Slovakia beats China to get promotion in 2015 IIHF World Championship

Pre-tournament favorites Slovakia overcame hosts China 4-3 in their last match of the IIHF women's ice hockey World Championship DIV I Group B which concluded here on Sunday.

With the victory, Slovakia booked the berth to advance into the DIV I Group A of the World Championships in 2016.

The speedy Chinese team opened the account through Zhang Mengying's strike only 12 seconds into the encounter.

After they got used to China's game, Slovakia, who remained unbeaten during the tournament, launched a strong comeback shortly afterward. Assisted by Livia Lucova, Slovakia's forward Nikola Gapova tied the game 1-1 at 12:53 of the first period and Miriam Mikeskova helped the Slovakia team move a step forward at 2-1 at 16:48.

Slovakia totally controlled the game at the second period as they scored another two goals by Romana Kosecka and Maria Herichova to lead the game 4-1.

With only 2:30 left in the third period, China fired wildly as all six players went to the front half court as Sun Rui and Zhang Mengying scored respectively to make it 3-4, but it was practically meaningless as the Chinese team needed a win in regulation time to seal the ticket for the Group A.

The Chinese failed to produced goal-scoring opportunities in the last 14 seconds and finished the tournament with 3-2 win-loss record and ranked third of the group.

"It is a pity that we lost the key match," said Zhang Zhinan, head coach of China. "But the Slovakia team is stronger than us and this is an acceptable result. We want to promote to the Group A of the World Championships before the tournament, but today's game means it is still a long way to go for us."

Early on Sunday, the Netherland defeated Hungary 2-0 to book their fourth win and listed second, while Italy trounced DPR Korea 4-2. Endit