Blowouts Highlight Day Three of Hockey at Asian Winter Games

Thailand Remains on Top of Division One

Division I action returned on Tuesday with Thailand defeating Hong Kong by a score of 8-2 to keep their perfect record alive after three games. Kim Aarola led the way with a hat-trick for Thailand, including a shorthanded goal that made it 3-0 before the game was even nine minutes old. It was a strong effort for the Finnish-born forward who has led the team up front since joining the team. 

Justin Cheng scored both of Hong Kong's goals, coming in the final minute of both the first and second period. The pair now gives him seven goals after three games, making him easily Hong Kong's best player.

In the closest contest of Division I play, the United Arab Emirates scored their first victory of the tournament with a 6-3 decision over Mongolia. Mohamed Al Kaabi, a 17-year-old speedster with the Abu Dhabi Storms in the UAE league, potted three goals to become the youngest player to record a hat-trick in this year's tournament. The Emirates scored six goals on just 24 shots, while goaltender Khaled Al Suwaidi made 51 stops in a remarkable performance between the pipes.

In the biggest blowout in the division, Chinese Taipei easily improved to 2-0-1-0 with an 11-1 rout of Singapore, who have now just two goals for and 31 goals against after three games. Hung-Ju Lin, who didn't record a single point at the 2011 Asian Winter Games. put up three goals for Taipei while defenceman Yen-Lin Shen netted two of his own. Pei Huan Chen scored the lone marker for Singapore late in the second period.

Division II With Many Blowouts

Division II, the lowest division of the Asian Winter Games, saw a rough outing for each losing team on Tuesday. Among winners were Turkmenistan, who took the 16-0 advantage over Macau, Malaysia who beat Indonesia in their first official game 13-2 and Kyrgyzstan, who had no issue doubling up the Philippines 10-5. 

The closest contest saw Kuwait score their first win, a 6-2 victory over Qatar. Abdullah Al Maragi scored three straight goals for Kuwait, while defenceman Jasem Al Awadhi scored the first and sixth goals for his nation to help cap off the win.

Top Division Begins Play on Wednesday

Wednesday afternoon will see the first games played in the top division of the Asian Winter Games, with South Korea kicking off the group with a meeting with Kazakhstan. Japan and China will meet up later in the day in what will be three days of tournament action, with games taking place on February 22nd, 24th and 26th. Kazakhstan is looking to improve on their silver-medal performance at the recent Winter Universiade, featuring a very similar roster, while Japan will look to excite fans on home ice.

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