Women’ s Final Olympic Qualification Group C Tournament For 2022 Winter Olympics
In the second game for each team in Final Qualification Group C, the host Czechs earned their second win with a convincing 16-0 victory over Poland, who fall to 0-2 before 1139 mostly Czech fans in Chomutov, although there was a noticeable Polish contingent in attendance as well.
Katerina Mrazova led the Czech offence with two goals and four assists, while Aneta Tejralova had five assists. In her first appearance of the tournament, Viktorie Svejdova didn’t have to make a ton of saves for the shutout, but did face a couple of odd-man rushes that she came up big on.
The Czechs wasted little time getting started, finding the net twice in the first two minutes. First, it was captain Alena Mills with a nice deflection on Aneta Tejralova’s point shot at the 52-second mark. A minute later, Dominika Laskova used her speed to motor out front and scored with a quick shot. Natalie Mlynkova made it 3-0 with a rising wrister through traffic that beat a screened Agata Kosinska at 6:02.
Poland’s lone shot on goal in the first period came on a 2-on-1 rush, with defender Julia Zielinska electing to shoot and hitting Svejdova in the shoulder.
Poland managed to kill off the lone penalty of the first period, but just 16 seconds after it ended, Mills scored her second of the game on a backdoor pass from Klara Hymlarova at 15:27. Two minutes later, Noemi Neubauerova scored the Czechs’ fifth and final goal of the opening frame.
After getting beaten on six of 17 first-period shots, Kosinska was lifted in favour of Martyna Sass, who had been brilliant against Hungary on Thursday. She could do little to stop the bleeding, however, as the Czechs were relentless in the middle frame, connecting for seven more goals on 26 shots. Mrazova alone had five shots on goal in the middle frame, scoring twice.
With her team down 10, Wiktoria Sikorska, Poland’s lone goal-scorer so far in t he tournament, had her team’s best chance to score late in the second period on a partial breakaway, but Svejdova made a stick save on the five-hole attempt.
Four more Czech goals in the third period made it a 16-0 final, with the hosts spending most of the period in control of the puck, keeping Svejdova’s shutout.
The Czechs now know will be playing Hungary tomorrow with a trip to Beijing on the line. Exactly what they need to secure qualfication will be determined in tonight’s late game between Hungary and Norway.
Women’ s Final Olympic Qualification Group C Tournament For 2022 Winter Olympics
by Derek O’Brien 11 NOV 2021
In the final round of qualification for women’s ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Hungary opened Group C in Chomutov, Czech Republic with an 11-1 victory over Poland.
It was the Poles striking first before the Hungarians roared back. Taylor Baker paced the victors with four points, with Mira Seregely, Emma Kreisz and Alexandra Huszak each chipping in with three.
“I certainly wasn’t surprised that the teams were even to start, but I also wasn’t surprised that the depth of our team started to rise to the surface,” said Hungarian head coach Lisa Haley. “Depth doesn’t show in the first 10 or even 20 minutes of the game, but as it goes along it starts to trump and I think that’s what we saw today. Poland had a great qualification tournament, coming from behind late in the third period, so we were determined to make sure this game was determined as early as possible.”
“The first 10 minutes we played very well,” said Polish head coach Ivan Bednar. “The second goal after the challenge really cut down our wings and we started to commit some mistakes. Then they started to skate really well around the ice and took advantage of our mistakes.”
Hungary outshot Poland 53-21 on the game, with Polish goaltender Martyna Sass putting on a heroic performance through 54 minutes before simply being overwhelmed.
The Hungarian power play was especially lethal, which connected on three of its first four opportunities while the game was still up for grabs.
Having qualified via winning the last round on home ice, the Poles were energized by some early saves from their goalie and, with some confidence, got some offensive chances of their own. Midway through the first period, they opened the scoring on the power play. It started with a point shot by Julia Zielinska that sailed high and hit the end glass. There, Kamila Wieczorek picked it up and fed out front to Wiktoria Sikorska, who fired it home.
“That was a pretty good feeling, I would say,” said Sikorska. “It was a rebound from the glass behind the net. My teammate just passed it to me in front and I just tried to touch it and it went in.”
The Hungarians tied it on a power play of their own. The play started when Huszak won a faceoff at her own blueline and then charged forward through everybody, rushed into the Polish zone and fired a shot. Sass made the initial shot but couldn’t control the rebound, and Reka Dabasi fed the puck back to Huszak, who scored on her second attempt.
With 3:12 to go in the first period, Hungary took its first lead of the game. Kreisz took a long breakaway pass at the Polish blueline and was in alone. She tried to go five-hole on Sass, who made the save but Kreisz went after her own rebound and, following a scramble, the puck ended up across the goal line.
“I jumped on the ice and saw the opportunity, so I called for the pass, and the D just passed to me and I had a breakaway,” said Kreisz. “I just tried to make a move and I saw it lying there under the pad so I reached and just put it in.”
Initially the goal was waved off due to the goalpost being dislodged, but following a coach’s challenge, that call was overturned and the goal was awarded.
“We had a chance to see it on the big screen and, from our perspective, it looked like the puck was on its way in regardless of the net coming off and we were hoping that’s the category it would fall into, and that’s exactly what happened,” said Haley. “We expected it would count based on that rule and we’re happy they made the right decision.”
After starting well, that play seemed to deflate Poland. The Hungarians really began pressing for more and, with the teams skating 4-on-4 with just under a minute to go in the opening period, Hungary moved the puck quickly around the Polish zone and Sarah Knee picked the top corner to make it 3-1 after one.
With a power play carrying over past the intermission, Hungary managed to keep the momentum on their side as the second period began. Kreisz took a pass down low and, finding no one free in front of the net, stepped out herself and went upstairs for her second of the game just 25 seconds in.
They kept coming and added two more goals in the next four minutes – Mira Seregely at even strength and then Taylor on a one-timer from the point on the power play – made it 6-1 before the middle frame was five minutes old.
“We kinda lost our focus, which shouldn’t happen,” said Sikorska. “We’re playing against teams that are better than us, so we have to keep clear heads and just play our game and whatever happens, just stay focused all the time.”
From there, the Hungarians took their foot off the gas pedal for a while and concentrated more on defence the second half of the game. They added one more goal late in the second period – Baker on the power play while Sass scrambled without a stick. They added four more in the dying minutes of the third, with Seregely adding two to complete her hat trick.
Despite her team’s tough situation, Sass refused to quit in the Polish net. Midway through the third period, denying Debasi twice from point-blank range.
After a day off for both teams tomorrow, Poland faces the Czech Republic in Saturday’s early game, followed by Hungary against Norway in the nightcap.
