars Caics and Eddie Nilsson

The banquet was celebrated at "Hotel Fjermestad". Thai food and a shot cup were planned here, but the participants got to experience much more. Among other things, friendships were forged between the major clubs Brent Plast and SHC Cheb, with an exchange of club merch from Temu.

Good vibes between SHC Cheb and Brent Plast BHK at the banquet.

The next day, Fylling took a bunch of people and a table hockey board to the Pulpit Rock for the famous Pulpit Rock Sudden Death Tournament (pun intended). How big of a failure it was to forget the goal in the car will be discussed when the next "Hjemåspucken" is handed out.

When the goals were forgotten, we had to improvise. The solution was a Coke can as a goal.

A big thank you to the organizers for a great and professional tournament!

The next tournament is Bergen Open, November 15. Click here to register.

Note: The original article is written in Norwegian. The translation is partially done using artificial intelligence.