Right off the bat anyone could see why the Americans are the favorites to win the group. They come out hard and strong dominating the period. It looked like the U.S. was constantly on the power play against the step slower Hungarian team. The U.S. coaching staff decided to go with Kaitlin Burt instead of Erin O’Neil who had started the game against Russia. “We thought that we would give both goalies a look before the knockout round” said coach Jeff Kampersal The U.S. took advantage of their superior strength as they scored the opening goal 1:25 into the game as Taylor Cianfarano took a pass from Alexandria Laing, and skated through the Hungary zone, deeked through the Hungarian defenders and fired a shot past Aniko Németh. Hungary tried to hold strong as the period went on but the Americans managed to score two more goals in the period. Abby Roque took a pass from Maliya Rodgers and skated along the goal line and placed the puck in past Németh from point blank range. The third goal in the period came from point blank range again as Taylor Williamson passed the puck from behind the goal onto the tape of Rebecca Gilmore who placed the puck in the cage with ease.
At the start of the second period it looked like Hungary had picked up the pace of U.S.A. and were skating somewhat better and bring the puck more consistently into the attacking zone. Halfway through the period it was still 3-0 but Viktoria Sullivan changed that 11:47 into the second period, Sullivan took a pass from Grace Bizal shot from the slot that Németh saved but Hungary could not clear the rebound, Sullivan made them pay as she put her rebound in the goal. Four minutes later with Lotti Odnoga serving a delay of game penalty the Americans executed an almost perfect power play as they cycled it around looking for the open player, Williamson made a nice pass through the zone down low to the far post where Megan Keller was waiting unmarked, Keller didn’t even have to move her stick blade as she tapped the perfect pass into the wide open goal. Hungary kept on skating with their heads up and played to the end of the period. Aside from this nice power play goal both the U.S. players and coaches think that they need to improve on the power play. Kampersal said “we still need to hammer down the power play, we had a really nice power play goal but need to work on it.” Team captain Jincy Dunne reiterated what her coach said “We still really need to improve on the powerplay”
In the third period it looked as if U.S.A. had took the pressure back a notch as it looked like Hungary could pull out the third period at 0-0 but they looked tired and with just under two and a half minutes left in the game Cianfarano scored her second goal of the game, with only seconds left in the game Williamson added a goal to her two assists and set the final score at 7-0. Score could have been a lot higher as Németh saved 90% of the 72 shots she faced compared to the five shots that the official box score gave to Hungary.
“We left our hearts out on the ice, we played to the best of our ability and in my mind they are the best in the world” said Hungarian team captain Dorottya Medgyes
Forward Tayler Williamson has very satisfied with the way her team played “I thought we moved the puck really well we used each other well we played hard and kept pressure on them, we had a lot of good give and goes.” Hungarian forward Lili Pintér agreed with what her captain said “we played against the top team in the tournament, we would see what happens and we would have to play 100% I think we fought hard, they come from a country with a bigger hockey culture with a larger talent pool to draw from, I was satisfied with what my teammates and I did on the ice.”
Kempersal was happy over all that his team could accommodate to what the opponent threw at them “I think we did not move the puck the way we wanted to at the beginning of the first period but it was going better in the second half of the first, through the second and third periods. I was very satisfied how we play from behind the net, Hungary was very aggressive on the point and the side wall, but they gave us the corner and behind the net, once we worked it down low we had really nice goals from passes into the slot.
Czech Republic-Japan 3-1
In the first game of the day Czech Republic played another close game they looked to get one step closer to qualifying to the knockout stage. Vendula Pribylova put the Czechs up 1-0 in the early part of the first period. Late in the period with Japan on the power play Suzuka Taka scored to pull even, but nine seconds after Dominika Laskova scored to give the Czechs the lead after the first period. Tereza Vanisova made it 3-1 early in the second period. Japan had chances in the second and third period but they could not get any closer. After the game Czech blue liner Samantha Kolowratova had this to say about their win “I think our team played really well, we maintained our strategy and we got a lot of shots on net and maintained the tempo and had a good win.”
Canada-Finland 7-0
The defending champions continued their dominance of the group as they beat up on Finland. It didn’t take long for Canada to take the lead as Sarah Potomak scored 5:03 into the game, five minutes later Stephanie Lalancette doubled the Canadian lead. The second period was were Canada really showed that they were the stronger team, Eve-Audrey Picard made it 3-0 but the last five minutes of the period was ridiculous as they scored four goals in the last five minute span. Victoria Bach, Jessica Healey, Rebecca Leslie and Alexandra Lebelle all scored during the flurry of goals in the period. After the amount of goals that were scored during the first two periods Canada took it back a bit in the third period and went scoreless. “We are very happy with our first team shutout and it was the first time we got on the scoreboard first” said Canadian head coach Laura Schuler “We slipped a bit in the third but I was happy with the details of the forecheck and the positioning. Our goal in the third period was to stick with our system.”
Russia-Sweden 5-1
After taking care of Hungary in their first game Sweden struggled whereas Russia was almost a completely different team as the one that lost 6-1 to U.S.A. the day before. Sweden took the lead on a power play goal halfway through the first period on a goal from Denise Husak Asp, but Russian team captain Anna Shokina tied up the game on a power play goal to send the teams into the locker room tied 1-1. The Russians took control of the game in the second as Fanuza Kadirova and Anastasia Chistyakova both scored with Chistyakova scored on the powerplay. The third period was almost the same as Russia scored a Shokhina power play goal and Alevtina Shtaryova converted a penalty shot.
Standings
Group A Group B
Canada 6 points USA 6 points
Czech 5 points Russia 3 points
Finland 1 point Sweden 3 points
Japan 0 points Hungary 0 points
Leading Scorers
Points: 6- Sarah Potomak, Canada
Goals: 3- Victoria Bach, Canada, Denise Husak Asp, Sweden, Taylor Cianfarano, USA, Anna Shokhina, Russia
Assists: 4- Potomak, Canada