Russian women end group stage with perfect record

Sweden - Russia 1-3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1)

The Russian national team was able to win group B of the women's hockey tournament in Sochi after defeating Sweden 3-1 and thus avoiding a match against Finland in the quarterfinals. The Fins instead play against their archrivals from Sweden while Russia has to play against Switzerland who finished last in the top group and looks a bit weaker tahn the other quarterfinalists.

In a full Shayba Arena the Swedish women didn't want to be too intimidated by the large crowd in faovur of tournament hosts Russia and so team captain Jenni Asserholt set a sign 13 seconds into the game with a hard check which earned her a two minute penalty. The following power play gave the momentum to Russia though who forced the Northern Europeans back into their own third on a regular basis. After a series of good scoring chances the pressure became just a little too high. Anna Shukina escaped from her guard and beat goalie Valentina Wallner from short distance at 08:38 after a brilliant cross-pass Yekaterina Pashkevich who had started the rush over the right wing. The Russians kept the pressure high with support by the home fans and should have had a higher lead but they wasted even a 5 on 3 power play and Olga Sosina missed the wide open net with a shot from short distance. The shots on target were 16-2 in favour of Russia after 20 minutes which speaks for itself.

A completely changed Swedish team came back from the dressing rooms and took over the initiative. Pernilla Winberg had the best chance but was stopped in the 1-on-1 with Anna Prugova, the Russian goalie, after a break away! Around "half time" another break away for Winberg after returning from the penalty box was ended by the last defender Alexandra Kapustina who came back with high speed to steal the puck from her stick. Just half a minute later Alyona Khomich scored the game wnner with a well-placed one-timer from the blue line into the left top corner, one of the best goals of the whole tournament so far. As surprising as the 2-0 came for Russia, as fast did they find back into the match and could have decided it with various break aways before the second intermission. Instead Pernilla Winberg cut the deficit to the half for the Swedes when she was the first to react after a pass by a Russian defender bounced back from the boards behind the net and deked out the goalie with just a minute left to play in the middle period.
 
The Swedes continued where they stopped in the previous period when Emma Eliasson's one-timer was deflected against the goal post by the goalie just 53 seconds into the third. In power play Tatyana Burina appeared alone in front of Swedish goalie Valentina Wallner but from within the slot also only hit the post! The Swedes became stronger with the time running out for them when they intensified their efforts but couldn't score another time. Instead Yekaterina Smolentseva made everything clear at 58:07 when she received a pass from behind the net by Olga Sosina and left the goalie no chance with her one-timer into the left corner. With the two-goal deficit the Swedes decided to pull out the goalie for an additional skater but couldn't give the game the turn. Instead Anna Shukina believed to have scored into the empty net but the goal was not given by the referees but it didn't have an influence in the outcome of the game anymore.

Japan - Germany 0-4 (0-1, 0-1, 0-2)

For the two bottom teams of the group the situation was clear. They had nothing left to win but a bit of self-confidence before the placement games. With their first power play goal of the tournament Team Germany earned the lead at 13:23 when Manuela Anwander scored from the blue line. In an even match Franziska Busch doubled the lead 48 seconds into the middle period with a back hander into the right top corner after a pass from behind the net by team mate Andra Lanzl. In the following time Germany concentrated on defense while the Japanese women failed to beat a strong Viona Harrer in the German net even with best occasions. In the end Harrer even would be rewarded with a 30 save shutout. The middle period was pretty eventless until a back hand pass by Nina Kamenik found Kerstin Spielberger who herself used a back hander to beat Nana Fujimoto in the Japanese net with 90 seconds left on the clock. Afterwards the Japanese pulled out their goalie in the attempt to force the consolation goal but instead Franziska Busch scored her second of the morning into the empty net! In the end the win might have been a bit too high, especially as the Japanese had more shots on goal (30-25) and they worked hard throughout the whole game but it was a deserved win nevertheless for the Central Europeans!

Both sides have to wait for their opponents until the quarterfinals have been played on Saturday. The games for the 5th to the 8th place start on Sunday. 

Final standings Group B

Sa, 15 Feb (12.00 MSK) A3 Finland - B2 Sweden
Sa, 15 Feb (16.30 MSK) A4 Switzerland - B1 Russia

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