At the end of the whistle, the Chinese team girls gathered in the middle of the ice rink and embraced excitedly. In the 2022 Women's Ice Hockey Group B World Championships that ended in the early morning of Beijing time on the 15th, the Chinese team defeated the host Polish team 7-2 in the last match, and returned to Group A for the first time after being relegated in 2011.
The Chinese team was once a fierce enemy in the world
The "rush A" road of Chinese women's ice has been 10 years.
The International Ice Hockey Federation Adult Women's World Championships are divided into top, first, second, C and other grades, of which in addition to the top group are divided into group A and B, and group B is the third stage. In principle, except for the top group, which does not hold the World Championships in the Winter Olympic Year, each group holds a World Championship once a year, and the first place in each group except the top group is promoted to the previous event, and the last place in each group except the lowest group is relegated to the next event.
Chinese women's ice hockey was once a world powerhouse, and reached the top four in the top four in 1994 and 1997 twice, which is also the best result of Chinese ice hockey in the World Series. In the 21st century, due to the weak talent base and other reasons, the strength of the Chinese team continues to decline. In 2009, the Chinese team ranked at the bottom of the top group and was relegated to The First Division A Group. In 2011, Chinese women's ice fell into the group again.
In 2012, the Chinese women's ice team won four consecutive games in the World Championship Group B competition, but lost to france in the last round. Since then, the team has been in Group B of The First Division.
The World Championships are full of momentum
The World Championships in Group B were held in the Polish city of Katowice, with six teams participating. The rejuvenated Chinese team has previously won four consecutive wins and topped the table.
Affected by the epidemic, the World Championships Division A Group B competition has been cancelled for the previous two years. In February this year, the chinese team that completed the restructuring went out with a wild card at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and although it failed to advance to the top 8, it won the ninth place with two victories, which was a stunning performance. After the Winter Olympics, the world ranking of the Chinese team also rose to 17th.
In this World Championship, although many players of Chinese women's ice failed to participate due to injury, they were still full of momentum, and they had previously defeated South Korea, Italy, Slovenia and Kazakhstan in the previous four games, with an average net goal difference of 6 per game. In the last round, facing the Polish team, which is ranked 20th in the world and temporarily occupies the second place in the standings, the Chinese team can win the championship and promote the group as long as it wins. In the previous encounters, the Chinese team won more than the loss, but at the 2019 World Championships, the Polish team narrowly won by one point.
It took only half a quarter to establish the victory
In this campaign, the Chinese team "ended" the game with only half a quarter.
Only 38 seconds after the opening, forward lin Qiqi opened the record. In 1 minute 55 seconds, 5 minutes 12 seconds and 7 minutes 02 seconds, Lin Qiqi, defender Liu Zhixin and main scorer Miller scored another goal each, and China led 4-0. In the second half of the quarter, Zhang Xifang and Linni scored two more points.
The Chinese team, which ended the first quarter with a six-goal advantage, conceded two points in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the girls did not give their opponents another chance to counterattack, but the captain Yu Baiwei scored another goal at 11 minutes and 27 seconds in the quarter to seal the victory for the team. China won 7-2 and was promoted to the group with a record of five wins, and Miller was named the best striker of the tournament.
The image of this article is: the official Weibo of the International Ice Federation