China overcomes slow start to take commanding win over Italy in Para Hockey Worlds

Five-goal third period leads to 10-1 victory for reigning Paralympic bronze medalists

Randy Palmer - Moose Jaw Express

A mere five years ago, China simply didn’t have a presence on the international scene in para hockey, as the sport had yet to attract enough attention to create a team in the country.

Once they did get going, their rise has been astronomical.

The defending Paralympic bronze medalists looked the part of a medal contender in every way on Sunday afternoon at the World Para Hockey Championship as they rolled to a 10-1 victory over Italy in the opening contest for both teams.

Things were close in the early going, though, and by the midway point of the second period China only held a 2-1 lead. Three goals through the remainder of the period would give China command of the game, and they kept the pressure on in the third for the commanding victory.

“This is the first time for China to play in Group A in para hockey, so this is a very good start for our team,” said Shen Yi Feng, who had five goals on the afternoon, including a third-period hat trick. “We’re going to try our best to play as well in subsequent games.”

Seeing Yi Feng put up that kind of offence wasn’t a surprise, as he’s considered one of the top players in the sport today, with his speed and skill making him lethal any time his line is on the ice,

Team Italy knew that dealing with the likes of Yi Feng and his teammates was going to be a tall order, but the way things were close early was promising,

“We know that to start against China is a really difficult start for the world championship,” said Italy coach Mirko Bianchi. “The players played good into the second period, but then China grows, and we had some problems. Now we have to think about the next game, we have to play against Germany and Norway and keep the good things from this game and do our best in the end for the important games.”

That Italy can be competitive on the world scene is incredible -- their para hockey program has 14 players total, and that’s in the entire country. The skill is there, though, and they’ve risen through the ranks into the top pool of para hockey play.

“We know that we have a lot of difficulties in our country for developing the movement, so we know which games are important for us,” said Italy assistant cap- tain Andrea Macri, who added that work is always continuing on developing and growing the sport.

“We didn’t play the third period as we could, but it’s like our coach said, it’s better to make mistakes with a good team. Now we have time to look at the mistakes and correct them.”

China coach Yin Jiwu wasn’t completely satisfied with how things went for his crew given how close things were early, but the result was naturally still a pos- itive one.

“Our team had a pretty rough start, we weren’t doing our best right at the beginning because we haven’t been playing in the international game for a long time and just practicing at home,” he said. “So we didn’t do great at the beginning but it went a lot better as the game went on.”

Wang Zhi Dong scored twice for China, while Xu jin Qiang, Li Hong Guan and Zhang Zheng all had single markers. Tian Jin Tao picked up two assists.

Ji Yan Zhao stopped eight shots for the win, while Italy’s Gabriele Araudo stopped 11 shots in 24:44 of work and Santino Stillitano had eight saves the rest of the way.

Team China had no shortage of support thanks to the Moose Jaw Chinese Community Network, which saw hundreds of fans fill the seats behind the benches and penalty box areas.

Needless to say, the team couldn’t express their appreciation enough.

“We travelled from very far away to play this game, as a matter of fact, we traveled 15 hours to arrive here,” said coach Yin Jiwu. “But when we came here, we truly felt the hospitality, and especially from the Chinese people. It makes us feel that we are at home.”

High scoring forward Shen Yi Feng felt much the same way.

“It’s pretty encouraging to see so many Chinese out here to watch our game,” he said. “We travelled from pretty far away so it’s really cool to see so many Chinese people cheering for us. Their appearance is really encouraging for us to play well in our games.”

World Para Hockey Championship: Germany holds off Norway for crucial win

Norway rally in third period falls short as Germany takes 5-3 victory at Moose Jaw Events Centre Randy Palmer - Moose

Heading into the third period of Sunday night’s World Para Hockey Championship game between Germany and Norway, it looked as if things might have been all but decided.

Germany had scored a pair of goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead and tacked on an insurance marker in the early moments of the third, looking to have essentially put the game away.

But Norway wouldn’t go quietly.

A pair of goals less than two minutes apart off the stick of forward Ola Oiseth suddenly made it a one-goal game, and the two teams would settle into a backand-forth battle the rest of the way before Germany would score an empty-netter and take a 5-3 victory.

Bend but don’t break is just fine when you’re playing for a world title.

“Norway was maybe the better team, but we had passion and a very, very good goalkeeper,” said Germany defenceman Lucas Sklorz. “We deserved to win, we fought, we practiced and worked a lot to be here. Everybody thought Germany would lose every match, but we’re not here to be present, we want to do what we love. Today was a very huge step and we’re going to take the second step tomorrow.”

Sklorz touched on it, but if not for goaltender Simon Kuntz, odds are Norway would have had things in hand by the time the five-minute mark of the second period came around. Kuntz made a handful of tremendous saves throughout the first two frames and finished with 19 stops total, more than one of them of the almost impossible variety.

“His family name is ‘Kuntz’, which means ‘art’ in Germany and I think that was perfectly art today,” Sklorz said. “It was an outstanding performance, huge, and thanks Simon, it was your victory today.”

Germany’s Bernhard Hering opened scoring 1:41 into the game before Norway’s Audun Bakke tied things up midway through the period. Jan Malte Brelage and Felix Schrader then scored in the second to give Germany their 3-1 lead, with Hering picking up his second of the game and fourth point early in the third.

Ingo Kuhli-Luaenstein scored an empty-netter in the final minute to wrap things up.

Oiseth ddn’t mince words when it came to describing the defeat, which will make it that much more difficult for Norway to reach the playoff round.

“It’s a devastating loss,” he said. “I think we gave away the game early on, which made us have to come back, which is always difficult, trying to come back from a three goal deficit. It was a good effort and we almost came back, but it wasn’t good enough. The guys will be down for a little while now.”

The key now will be to build off what worked late in the game and put it to use in the tough games ahead, said Norway head coach Ken Babey.

“I’m proud of the guys for a valiant effort in the third period,” he said. “They could have just stopped and said ‘here, win the game 10-1’ but they fought hard and it just wasn’t good enough in the end. Now we have to refocus ourselves and get ready to play a really strong Chinese team tomorrow.”

That contest is set for 3 p.m. at the Moose Jaw Events Centre, while Germany has the day off and will take on Italy in the 11 a.m. game on Tuesday.