Women’ s Final Olympic Qualification Group D Tournament For 2022 Winter Olympics
Just over two months after Denmark’s men’s team earned its first-ever trip to the Olympic Games, the women’s national team is poised to follow their colleagues to Beijing with a 1-0 victory over Austria.
Maria Peters scored the game winner and Cassandre Repstock-Romme posted her second shutout in two games, moving Denmark to within one point of a guaranteed spot in the Olympics in Beijing.
It was a clash between two teams that each earned an all-important three points in their opening games, with both eyeing the ultimate prize of a trip to Beijing 2022.
The game was fast-paced and tightly-contested, with Denmark getting a few quality scoring chances coming down the middle of the Austrian defence, but were held back by goaltender Selma Luggin, who has proven to be one of the key pieces to Austria’s success in the tournament so far after a 3-0 shutout of Germany in the opener.
But the Austrians showed in their first game against German that they could be dangerous in transition, and nearly caught the Danes shorthanded on a pair of great scoring opportunities.
Following a scoreless first period, Austria was whistled for tripping with 3:46 left in the second. The puck came into the Austria zone where it was picked up by Denmark forward Silke Glud. Glud was trailed closely by Austrian defender Alessandra Lopez, but she collided with an official that was trying to get out of the play, allowing Gluke to feed Maria Peters in front of the net for the 1-0 score.
In the third period the Austrians ramped up the pressure on Danish goalie Cassandre Repstock-Romme, who had so far played 100 minutes of shutout hockey. But Repstock-Romme and the Danish defense were up to the task, effectively locking down the Austrians allowing just a handful of shots on net and zero time or space in the offensive zone.
Denmark’s victory sets up an decisive Sunday afternoon, which will see Austria take on Italy and Denmark face Germany. With six points and sitting atop the Group D standings, the Danes hold their Olympic destiny in their hands.
Women’ s Final Olympic Qualification Group E Tournament For 2022 Winter Olympics
by Martin Merk 11 NOV 2021
Host Sweden opened the Women’s Final Olympic Qualification Group E in Lulea with a 3-0 against Slovakia in front of 1,011 spectators in Lulea. In a tight battle the Swedes got the edge with a late first-period goal and withstood the Slovak comeback attempt with solid defence and two third-period goals.
“I enjoyed playing here in Sweden, we had a lot of fans here and a positive energy,” said forward Josefin Bouveng, who scored the third goal. “We trained a lot this year and we got better and better but we can still go to the next level. Our main goal is to focus on our play no matter who we play against.”
Sweden’s Damkronorna outshot the Slovaks in each period, 29-15 in total, but even though Slovakia didn’t score it was a tight game.
“It was a really good game, fun to play although difficult at times. It’s always nice to start with a shutout,” said Swedish goaltender Sara Grahn, who was named best player of her team after her shutout performance.
Sweden and Slovakia haven’t met often recently but are opponents twice this season in battles for a top-level spot – first here in Lulea, Sweden for the 2022 Olympics, and in spring in Angers, France for a ticket to the 2022 Women’s Worlds.
While the Swedes entered the game as favourites, the Slovaks showed a tough battle and eagerness for an upset.
Both teams created their chances and while it looked like the first frame would end in a scoreless tie, Sweden opened the scoring with 18.9 seconds left before the buzzer.
It was Emma Nordin, who almost singlehandedly outplayed the Slovak defence with a rush she started in the own zone. The 30-year-old Ornskoldsvik native sent the puck between her skates back to Bouveng, Hanna Olsson tried to score and Nordin was at the right spot to capitalize on the rebound.
“We had a good start in the first period but conceded a goal in the end. We were talking together and wanted to come back in the second and third period and had good chances to score but we didn’t capitalize on them,” said Slovak head coach Tomas Segin.
The Swedes started the middle frame with a moral boost and didn’t give their opponents many chances in the first few minutes – even not during a Slovak 5-on-3. Nicol Cupkova had the best chance when she broke through but her shot didn’t create any issues for Swedish goalie Grahn, neither did a Lucia Istocyova breakaway a few moments later.
With the Slovaks getting more active, Sweden also got chances on counter-attacks such as one slightly missed out by Maja Nylen Persson.
“It was a good-quality game from both sides. The Swedes played very aggressively and offensively. We tried to prevent them from scoring and put ourselves in the shots and tried to turn around the game and find opportunities to score but we didn’t succeed. It’s difficult to win a game if you don’t score,” said Slovak captain Cupkova.
While the second period ended scoreless with shots on goal favouring Sweden 12-7, the Swedes spent the first minute of the third frame in the Slovak zone and went up 2-0. Felizia Wikner Zienkiewicz deflected a long shot from Nylen Persson 43 seconds into the period.
“I enjoyed the game a lot because there were many shots but it was unpleasant because there were many rebounds and it became difficult. The Swedes were very dangerous and tend to shoot directly,” said Slovak goalie Nikola Zimkova.
At 8:26 the Damkronorna team capitalized on one of its rare power-play opportunities against a disciplined Slovak team. After Nylen Persson’s shot from the blue line Lina Ljungblom got the puck, quickly passed it left to Bouveng, who made it a three-goal lead for the host nation.
“It was a tight game in the beginning and we thought it would be but further on we played more the way we wanted to play with having the puck a lot and controlling the game,” said Swedish head coach Ulf Lundberg. “Patience was a key word for the whole game. I’m proud of the way the players handled it in the first game and the home arena.”
After Day 1 the two top-seeded teams Sweden and France lead the standings with their shutout wins and France having the edge after a 4-0 win against Korea.
Sweden will continue the tournament on Saturday evening against Korea while France will play Slovakia in the earlier game.
