Hungary needed a win no matter what if they wanted to advance to the quarter finals, depending on what happened during the Sweden-U.S. game it was very possible that Hungary could also need to beat Russia by five. Hungary came out looking strong and ready to play. They were skating great, passing great, picked up the pace right off the bat. Hungary scored first 2:28 into the period when Rebeka Ungár skated down the left wing and passed the puck low into the slot to Tifani Horváth who adjusted and put the puck high past the Russian goalie. “I was really happy that I finally scored a goal, I think that I was missing scoring opportunities throughout the tournament, Rebeka (Ungár) gave me perfect pass that I knew I had to score with.” said Horváth about her goal. Both teams played solid hockey throughout the period, but there was a five minute span in the middle of the period where Russia took over, at this time Maria Bodrikova pulled Russia even at 1-1, Hungary was unable to clear the puck and Bodrivoka put the puck past Hungarian goalie Anikó Németh. The rest of the first period went back and forth but is was clear by the shots on goal being 12 to 6 in favor of Russia that they were quicker to the rebounds than Hungary.
The second period was more in the favor of Russia as Hungary looked tired, or mentally were still in the lockerroom. Russia went up for the first time in the game when Nina Pirogova scored a garbage goal, there was a mad scramble in front of the net with no one really knowing where the puck was, slowly the puck emerged from the tangle of bodies and ever so slowly slid barley across the goal line. At the halfway point of the game Enikő Tóth was called for tripping and Russia capitalized on the power play. Anna Shokhina scored a close range goal to give Russia some breathing room. Russia out shot Hungary 17 to 4 in the period, throughout the middle 20 minutes it looked as Russia was somewhat better. The period also contained a nice solo opportunity by Lili Pintér “I felt that speed wise I could beat the defender to the net but she was still able to get her stick in there from behind and I was unable to finish off the shot.”
In the third period both teams looked a bit sloppy and tired, as a result nether team scored but the shots on goal stayed about the same as in the previous two periods, with Russia shooting 14 times and Hungary 5. Anikó Németh was satisfied with the way she played, she really kept her team in the game. “The game was a bit slower than the USA game but somehow I felt more tired after this game compared to the American one, I felt that the USA game gave me a nice boost for today and against our next opponent, mentally I feel great” assessed Németh about her performance. There was only one penalty in the period as Ungár was called for boarding in the last minute of play.
“The girls played hard, I think Russia has a chance to win a medal and we were able to play our style, our game.” said Hungarian coach Norbert Buzás after the game “I think we had about the same amount of opportunities as the opponent I’m proud of the way we played, unfortunately we could not take advantage of the momentum we had after scoring the first goal.”
Assistant coach Roger Holéczy had similar thought about the teams performance “I think we played well and we hope that we can take the momentum into the next game, we could build off of, the girls plays played real well against a team that we can sometimes beat.”
Finland-Japan 4-2
The first game of the day brought a tight game between Finland and Japan; both teams were playing to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament. Finland took an early lead as they scored 37 seconds into the game on a goal from Emmi Rakkolainen. In the second period Finland doubled their lead with Suvi Kayhko put the puck past Japanese goalie Ayu Tonosaki. The brought a lot of excitement Japan made it a one goal game when Rui Ukita scored the first of her two goals in a five minute span. The second Ukita goal made it 2-2 and a real nail biter. Rakkolainen scored her second goal of the game which gave Finland the late lead at 52:39 of the game. In the past minute of play Matilda Nilsson’s goal sealed the victory for Finland and sent Japan to the relegation series. “The win feels good, it wasn’t easy for us, we made it harder for us than we should have, Japan played really well” said Finland coach Juuso Toivola
Canada-Czech Republic 5-0
Canada continued their strong showing in the group as they took care of the Czechs. Czechs picked up Canada’s pace at the beginning as the first period ended 0-0. The first goal of the game was not scored until halfway through the game when Victoria Bach put the goal in the cage. Just over a minute later team captain Lauren Wildfang made it 2-0 “I slid into the slot, took a pass from my winger Rebecca Leslie, right on my tape and I just put it in” said Wildfang about the goal. Canada started to pull away in the third period as Eva-Audrey Picard and Sarah Potomak scored in a four minute span to put Canada up by four and to give them some breathing room. A second Wildfang goal set the final score at 5-0. Czech defender Samantha Kolowratova thought they caught Canada by surprise with the pressure but Wildfang says that they were ready for it. “I thought we played really well, we went with a different strategy that I think that they were a bit surprised.” said Kolowartova. Where as Wildfang said “I think we expected them to come out strong, end of the first we had to regroup as a team”after the game. Canada coach Laura Schuller had a similar evaluation as her captain “the Czechs game out hard in the first we had to regroup in between the periods, I'm really proud of the way they reacted.”
USA-Sweden 7-0
The USA clearly looks to be the top team in the tournament as they registered another 7-0 shutout win. The team started slower than in the previous games as the first goal was not scored until 15:17 of the first period when Taylor Cianfarano put a shot past Swedish goalie Julia Aberg. After a one goal first period the US brought the heat with Maliya Rodgers and Alexandria Laing both scoring, later in the period Sophie Skarzynski and Cianfarano scored 30 seconds part to make it 5-0 after two periods. In the third period a second Laing goal put USA up by six and the game was clearly out of reach for Sweden but the US pulled their goalie and with the extra attacker Cianfarano completed her hat trick. After the game American coach Jeff Kampersal apologized for the actions of pulled the keeper after already being up 6-0. “I thought that we moved the puck real well and we played as a team.” said Maddie Rolfes.
Standings
Group A Group B
Canada 9 points USA 9 points
Czech 5 points Russia 6 points
Finland 4 point Sweden 3 points
Japan 0 points Hungary 0 points
Playoffs
Quarter finals
Russia-Finland (winner plays Canada)
Czech Republic-Sweden (winner plays USA)
Japan-Hungary play bet of three relegation series
Leading Scorers
Points: 7- Sarah Potomak, Canada
Goals: 6- Taylor Cianfarano, USA
Assists: 4- Potomak, Canada
Photo: IIHF