ALMATY – Today, 1 February, five games were scheduled at the 28th Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Men’s Tournament
RUS vs LAT
The first face-off of the day was between Russia and Latvia, at the Halyk Arena. Russia took an early lead scoring its first goal in the second minute of the game via Kudinov. A few minutes later, The ‘Red Machine’ further widened the gap with Alekseev netting a second puck. Halfway the second period Latvia effectively executed a powerplay scoring their first goal, trying to bridge the gap. But the Russians continued their strong offense play and managed to use several powerplays successfully to score more goals. Final score: 7-1 (2–0; 1-1; 4-0).
CAN vs GBR
In this Commonwealth Classic Canada was expected to be the best performing team on the ice and they were. The Canadians overpowered the UK with double digits on the scoreboard. Final Score: 14-0 (6-0; 3-0; 5-0).
CZE vs CHN
In the last men’s game of the day at the Halyk Arena Czech Republic played China. The Chinese were no match for the strong Czechs who shot 87 times on the Chinese net. Team China only managed seven shots. Final Score: 15-0 (6-0; 3-0; 6-0).
Women’s Tournament
GBR vs CHN
No luck for the British women’s team either as they lost from China opening today’s women’s tournament in the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace. China bombed the British net with 65 shots, while Team GB could only retaliate with seven shots on goal. Final score: 0-12 (0-5; 0-3; 0-4).
KAZ vs CAN
When Team Kazakhstan plays, it is definitely a full house. As it was the case tonight again with the match between host Kazakhstan and Canada in the Baluan Sholak venue. Although Canada dominated the whole game, the Kazakh women were not giving the game away, fighting for every puck in every corner. Under a deafening sound of drums and the continuous beating of thousands inflatable cheer sticks the hockey mad crowd kept cheering ‘their’ team until the very end of the game. Final score: 0-11 (0-3; 0-3; 0-5).
Having three victories, two with double digits on the scoreboard, under the belt does not make Canadian goalie Stephanie Sluys from the University of Waterloo slack in her net. “Today it was definitely easy to get pumped for the game with this boisterous crowd, even when they were obviously cheering for Kazakhstan, and it’s nice to hear people cheering. I’ve never played in front of so many people. The energy here is awesome.” Sluys experiences the Winter Universiade as a ‘ton of fun’. “The Athletes’ Village is fantastic, the action is great. The team is bonding great. It’s funny because we’re all rivals as we play against each other but here we’re one team.”
C. Pierre, FISU Press Officer
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