Thursday began with four teams separated by a point at the top of the IIHF World Championship Group A Division I standings. At the end of the day, two of those teams know what they have to do to secure promotion on Saturday, while two other teams are going to need help to varying degrees. One thing that has been completely settled in Sfantu Gheorghe was which team will be relegated to Group B next year.
The Day 4 results were:
- Great Britain over Italy 5-1,
- Ukraine over Poland 4-1, and
- Japan over Romania 5-3.
Italy 1 – Great Britain 5 (0-2, 1-2, 0-1)
In a game that would see the winner take over first place in the group, temporarily at least, Great Britain got four points from Liam Kirk and three from linemate Brett Perlini in a 5-1 win over Italy.
Unlike their three previous games, where the British team was forced to come from behind late and win in extra time, this time they scored on the first shift and never looked back. Just 32 seconds in, Kirk converted a pass from Perlini off the rush, beating Davide Fadani to the near-side post.
“We were able to get one at the start of each period so that was awesome,” said Perlini. “But then also to keep pushing and not letting them back in it, and we were able to do that.”
Perlini and Kirk assisted on defenceman Nathanael Halbert’s 2-0 goal late in the first period, and then Perlini set up Kirk for another goal 42 seconds into period two to chase Fadani in favour of Damian Clara.
“It was a tough game,” said Italian forward Tommy Purdeller. “A tough start too, they scored right away. We struggled a bit, couldn’t find the back of the net, they scored, and that was the biggest difference. It’s a tough loss today but we’ve gotta look forward to next game and get the three points there.”
Sam Duggan made it 4-0 before Bryce Misley finally got Italy on the board just past the game’s midpoint. Ben O’Connor’s late power-play marker rounded out the scoring.
“We’ve been building towards the end,” said Perlini. “We knew these would be our toughest games and for us to have our best effort today is really a testement to the guys not getting down and sticking with it.”
Poland 1 – Ukraine 4 (0-0, 1-1, 0-3)
These two bordering countries entered the game with six points each, knowing the winner would be in a position to play for advancement on Saturday while the loser would either be eliminated or with very faint hopes at best. The game was scoreless after one period and 1-1 after two before Ukraine broke it open in the third. For the second game in a row, the line of Viktor Zakharov, Andri Denyskin and Denys Borodai provided the Ukrainians with the offensive spark they needed.
“We have good chemistry, speak to each other every day and understand on the ice how to move and where the puck will be,” said Zakharov, who scored two goals this game. “I think that’s the main reason why we are successful now.”
Early in the second period, Ukraine had a goal called back for goaltender interference and then a few minutes later, Alan Lyszczarczyk opened the scoring for Poland on the power play.
“That’s something we tried to prepare our players for because we knew these were going to be tough games and things don’t always go as you plan,” said Ukrainian coach Dmytro Khrystych. “Anything can happen in a hockey game. We told the guys not to worry, to believe in ourselves and we’re gonna get the job done.”
Zakharov tied the game at 32:23, getting the puck after it came free from a scramble and firing it over Polish goalie John Murray. Early in the third, Zakharov scored the eventual game-winner, taking a pass from Denyskin and firing it from the high slot over Murray’s glove. Poland then tried to push for the equalizer but Urkaine added a couple of late goals against the run of play.
“We have a lot of young guys who haven’t been in this situation before,” said Murray. “If you look at our defence corps from the past, it’s down to just four guys who have played at the senior international level. We can hope for the best from the young Polish players that they’re gonna learn from these situations and come back next time with a little more experience and understanding.”
Romania 3 – Japan 5 (0-4, 3-1, 0-0)
A win by either side in regulation would relegate the other team, while a decision in extra time would mean that relegation would be decided on Saturday. With that in mind, Japan took care of business in the first period, silencing the home crowd by outshooting Romania 15-4 and outscoring the host team 4-0.
“We just messed up our starts the last two games,” said disheartened Romanian forward Szilard Rokaly. “We gave the opponent too much space and time and they were able to outwork us and outscore us.”
Teruto Nakajima struck first just 61 seconds in – trailing the play on the rush, he took a drop pass from Yu Sato and beat Attila Adorjan over the glove. Things got worse for the Romanians as Fuji Suzuki, Yuto Osawa on the power play and Sato added to the Japanese lead.
“We finally scored the first goal and got a good read for the game,” said Sato. As for what happened in the second period, he said that, “They scored the first goal and we maybe got a little bit nervous, but we kept playing.”
Radim Valchar gave the Romanians some hope with a breakaway goal in the 27th minute, and that was followed by a few more chances to close the gap that they failed to convert on. After the teams exchanged goals, Rokaly’s power-play marker in the last minute of the second period gave Romania some hope heading into the final frame.
“We went back in the dressing room after the first period and just started telling each other to empty the tank because we had nothing to lose anymore,” said Rokaly. “We scored three goals in the second period and started feeling it was possible, but then Japan played really well in the third and didn’t give us very much.”
As for the team’s last game on Saturday, Rokaly said, “We have a lot of fans here and they came for a reason. We came for a reason too. We didn’t achieve it but we want to show our fans that we still want to play for them and we’ll try our best against Italy.”
What’s at stake on Saturday
Four teams are still in contention for the two advancement spots heading into the final day of the tournament and two of them have control of their own destiny. Great Britain and Ukraine each have nine points and can each secure advancement if they gain at least one point in their respective games. If either (or both) of them loses in regulation time, the door is opened for Italy to finish first or second with a regulation victory over Romania.
Poland’s advancement hopes still hang by a thread, but they might be gone by the time they face off in the tournament’s last game.
Final day schedule (all times EET):
- Japan vs Ukraine, 12:30
- Italy vs Romania, 16:00
- Great Britain vs Poland, 19:30