Round-Up Ice Hockey - Day 9

CAN vs. SVK

Women
JPN – GBR 10-0 (6-0, 2-0, 2-0)
Japan and Great Britain battled it out for the 6th and 5th place of the inaugural women’s ice hockey tournament at the Winter Universiade. Team Nippon clearly was the strongest of both teams taking the lead from the first face-off onwards.

CAN – SVK 10-1 (2-0, 5-1, 3-0)
While Japan and Great Britain played their last game of the tournament, the four best seeded teams played the semi-finals. As predicted, Canada was the superior team on the ice but after the first period it still could go either way. In the second the Canadians showed their mastery and Slovakia had to let go. Canada is the first finalist, Slovakia has still a chance to take home the bronze medal.

CHN – FIN 4-3 (2-0, 0-2, 2-1)
The other final was a genuine thriller. China takes the lead in the first period and leaves the ice with a confident 2-0 on the scoreboard. Hardly two minutes in the second, Tuominen opens the score for Team Suomi. And then the pace of the game goes into a higher gear. With hardly a minute to go in the period Korhonen ties the game. The Chinese are in shock. Back on the ice for the third, Team China takes some chances playing it rough. It shows in the penalty box. And then it happens… eight minutes in the period, Tuominen scores her second goal and Finland takes the lead. Halfway the third, Petajamaki goes to the sin bin for a tripping penalty and China collects as Sun scores the equalizer on the powerplay. The 2,800 Chinese fans go crazy. Four minutes later Sun seals the fate of Team Suomi and scores China’s fourth goal. The crowd roars. Finland is thunderstruck. Even on a powerplay of 5 against 3 they cannot score the equalizer. Tomorrow, Finland plays for the bronze against Slovakia, China will meet Canada in the golden game.

CHN vs. USA

Men
GBR – KOR 0-3 (0-1, 0-2, 0-0)
Today the men’s teams played their play-off round. Great Britain, still looking for its first victory, couldn’t take a distance from Korea.

CHN – USA 2-10 (0-3, 0-5, 2-2)
Team USA was too strong for host China. After two lost periods, the Chinese managed to tie the third.

CZE – JPN 1-5 (1-1, 0-1, 0-3)
Japan played a very strong game against the Czech Republic. Japanese Goalie Mitsuaki Inoue surely held Team Nippon in the game performing some marvelous saves in front of the 2,100 spectators. After an equal first period, the Japanese took the lead in the second thanks to a powerplay goal via Konno. In the third they closed the gates and drilled three more goals past the Czech goalie.