Entering the final day of the 2024 IIHF World Championship Class A Group A in Bolzano, Slovenia had already secured qualification, but three teams were still in contention for second place and two had a chance of relegation. But with each passing game, more was clearly being done and in the end, Hungary will join Slovenia at next year’s World Cup in Sweden, while Korea will be relegated to Group B for the first time since 2015.
Romania 4 – Japan 2
After losing their first two games 6-1, Romania looked obvious candidates for relegation, but three wins later and they left the ice after their last game against Japan, still holding a faint hope of progressing to the elite. That ultimately didn’t happen, but it was a remarkable turnaround.
“I don’t think many people believed in us,” said Romanian captain Roberto Gliga. “It’s definitely a big, big surprise, I think everyone can agree on that. I think it’s clear that we exceeded our expectations.”
Gliga scored the first goal of the game, making a nice mid-air save on a Yevgeny Skatskov shot at 4:26. The two teams then traded goals late in the first period. Sota Isogai equalized for Japan when he turned the net and his attempted center pass hit a Romanian skate and went in, but Skatskov got that goal just 18 seconds later, putting a nice touch on Huba Bors’ feed.
Japan tried to push back in the second period, but Romania scored the only goal to go up 3-1 on a nice drive in the zone, with Szilard Rokaly laying a nice backhand deck to Yuta Narisawa to finish it off. Down by two goals, Japan emptied the tank in the third period, outscoring Romania 15-2, but Zoltan Toke was outstanding. Yu Sato grabbed a rebound with 3:38 left to make it a one-goal game, but Matias Haaranen iced the win for Romania with a late empty netter.
“I liked how hard we played,” Japan coach Jarrod Skalde said. “We wanted to skate out, but every time we got turnovers, they seemed to score. We had to keep fighting to get the momentum back but, overall, I liked our race and how we skated today.”
The defeat left Japan with a slim one-point lead over Korea in the race to avoid relegation. Looking ahead to the next game, Skalde said: “I’ve never been such an Italy fan in my life.”
Italy 8 – Korea 1
As it turned out, Skalde and the Japanese team didn’t have to sweat it much, as Italy struck early and often led 4-0 after one period, eventually winning 8-1.
“I think we played very well today,” said Italian goalkeeper Damian Clara. “The boys did a great job with some early goals and they helped me a lot. “Maybe we played a little slower in the second period, but we didn’t take it for granted and came back in the third.”
Luca Frigo opened the scoring just 21 seconds in, picking the top corner over the glove of Yung Ho Ha from the top of the circle. The Koreans thought they had tied the game 37 seconds later when they drove to the net and Sangun Shin pushed the puck over the goal line, but Italy challenged the play, claiming the puck went into the net with one hand, which was upheld. The Italians went back to work and Daniel Mantenuto, Diego Kostner on the power play and Daniel Frank scored before the opening frame was over.
“We are very disappointed because many of us have been in Group A for a long time,” said Korean captain Sangwook Kim. “We played in the top division and we wanted to come back. We have a lot of young lads who will get good experience in the IB and hopefully next year we will get promoted.”
After an earlier goal was disallowed, Shin put Korea on the board effectively early in the second period on a pass from Hindu Nam. That seemed to spark the Koreans, who made the play for much of the second period. However, that momentum was halted in the final minute of the period when, during a scrum, Sangyeob Kim received a major penalty for a headbutt and was ejected from the game.
In the ensuing five-minute power play early in the third period, Italy scored four times to turn the game into a tiebreaker. And with that, the stakes for the final game of the tournament became clear. Slovenia had already advanced and Hungary would tie them with a win. If Slovenia won, Italy would be the second team.
“I guess we all love Slovenia for the rest of the day,” Clara smiled.
Hungary 2 – Slovenia 1
Even without the away team playing, there was buzz in the building for the final game as it had huge implications for Italy. The Italian fans joined forces with the traveling Slovenian fans in the city, although both were drowned out at times by the Hungarian body.
Hungary scored the only goal of an even first period. Just past the seven minute mark, Istvan Terbocs crossed for Janos Hari, who made no mistake from his position. Early in the second period, Harry broke away with a chance to make it 2-0, but it slipped just wide of the post. Two minutes later, Slovenia equalized on a terrific play by Rok Ticar, who held onto the puck while being tripped up, and from his knees swept the puck with his stick across the ice toward the net and through Bence’s legs. Baliz.
Five minutes into the third period, Slovenia had a great chance to make it 2-1, but Ziga Mehle hit the sliding Balizs on the shoulder and then slammed his stick on the ice in frustration.
But after the Slovenians led the game for most of the night, they got into penalty trouble in the third period and with 2:51 to go, the Hungarians finally scored the game-winning goal. Balasz Varga took the initial shot and Kristof Papp was there to put in the rebound. With not much time left, Slovenia tried to respond and pulled Gasper Kroselli for an extra striker, but to no avail.
“This was the most difficult game, I would say,” said Hungarian forward Istvan Terbocs. “That and the Italian game, with its excitement and speed. These teams had many chances to score and we are lucky to have an excellent goalkeeper. We had very good goaltending again tonight. that gave us a chance to win this game.”
“We are happy to go up, but at the same time, we are a bit disappointed because we were better throughout the game today,” said Slovenian defender Bine Masic. “We wanted to win this tournament, but again, we’re going to come out on top, so that’s good.”
With the regulation win, Hungary claims gold, Slovenia takes silver and bronze goes to hosts Italy. Top goalkeeper was Gasper Kroselj from Slovenia, top defender was Thomas Larkin from Italy and top was Rok Ticar from Slovenia. First scorer with six points was Janos Harry from Hungary.
