China I 8 – Japan 0
Based on the previous results, it was a match between tournament titans with China I meeting Japan for the first time this season. The previous meeting between the two countries at the same venue had to decide about the Asian representative in the Vancouver 2010 women’s tournament, which gave the game a special meaning.
In the first period, it seemed that neither of the teams would be able to get on top of the play at full strength with only few scoring chances allowed by either of the teams. At 14:10, Japan got an opportunity to move ahead on a power play, but it turned out quite different than the team had hoped for with China I taking the lead with a shorthanded goal from Sun Rui. Four minutes later, China I used its own power play, getting a 2-0 lead with a deflection from in front of the net by Ma Rui.
In the second period, China I started to put more pressure on the Japanese defence and was able to take the control of the game against their much less experienced opponent. At 26:44, Sun Rui got her second of the evening by deflecting Qi Xuetin’s slapshot to make it 3-0. At 32:24, Qi Xuetin got a goal for herself as well with a fierce one-timer to end a beautiful power-play pattern to increase the difference to 4 goals going into second intermission with a lot of homework for the Japanese national team.
In the third period, Japan took a more active role, but seemed to be unsuccessful with China I getting its fifth goal at 44:16. That goal seemed to drain the energy. Japan tried to come back in the third period, but China took full control for the remainder of the game and outshot the opponent in the period 19-5 with three more goals by Tang Liang, Sun Rui and Zhang Ben to make it a 8-0 final score.
