On February 4, the Chinese women's ice hockey team scored two goals in the last minute of the second group game, reversing Denmark 3-1 and winning the first victory of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The Chinese women's football team reversed the Japanese team in the semi-final of the Asian Cup in the early morning Beijing time this morning through a penalty shootout, and the Chinese female ice girl also played a reversal at the Winter Olympics.
After the first group game lost 1-3 to the Czech women's ice on February 3, the Chinese women's ice team against Denmark's match is even more important, in order to qualify for the top three teams in the group, the match against Denmark can not be lost.
Compared with China's first opponent in the group stage, the Czech Republic, Denmark is slightly weaker. Denmark joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1946 and waited 75 years to get its first ticket to ice hockey at the Winter Olympics. Since its establishment in 1992, the Danish women's ice hockey team has only competed in the top group of the World Championships that year, and has been absent from the top events for nearly 30 years until it returns to the top group of the World Championships again in 2021. They defeated Austria and Italy in the final round of the Winter Olympic qualifiers, drew 2-2 in the regular time of the last match, defeated their seeded team Germany at the World Championships in August 2021, and reached the women's ice hockey tournament of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
It is worth mentioning that the two head coaches of the Chinese team and the Danish team are very familiar with each other and have been cooperative partners for more than 7 years. Danish women's ice coach Pete Eland led the Swedish women's ice team to a miracle in defeating the American women's ice team in the 2006 Turin Olympic Awards Final. After leading Swedish women's ice skating to the world's top stage for seven consecutive years, Yland went to the NCAA (University Sports League) as a co-head coach at the University of North Dakota in North America, and was paired with Brian Idarski, the current head coach of the Chinese women's ice hockey team.
The two managers have worked together for more than 7 years and know each other. Today, they meet as opponents at the Beijing Olympic Games, which can be described as full of drama.
After the start of the game, the Chinese team was more active, suppressing the Danish team in the front court, but the overall offensive efficiency of the players was average, creating few opportunities for threat. Instead, Denmark launched its first high-quality attack in the 8 minutes of the game and used the melee in front of the goal to break through the Chinese team's goal, Giving Denmark a 1-0 lead. Although the Chinese team then continued to grasp the advantage of possession, the front court attack still lacked effective means to knock on the Danish team's goal.
In the second game, the Chinese team strengthened the frontcourt cooperation and the shooting opportunities increased, but the Danish goalkeeper performed very well, repeatedly defusing the Chinese team's attack, even including the Chinese team's single knife ball. It wasn't until the end of the second set that the Chinese team finally seized the opportunity, captain Yu Baiwei suddenly shot from a distance, the ball touched Lin Qiqi's club and changed direction and flew into the goal, the score became 1-1. At the end of the second set, the number of shots on goal the Chinese team led 27-12.
Both teams became more cautious in the third inning, trying to reduce turnovers. China had an offensive advantage in the first half of the game, but Denmark defended very aggressively. With 5 minutes and 49 seconds left in the game, The Chinese team captain Yu Baiwei was sent off for a foul, and the Danish team played more and played less, and the Chinese team withstood the pressure. When the game was only 50 seconds away, the Chinese team made a steal in front of the field, Lin Qiqi assisted, and Lynney used a single knife ball to calmly break the goal, and the Chinese team led 2-1. In the final stage, the Danish team removed the goalkeeper, all 6 players threw in the attack, and the Chinese team was hit by Lin Qiqi to hit the empty goal, and the Chinese team defeated the Danish team 3-1.
After winning this crucial victory, the Chinese women's ice team will have a day off tomorrow against the third group stage opponent Japan on the afternoon of February 6.