Going into the final day of the world championships Hungary had the chance to finish anywhere from 4th to 2nd place. After the first game of the day ended with China winning 2-0 over North Korea, the chance of a silver medal was eliminated. However, with a win against Kazakhstan the bronze would still be reachable.
It was a tight game from start to finish with with both teams making mental mistakes and racking up the penalty minutes. The first period came and went without a goal and also not that many scoring chances considering that both teams had multiple power plays.
The game opened up more with the shots on goal being significantly higher than the first period. As a result of this the first goal of the game was scored at 17:42 of the second period when a Rebeka Ungár shot made its way past Aizhan Raushanova for the go ahead goal.
Kazakhstan tied the game up at one in the early part of the third period Meruyert Ryspek put the puck past Anikó Németh. With no goals being scored for the remainder of the game, that meant there would be five minutes of sudden death overtime.
Hungary only needed 65 seconds of that time and one shot when Ungár scored her second of the game and the game winner which would also end up being the goal that clinched the bronze medal,
Hungary had a little help from the host nation as Latvia beat the Netherlands. After being the promoted team in the group from Division 2 Hungary pulled off what their goal was and that was to stay in the group with an outside chance at a medal.
“This was a really hard game, we could feel that our legs were tired from this past week but luckily we did not give up,” said defenceman of the tournament Dorottya Medgyes.
Final Standings
Latvia 15 points
China 9 points
Hungary 8 points
Netherlands 8 points
North Korea 3 points
Kazakhstan 2 points
Leading scorers
Points: 13, Inese Geca-Miljone, Latvia
Goals: 6, Inese Geca-Miljone, Latvia
Assists: 7, Inese Geca-Miljone, Latvia
Awards
Best goalie: Evija Tetina, Latvia
Best defenceman: Dorottya Medgyes, Hungary
Best Forward: Inese Geca-Miljone, Latvia