BUFFALO – Finland looked to have the upset win in the bag after putting up a 3-0 lead against Russia at the 2015 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship quarter-final game. But the Russians had other ideas, as the team engineered a third period comeback that was finished off by a breakaway score from Fanuza Kadirova with just three second left in regulation, pushing the Russians into a semi-final rematch with Canada. In the first relegation game, Switzerland edged Japan 2-1. 

Click here for scores and statistics

Finland – Russia 3-4 (3-0, 0-1, 0-3)

A huge third period comeback by Russia’s U18 women’s team was capped off by two goals from Fanuza Kadirova, including the game winner with just three seconds remaining to send the Russians to the semi-finals.  

Down 3-1 going into the third period, an early power play goal by Nina Pirogova closed the deficit to one. The Finns looked to go back up by two midway through the frame, but a shot by Nelli Salomaki hit the inside of the corner post and bounced back out.  

Then on a four-on four Russia equalized thanks to a good scoring effort from Kadirova, streaking down the middle of the ice and firing a high shot past goaltender Kati Asikainen.

A late power play by Finland couldn’t solve anything, and just when it looked like the two teams would go to overtime, the Finns lost a draw in their own end and Kadirova pushed the puck up past the last defender and took off on a breakaway. Kadirova beat Asikainen with a backhand deke to give Russia its first lead of the game, and three seconds later the win and a rematch with Canada.

"I couldn't believe it when I looked up and saw there were three seconds left," sadi Kadirova. "I was skating as fast as I could and not thinking about anything except to score."

Traditionally a defence-first team, the Finns aimed to get as many pucks on the net as possible early on, allowing them to pounce on the Russians early. After a high shot from the point from Ronja Savolainen made it through traffic and was deflected by Petra Nieminen just under the crossbar for the game’s first goal, Nieminen set up Sanni Hakala with a great cross-ice pass on a two-on-one for the easy tip-in and the 2-0 lead, both goals coming just 12 seconds apart.

Finland has been defensively sound all tournament-long, and in the quarter-final game limited Russia to four shots on net in the first period while forcing the Russian defence into giving up odd-man rushes and second chance scoring opportunities to the Finnish attackers. On a late power play, Savolainen got her second goal of the game with another shot from the point that went into the top left corner about a quarter-second before the buzzer sounded.

Traditionally a slow-starting team, the Russians were kept off the scoresheet through nearly two periods, but with six and a half minutes remaining in the second Russian captain Anna Shokhina made a good effort to outrace defenceman Anni Hietaharju to the puck after her teammate dumped it in. Hietafarju then lost her footing which allowed Shokhina to get to the net unchallenged and roof a backhand shot past goalie Kati Asikainen to cut the lead to two.

Then Pirogova's early third period goal and Kadirova’s heroics sealed the 4-3 comeback, giving Russia a chance to avenge an earlier 3-2 loss to the Canadians in the preliminary round. The Russian U18 women's national team has never won a Women's World Championship medal in the tournament's history, and regardless of the outcome against Canada, Shokhina, Kadirova and co. will have a shot to become the first team to do so. 

Switzerland – Japan 2-1 (1-1, 1-0, 0-0)

Down 2-1 in the third period, Japan was not able to get the equalizer despite a couple of power plays and ran out of time, giving the first game of the relegation round to the Swiss.  

Japan got on the board first when a shot from the point from Shiga was knocked down in front of the Swiss net, allowing Chisato Miyasaki to gain control and fire it home giving hear team the 1-0 lead in the first period.

But Switzerland replied minutes later on the power play, when a shot by Nicla Gianettoni from near the blue line missed the net wide but bounced off the boards and came out to the other side, where Sabrina Mulller was waiting to put it in.

Alina Muller scored her fourth goal of the tournament, breaking away with the puck from a crowd along the side of the boards in the Japanese zone. Muller skated into position and fired a low blast past Ayu Tonosaki for the 2-1 lead.

The two teams will have a day off before resuming their best-of-three relegation series on Sunday. Should Switzerland win, Japan will be relegated to the 2016 Division I tournament. 


ADAM STEISS