The Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games continued yesterday. There was only two games. The biggest shock of the tournament of the Olympics so far happened. Denmark 0-0-0 played China 0-1-0. ROC (Russia) 0-0-0 played Switzerland 0-1-0. Switzerland of course getting brutally destroyed by Canada 12 to 1 in their last game.
Denmark took on China in a game that had the most unexpected ending ever. First off I want to talk about the jerseys. Denmark had red jerseys with white shoulders. China had white jerseys. I didn’t see any issue with it but I did see some complaints online about there being too much white and not being able to tell the teams apart. Denmark took a penalty early in the game for an illegal hit. Denmark would open up the scoring about half way through the first. They would make it 1-0 Denmark on a goal from. A few minutes later China would take a penalty for tripping. Denmark took an illegal hit penalty in the second. Shortly after China took a penalty for cross checking. China would score the only goal of the second period. China would put up to more goals in the third period to surprise everyone and win the game.
China figured out how to shoot the puck. They more than doubled the number of shots from their last game. Neither team was able to capitalize on the power player. They booth took plenty of penalties. This is not how Denmark wanted to start their tournament. This has to be a big blow to Denmark. Coming into the tournament China was last in the power ranks and wasn’t expected to do much. For China this is a huge win. It really legitimizes them as a team. It puts them at an interesting place in this stage of the tournament. With this win they have momentum moving forward. Now they know what it takes to win games. The big question is will they continue to build on this win. China will play Japan next and that is a big rivalry game for them.
ROC (Russia) continued to make it hard for Switzerland in ROC’s (Russia) opening match. Switzerland continued to struggle in their second game of the tournament. ROC (Russia) took a penalty for hooking to start the game. Russia would then follow that up by scoring the games first goal. Switzerland took a penalty for hooking. ROC (Russia) took a penalty for tripping. Switzerland would score on the resulting power play. ROC (Russia) would then score within a minute to retake the lead. ROC (Russia) would take the lead into the second period. Switzerland would tie the game with their final goal in the second period. ROC (Russia) would then score two to take a three goal lead into the third period. ROC (Russia) would then score the games final goal in the third period. ROC (Russia) would win the game 5-2.
Goaltending let Switzerland down in this one. Despite scoring three more goals ROC (Russia) only one more shot than Switzerland. There were a lot of penalties in this game. Switzerland were able to capitalize on one of their power plays. So that is one of the few positives moving forward. ROC (Russia) was able to score on the penalty kill. A lot of positives in this game for ROC (Russia). After Canadas statement win and the United States response to that, this win by ROC (Russia) put them right behind the United States and Canada as medal contenders.
Here are the current group standings. Canada still leads Group A and Japan still leads Group B.
Upcoming games: Canada vs Finland. That game will be at 8pm local time (PST). Will Finland bounce back from their loss to the United States? Will Canada continue to dominate? Japan vs Denmark. That game will be at 12:40am local time (PST). What will Denmarks response be after losing to China? Will Japan be able to stay on top of Group B? Czech Republic vs Sweden. That game will be at 12:40am local time (PST). Will the Czech Republic be able to take the first spot in Group B? Will Sweden be able to bounce back after their game 1 loss. United States vs ROC (Russia). That game will be at 5am local time (PST). Due to what is going on in Ukraine right now and the United States response, this game has a lot of geopolitical weight to it. Not as much as the 1980 miracle on ice but still a lot. That out of the way both the United States and ROC (Russia) are gunning for the top spot in Group A. This is also a possible medal match. If Canada loses that first place spot will open up for one of these two teams. The United States is favored to win this game.
Zac Electrifly 