SAPPORO, Japan – Ukraine, Hungary and Japan all got their second wins on day two of the IIHF World Championship Division I Group B in Japan.

Japan – Croatia 3-0 (1-0, 0-0, 2-0)

The host team not only has two wins in two games, but they have played 120 minutes of hockey without conceding a goal. And Japan has used both their goalies in the process. Masahito Haruna was in goal on opening day against Lithuania, while Naoya Kikuchi had the shut-out against Croatia.

The Croatians played much better than in the 4-0 opening day loss against Ukraine, but they simply couldn’t find the net. The team is scoreless after two days of action in Sapporo.

Japan took full advantage of Croatian penalties and all three goals were scored on the power-play. Darcy Mitani got the only marker of the first period, while Daisuke Obara and Takahito Suzuki provided the third-period goals.

Full of confidence, Japan is now heading towards its key game against Hungary on Thursday. Croatia plays Estonia on the same day. All teams are idle on Wednesday.

Hungary – Lithuania 6-0 (2-0, 2-0, 2-0)

Hungary earned its second win in as many days, cruising past hapless and undisciplined Lithuania. The Hungarians scored four power-play goals and a fifth came on a penalty-shot, well executed by Csaba Kovacs. Gabor Ocskay had two goals, his second was the only goal of the game which came with the teams skating five-on-five. Lithuania took 30 penalty minutes including a 10-minute misconduct penalty, their second such offence in two days.

Lithuania, who lost to Japan 5-0 on opening day, has still not scored a goal in 120 minutes of action.

Krisztian Palkovics, Marton Vas and Balasz Ladanyi had the other singles for Hungary. Palkovics’ 3-0 goal midway through the game was the decider, a fluky goal that deflated the Lithuanians. The puck bounced off the glass and came down over goalie Nerijus Dauksevicius’ head and the Hungarian forward volleyed it into the empty net.

The penalty shot was called when a Lithuanian defender threw his stick to stop Hungary to score into the abandoned net. Kovacs was cool when scoring the 4-0 goal. It was Lithuania’s second consecutive loss.

The other year, Lithuania was the big sensation in division I, defeating among other teams Poland and it seemed like the national team was in a serious upswing. But here in Sapporo, they have made a weak impression, taking far too many bad penalties, results of poor positioning, bad temper or both. Hungary outshot Lithuania 44-22. Levente Szuper had the shutout for Hungary.


The Hungarians were often faster than the undisciplined Lithuanians. Photo: Seinosuke Uchigasaki

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Ukraine – Estonia 3-1 (0-0, 2-1, 1-0)

Gold favourite Ukraine remained undefeated in the IIHF World Championship Division I Group B in Japan. The Ukrainians dominated Estonia but sealed their 3-1 win only in the last minute.

Netminder Aleksei Terentjev was Estonia’s best player especially when the Ukrainians were outshooting their opponent 19-6 in the first period. Ukraine dominated the first eight minutes while Estonia started to create offensive danger afterwards.

If one doesn’t make use of so many opportunities, the goal is often scored on the other side. Andrei Makrov took the lead for the Estonians at 22:15 while Ukraine had a team penalty for too many players on the ice. Dmytro Tsyrul equalised six minutes later.

The Ukrainians couldn’t follow to play their game because of getting three minor penalties within six minutes but had a strong box play. Yuriy Navarenko even took the lead for Ukraine at 37:39 while his team was playing shorthanded.

Estonia had the possibility to come back as they had 5-0 power play situations in the last period but they didn’t capitalise their chances. An empty-netter at 59:27 finally sealed the win for Ukraine.


Ukraine in blue had to fight hard for its three points against Estonia. Photo: Seinosuke Uchigasaki

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Click here for scores and statistics.

IIHF STAFF