On February 6, the Chinese women's ice hockey team faced Japan in the third group game of the Winter Olympics, and the girls drew 1-1 with their opponents in the regular season, and finally won 2-1 through a penalty shootout, replicating the scene of The Chinese team reversing the Japanese team in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup Women's Football Team, which was the first time that the Chinese women's ice team defeated the Japanese team in nearly 13 years.
Two consecutive games to reverse the opponent to win, the Chinese female ice girls showed a tenacious will quality.
China won 1 win and 1 loss in the first two group matches, losing 1-3 in the first game to the Czech Republic and defeating Denmark in the second 3-1 reversal.
Japan topped the table with all-wins in the first two group matches. The strength of the Japanese team is obvious to all, winning the gold medal of the Youth Winter Olympics in 2017, the 6th place in the top group at the 2019 World Championships, and the qualification for the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is also the first direct access to the Winter Olympics in history.
In today's game, the Chinese women's ice team has obviously made very full preparations in the face of the Japanese team's consistent fast attack characteristics. At the beginning of the first game, the Chinese team played very actively, with a fast system, and the pace of attack and defense conversion between the two sides was very fast. Under the pressure of the Chinese team, the Japanese team also accelerated the rate of scoring. With 11 minutes left in the first set, China's Zhang Mengying and Rebecca collided and injured, and medical personnel quickly came on the field to give her first aid before she was pushed off by a stretcher. In the final stage of the first set, the Chinese naturalized player Rebecca was sent off for a foul, and the Chinese team played less and more, and the Japanese team seized the opportunity to score a goal. Although they fell behind 0-1 in the first set, the positive performance of the Chinese team was remarkable.
The second set was almost a copy of the first set, the Chinese team played not conservatively, and the two sides attacked and defended each other. China goalkeeper Zhou Jiaying was particularly strong, fending off many threatening shots from the Japanese team. Halfway through the second set, the Chinese team's attack improved, especially in the last 5 minutes, the Chinese team played a momentum, and the continuous attack caused a lot of pressure on the Japanese team, unfortunately failing to score.
The third set just lasted 1 minute, the Chinese player Rebecca suddenly shot from a distance after the success of the front field, the Japanese goalkeeper made a mistake in the save, Hu Baozhen scored in front of the goal, and the Chinese team pulled the score to 1-1. The Chinese team then continued to show tenacious will quality, always suppressing the Japanese team with a positive attack. At the end of the regular season, the two sides are still 1-1.
The game goes into extra time. The Overtime time for the Winter Olympic Hockey Group Stage is 5 minutes, and the rule is "sudden victory", that is, the winner who scores first in extra time wins. Unlike the regular season, overtime uses 3-on-3, which places higher demands on athletes' physical strength, speed and gliding skills. With 2 minutes and 15 seconds left in extra time, the Chinese team shoveled the ball into the Japanese team's goal in the melee. The referee watched VR for 3 minutes and declared the goal invalid. In the final stage, the Japanese team got a one-handed opportunity, and it was the Chinese goalkeeper Zhou Jiaying who performed well in this game to block the ball.
In the final penalty shootout, Zhou Jiaying once again played the role of a key player, she blocked the Japanese team's shots for 5 consecutive times, helping the Chinese women's ice team to beat the Japanese team 2-1.
According to the rules of the Winter Olympic Hockey Group Stage, the winner of the regular season wins 3 points, the winner of the overtime game scores 2 points, and the loser scores 1 point. With this victory, China scored 2 points and the points rose to 5 points (after beating Denmark 3-1 in the regular season, they scored 3 points).
At 21:10 on February 7, the Chinese women's ice team will face sweden, the last group stage opponent.