VALDEMORO, Spain – Day 1 of Olympic Qualification Group L produced a pulsating battle between Iceland and Serbia before Spain delighted the home crowd with a crushing win over China.

Spain – China 10-1 (2-0, 6-1, 2-0)

Spain got off to the perfect start, delighting the home crowd with two goals in the space of a minute early in the first period.

Head coach Luciano Basile had promised a team full of enthusiasm and that was evident from the start as Spain set a high tempo. China had already killed a penalty before taking the lead on 5:27 when Ignacio Solorzano fired low into the unguarded corner of Zhiwei Liu’s net.

And the celebrations had barely stopped when Adrian Ubieto unleashed an absolute thunderbolt from the blue line to bring Spanish fans to their feet once again.

Spain was pressing hard, giving China no time to settle into its game, as Alejandro Carbonell acknowledged after the game.

“We knew China skates fast but we played a really good game, we got to them even faster and that’s how we got the result,” the forward said. “We did what the coach told us, we played very well and when we got the puck to the net we scored many goals.”

China, reflecting the Russian influence on its hockey, tried to play its way into contention with the kind of neat passing that Spanish sports fans might recognise as tiki-taka. Some neat interplay between Xijun Cui and Cheng Zhang sent the latter in on the home net. But goalie Ander Alcaine has a bit of a reputation in these parts and he responded to the danger with a fine sprawling save.

By the end of the second period the ‘Ole’s were heard for the first time – and small wonder as Spain stretched its lead to 8-1. Jordy Angles, one of just two players based outside of Spain, scored from close range at the second attempt and within a minute Guillermo Bertan shot from the left-hand boards and captain Pablo Puyuelo put away the rebound. A power play goal in the 29th minute saw Carbonell add to his two assists in the opening stanza with a neat finish high on the backhand to make it 5-0.

China got on the board at last a minute later when Tianziang Xia finished off a nice passing move but there was no stopping the home team. Pablo Munoz made it six, prompting China to replace starting goalie Liu with Shengrong Xia. The goals kept flowing: defenseman Alejandro Vea scored the seventh from the point and Solorzano got his second of the night to make it eight as a party atmosphere rolled around the arena.

The third period saw Spain continue to press but Xia provided a bit more resistance in goal. Juan Munoz and Patricio Fuentes added two further goals to bring up double figures and crown a powerful performance that gives the team great confidence going into Saturday’s game against Iceland.

Iceland 4 Serbia 5 (SO) (2-2, 0-1, 2-1, 0-0, 0-1)

Serbia and Iceland got the Spanish crowd warmed up in Valdemoro with a high-scoring game that eventually went to the Balkan nation thanks to Nemanja Jankovic’s shoot-out winner.

The teams shared eight goals in regulation, with Iceland coming from behind four times in an absorbing encounter.

And Serbia’s experienced forward Pavel Popravka admitted that the team had ridden its luck after facing 52 shots from an opponent that was keen to test goalie Arsenije Rankovic at every opportunity.

“It’s always hard to say much about the first game,” Popravka said after the game. “It was interesting to get out and play at last. Maybe we had a bit of luck, but we got the result.”

Serbia struck first after just 90 seconds, turning over the puck on its own blue line before Ivan Glavonjic combined with Jankovic to present captain Marko Milovanovic with his first goal of the night. But Iceland hit back on the power play: a wayward shot from Bjorn Sigurdarson had Serbia scrambling behind the net and the puck dropped for Arnthor Bjarnason to tie it up in the eighth minute.

The teams traded two more quick-fire goals in the opening frame: Nemanja Vucurevic profited from a positional error in Iceland’s defence, but just 17 seconds later Ulfar Andresson forced home the rebound from Johan Leifsson’s shot.

A speculative effort from Serbia was the only marker in the second stanza. Dimitrije Filipovic’s shot seemed comfortable for Snorri Sigurbergsson but somehow squeezed through his pads to make it 3-2.

In the third period Iceland again tied the scores, this time with a well-executed penalty shot by Johann Leifsson after a slashing call against Marko Brkusanin. Milovanovic got his second of the night for the Serbs on the power play, but a short-handed strike from Olafur Bjornsson, swatting an airborne puck into the net, took the game into the extras.

ANDY POTTS