Kazakhstan remains atop the standings after two days at the 2027 Asia Championship in Jeonju, Korea, as the defending champions are now 2-0 after beating China.
The tournament wraps up on 8 November but nothing will be decided until the final day of games. Here’s a look at what happened on Day 2.
Japan 5, Korea 3
A four-goal second period spurred the Japanese to their first win of the tournament. After a scoreless first, Japan got the icebreaker four minutes into the middle frame when Chikara Hanzawa walked the line nicely and then sent a pass to teammate Sota Isogai, who fired a one-time at the Korean net. Although the shot didn’t go in, the puck made its way to Japan’s Teruto Nakajima in front of the net and he tucked the puck past Yeonseung Lee.
Midway through the second, Riku Ishida made a beautiful stretch pass to spring Hanzawa on a breakaway and the Japanese forward sniped to make it 2-0.
With six minutes left in the second, Korea turned the puck over in its end and Ryosuke Miura made them pay to make it 3-0 Japan. Yuto Taneichi and Masato Okubo assisted on the goal. Japan padded its lead about a minute later as Hanzawa scored his second of the game on a tipped shot taken from the point by Ishida. Kotaro Tsutsumi also got a helper on the play. The fourth goal was scored on Suhoon Choi, who took over netminding duties for Lee at the 15-minute mark of the second.
Korea scored a powerplay goal at 18:05 to make it 4-1, as Sangyeob Kim blasted a one-timer past Japanese goalie Issa Otsuka.
Tsutsami scored a powerplay goal early in the third to make it 5-1 and Sihwan Kim and Sangyeob Kim, with his second of the game, scored in quick succession to make it 5-3 but that was as close as it would get.
Kazakhstan 5, China 0
If it weren’t for Shifeng Chen, this one could have been a lot worse for Team China. Chen, the Chinese netminder, faced 51 shots and stopped 46 of them as he stole the show in a 5-0 loss to Kazakhstan.
The Snow Leopards were relentless in their attack, starting with a first period in which they outshot China 20-7. Amazingly, the score remained 0-0 after the opening 20 minutes, in large part to the incredible goaltending of Chen.
It took all the way until the 10-minute mark of the second for the Kazakhs to finally solve Chen and the first goal came on a goalmouth scramble on a powerplay. Sayan Caniyar occupied the net front and a bouncing puck found his stick and he jammed it past Chen. Maxim Mukhametov and Dias Gusseinov assisted on the goal.
Daniyar scored his second of the game three minutes later, this time when he tipped in a point shot from Danil Butenko. Artur Gatiyatov got the second assist.
Kazakhstan scored three goals in the third to seal the win. Gatiyatov, Oskar Iulbarisov and Mukhametov all got goals to give Kazakhstan a 2-0 record heading into the final day of action at the Asia Championship.
The tournament continues on 8 November with China facing Japan and Kazakhstan facing off against Korea. Should Korea win that game, it could create a three-way tie for first, at which point tiebreakers would come into play. A reminder that all of the games, including replays, are available on IIHF.TV.
Standings
KAZ 2-0-0-0 6 PTS
JPN 1-0-0-1 3 PTS
KOR 1-0-0-1 3 PTS
CHN 0-0-0-2 0 PTS
8 November schedule: CHN-JPN (14:00 local time); KAZ-KOR (17:30 local time)
The tournament wraps up on 8 November but nothing will be decided until the final day of games. Here’s a look at what happened on Day 2.
Japan 5, Korea 3
A four-goal second period spurred the Japanese to their first win of the tournament. After a scoreless first, Japan got the icebreaker four minutes into the middle frame when Chikara Hanzawa walked the line nicely and then sent a pass to teammate Sota Isogai, who fired a one-time at the Korean net. Although the shot didn’t go in, the puck made its way to Japan’s Teruto Nakajima in front of the net and he tucked the puck past Yeonseung Lee.
Midway through the second, Riku Ishida made a beautiful stretch pass to spring Hanzawa on a breakaway and the Japanese forward sniped to make it 2-0.
With six minutes left in the second, Korea turned the puck over in its end and Ryosuke Miura made them pay to make it 3-0 Japan. Yuto Taneichi and Masato Okubo assisted on the goal. Japan padded its lead about a minute later as Hanzawa scored his second of the game on a tipped shot taken from the point by Ishida. Kotaro Tsutsumi also got a helper on the play. The fourth goal was scored on Suhoon Choi, who took over netminding duties for Lee at the 15-minute mark of the second.
Korea scored a powerplay goal at 18:05 to make it 4-1, as Sangyeob Kim blasted a one-timer past Japanese goalie Issa Otsuka.
Tsutsami scored a powerplay goal early in the third to make it 5-1 and Sihwan Kim and Sangyeob Kim, with his second of the game, scored in quick succession to make it 5-3 but that was as close as it would get.
Kazakhstan 5, China 0
If it weren’t for Shifeng Chen, this one could have been a lot worse for Team China. Chen, the Chinese netminder, faced 51 shots and stopped 46 of them as he stole the show in a 5-0 loss to Kazakhstan.
The Snow Leopards were relentless in their attack, starting with a first period in which they outshot China 20-7. Amazingly, the score remained 0-0 after the opening 20 minutes, in large part to the incredible goaltending of Chen.
It took all the way until the 10-minute mark of the second for the Kazakhs to finally solve Chen and the first goal came on a goalmouth scramble on a powerplay. Sayan Caniyar occupied the net front and a bouncing puck found his stick and he jammed it past Chen. Maxim Mukhametov and Dias Gusseinov assisted on the goal.
Daniyar scored his second of the game three minutes later, this time when he tipped in a point shot from Danil Butenko. Artur Gatiyatov got the second assist.
Kazakhstan scored three goals in the third to seal the win. Gatiyatov, Oskar Iulbarisov and Mukhametov all got goals to give Kazakhstan a 2-0 record heading into the final day of action at the Asia Championship.
The tournament continues on 8 November with China facing Japan and Kazakhstan facing off against Korea. Should Korea win that game, it could create a three-way tie for first, at which point tiebreakers would come into play. A reminder that all of the games, including replays, are available on IIHF.TV.
Standings
KAZ 2-0-0-0 6 PTS
JPN 1-0-0-1 3 PTS
KOR 1-0-0-1 3 PTS
CHN 0-0-0-2 0 PTS
8 November schedule: CHN-JPN (14:00 local time); KAZ-KOR (17:30 local time)