Beijing, China, February 6, 2022: Call it the “Miracle on Ice” – Beijing style!
In a major upset at the women’s ice hockey tournament of the Olympic Winter Games, China pulled off a shock 2-1 victory over Japan in a pulsating Group B encounter at the Wukesong Sports Centre on Sunday.
After the scores had finished level 1-1 after the regulation three periods, plus five minutes of overtime, China won a penalty-shot shootout 1-0 to end Japan’s two-game winning streak to start the competition.
It was an incredible match, one that either side could have won in the third period and also in the five minutes of sudden-death overtime when only three players plus the goalkeeper for each team were on the ice.
The shootout was just as dramatic. After Japan had failed to convert any of their first four attempts and China had missed their first three, the home team finally took the lead when Mi Lie fired home.
This left Japan needing to score their fifth attempt to stay in the match, but Ayaka Toko’s shot was saved by China’s goalkeeper Zhou Jiayang to spark wild scenes of delight on the ice and in the stands.
Japan, ranked sixth in the world, were hot-favourites to beat the 20th-ranked China, especially after opening their Group B campaign by defeating Sweden 3-1 and Denmark 6-2 to take a maximum six points.
China, on the other hand, had lost 3-1 to the Czech Republic before beating Denmark 3-1 – China’s first group win in Olympic women’s ice hockey since the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano.
China’s hero goaltender Zhou said they had prepared well to meet Japan. “We all watched the game they played against Denmark yesterday (Saturday) and I watched the videos of their games with my coach this morning.
“So we all made a lot of preparation for this game. I know where their best players like to be on ice and I know their game style, so I could somehow anticipate how they would shoot.”
Referring to the penalty shootout, Zhou added: “I felt a little nervous but I believed we would win in the end – and I was thinking back to the videos I watched, the moves they like to make, and when the shootout started, I just focused on their shots.”
Japan had taken the lead on a powerplay with a neat flick high into the net from defender Akane Hosoyamada at 18:02 as China’s Li Beika was serving a two-minute penalty for an illegal hit.
China, playing with a lot of energy and fire in their bright red uniforms, looked dangerous on several occasions and finally pulled level early in the third period when Hu Baozhen capitalized on an error by the Japan goaltender Nana Fujimoto, who spilled a shot from Li Bekai at 41:06, allowing Hu to score from close range.
Of the 10 teams in the women’s ice hockey competition, eight will advance to the quarter-finals – all five teams from Group A which are seeded 1-5 plus the top three from Group B which seeded 6-10.
Japan leads Group B with seven points from three games, followed by Czech Republic with six from two and China with five points from three games. Sweden and Denmark have lost both their opening two games and have zero points.