Hungary took on Japan in the first game of a best of three relegation series. Hungary came out looking strong early in the first period and possessed the puck for most of the first period. It looked like Hungary had scored first 2:24 into the first period but the goal was disallowed since the pick had crossed the goal line after the whistle was blown. At 6:41 of the first period Japan scored off of a counter attack when Rui Ukita skated down the left wing and made a pass onto the tape of Chistao Miyazaki who took a close shot from the slot right into Hungarian goalie Anikó Németh, Utika got her own rebound and put it in the cage. The two teams were playing pretty even with a slight advantage to Hungary despite being down 1-0. The difference also came up on the shots on goal as Hungary out shot Japan by two 11-9. Both teams had a two minute power play each but were not able to convert them.
In the second period Hungary looked as if they were a step slower than the Japanese team, despite this they were able to take the lead six and a half minutes into the period. Ukita was sitting in the penalty box for tripping when Lili Pintér scored a very bizarre power play goal. Pintér dumped the puck in on goal, Japanese goalie Aya Kamimura covered the puck with her glove hand but lifted it up, maybe assuming that the ref will blow the whistle. Pintér had followed the puck and when Kamimura lifted the glove off the puck Pintér shot it into the empty net to tie the game up at 1-1. A minute and half later Tifani Hováth put Hungary up for the first time in the game. “I was just fighting to get the rebound and put the puck in.” said Horváth about her goal.
In the middle of the period Japan started to take over the team and looked good, with a couple of lucky bounces they were able to take the lead. For the first time in the tournament Anikó Németh made some mistakes. Two and a half minutes after Hungary took the lead Japan tied the game up on a lucky goal, Németh had made the save by pinning the puck on the goal line next to the goal post and under her pad. She did not see where the puck was and assumed that it was still in play, as she moved back across the crease the puck stayed on the goal line for a couple of seconds before Moe Tsukimoto reacted first and tapped the puck across the goal line. After the unlucky goal Németh looked shaky in the net as Ukita scored twice within a minute for Japan. Ukita put her own rebound in from the goalmouth, the second goal came from a shot off the faceoff for which Németh did not react. On that three minute span where Japan scored almost everyone from the Hungarian camp said that the other team was lucky ““I think we were the better team today but the Japanese were the luckier team, we will beat them in the next game” said team captain Dorottya Megyes “on Saturday we will be stepping out on the ice with the mentality that we came to win.”
In the third period it looked like Hungary had got there act together and were playing like they did in the first twenty minutes put were out shot by Japan in the period. With 2:03 left in the game a second Horváth goal made it a one goal game. Horváth skated in across the blueline, slalomed through the Japanese defence and very nicely put the puck past the keeper.”Originally I wanted to pass the puck but I thought I could get past the last defender and then just see what happens” said Horváth. With 63 seconds left Hungary pulled the goalie but were unable to score the tying goal.
Norbert Buzás evaluation of the game was that they were the better team “It was a really good game, unfortunately for a three minute span in the middle where mentally we were not in the game, the girls did their best. On saturday if we play like this and pay better attention we will win”
“We tried everything to beat Japan, I think we played better and I think we were the better team, unfortunately they had a couple of lucky goals but we will win the next two games” said defender Enikő Tóth
“It was a tough game, we came back and i'm satisfied with how we played” said Japan’s coach Yoshifumi Fujisawa.
The two teams will play again on Saturday at 15:00, it is a must win game for Hungary if they do not want to be relegated. If Japan wins they will have secured a spot in next years world championships.
Russia-Finland 3-1
In the first quarter final of the day Russia took on Finland for the right to play defending champions Canada. Finland took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal form Emma Nuutinen. In a penalty filled second period Russia tied the game up on an even strength goal from Fanuza Kadirova late in the second period. Russia made it 2-1 with ten minutes left in the game. Finland had chances to tie the game up, late in the game with just under two minutes left Russia was caught with too many skaters on the ice. With the man advantage Finland pulled their goalie two have a two skater advantage, but Anna Shokhina scored the empty netter to send Russia to the semi-finals.
Czech Republic-Sweden 3-0
In the other quarter final game of the day Czech Republic took on Sweden where the winner would face the United States in the semi finals. The Czechs were up 2-0 after the first period, scoring twice late in the period. Katerina Bukolska scored at 15:08 and Aneta Ledlova found the back of the net with just over a minute left in the period. The second twenty minutes had almost no stoppage of play as there were no goals scored or any penalties in the game either. The game stayed close throughout the third period, at 58:23 Sweden pulled their goalie but Martina Maskova scored an empty net goal. After the game Czech player Samantha Kolowratova had this to say “I feel that this was our best game in the tournament, we played with alot of heart and we played as a team. Our goalie was amazing, doing her job and had a lot of key saves, we have a great chance to win a medal this time around.”