Ukraine - Spain 7-0 (2-0, 5-0, 0-0)

KYIV – 5,217 fans at Kyiv’s Palace of Sports celebrated seven goals of the Ukrainian national team as it defeated Spain 7-0 in reply to Poland’s 8-0 victory over Estonia in the early game.

“If you give them a soccer ball it would be the opposite,” NHL forward Ruslan Fedotenko said with a smile and added: “You have to give them a lot of credit. They battled hard, they played hard and tried to do their best and their goalie had a good game. But our team was simply better at this point.”

Spanish goalkeeper Ander Alcaine, who saved 62 shots, kept his net clean for 12 minutes until Andri Mikhnov opened the scoring when his shot went in via the body of a Spanish skater.

Four minutes later Fedotenko made it 2-0 for the home team.

The Ukrainians changed up a gear going into the second period when they outshot the Spaniards 30-2.

Artem Gnidenko scored the first goal of the frame at 3:10 and four minutes later also the other NHL player, Olexi Ponikarovsky, hit the back of the net on a breakaway.

Spain’s coach Luciano Basile had to use his time-out midway through the period, but to no avail. Just two minutes later Artem Bondaryev became the fifth player to score and 89 seconds later Olexander Pobiedonostsev defeated Alcaine with a shot from the blueline.

With one second left in the period Sergi Varlamov scored the goal for the 7-0 lead that stayed until the end of the game after a scoreless third period.

In the end seven different players had scored a goal in a game with remarkably disciplined teams with only two minor penalties and no power-play goals.

On Friday Spain will play against Poland in the early game before Ukraine takes on Estonia. Ukraine and Poland will face each other on Sunday night in a game that will likely decide which team will advance to the Final Olympic Qualification.

Click here for scores, stats and photos.

Poland - Estonia 8-0 (1-0, 3-0, 4-0)

KYIV – Poland opened the Olympic Pre-Qualification stage in men’s hockey with a clear 8-0 victory against Estonia.

Krystian Dziubinski and Leszek Laszkiewicz each scored a pair of goals in a game where Poland confirmed its status as the clear favourite.

“It was our first game. It wasn’t that easy as it looked like,” Dziubinski said.

Estonian goalkeeper Villem-Henrik Koitmaa had significantly more work to do than his counterpart on the other side and saved 55 shots.

The game was only kind of narrow in the first period when the Poles took three penalties and didn’t manage to score for 15 minutes.

However, the Estonians didn’t manage to create many scoring chances. Instead it was Polish captain Marcin Kolusz, who put the puck between Koitmaa’s pads for a shorthanded goal at 15:33.

The Poles extended the lead at 5:22 of the second period. After Estonia had missed on a breakaway the red team built up pressure before Koitmaa. The Estonian goalkeeper deflected a shot from Krzysztof Zapala, but Laszkiewicz capitalized on the rebound.

Two minutes later the Polish fans in the stands had again reason to cheer when Dziubinski made it 3-0 on an odd-man rush before Mateusz Rompkowski added another Polish marker before the end of the period.

The Poles didn’t need much effort to keep the game under control in the third period. Dziubinski scored his second goal of the day at 12:09 and 16 seconds later Mikolaj Lopuski was responsible for the sixth Polish marker.

Jerzy Gabrys scored with 3:29 left on a two-man advantage and Laszkiewicz netted his second goal of the game on a breakaway during an Estonian power play for the final score of 8-0.

“Now we have to prepare for the next game, but we know that the most important game will be on Sunday,” Dziubinski said. That’s when his team will play host Ukraine.

Note: the groups in Budapest, Hungary, and in Nikko, Japan, will start on Friday.

Click here for scores, stats and photos.

MARTIN MERK