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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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Japanese men's hockey team give solid performance, but lose 3-1
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16:00 ITA 3-5 KAZ
20:00 GER 3-1 JPN
(Aqua Wing, Nagano City)
16:00 AUT 2-2 SVK
20:00 FRA 0-4 BLR
Japanese give solid performance, but lose 3-1
The Japanese men's ice hockey team battled toe-to-toe for 50 minutes with a favored German squad but in the end succumbed 3-1 in their opening contest of the Nagano Olympic Winter Games on Saturday.
Playing in front of flag waving partisan crowd at the Big Hat, Team Japan came out flying but, despite eight power-play chances against German goalie Joseph Heiss, came up short in a gritty performance that had many of the local faithful thinking upset.
''I thought it was a great performance by our team, we lived up to our motto which is to play with pride and never give up and I think tonight's game epitomizes that,'' said Dave King, the team's general manager.
Shinichi Iwasaki, a surprise starter in goal, kept the Germans off the score sheet until 17:03 of the second period when Jochen Hecht scored on a wrist shot from the face-off circle.
Iwasaki made the initial save with his glove but could not hold on to the puck which went over his head, bounced behind him in the crease and trickled into the net.
Japan could not take advantage of their power play opportunities and had trouble penetrating Germany's solid and much larger defense. Japan was 0-8 with the man advantage.
Japan tied the game at 3:50 of the third when Akihito Sugisawa took a centering pass from Tsutsumi Otomo in front of the net and managed to get a stick on the puck and deflect it in past Heiss, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Germany, however, went up 2-1 at 11:24 after Daniel Hunce scored on a big rebound on Markus Weiland's shot from the point. The puck slipped in under Iwasaki's pad.
Germany added an insurance goal at 15:05 to make it 3-1 as Jan Benda lifted a shot over a sprawling Iwasaki. Benda circled behind the net and was left unmarked at the side of the net allowing him to score.
''It's a game of inches, I hit the post in the first period and Ryan Kuwabara hit a post late in the third, if those shots had gone in it would have been a different story,'' said forward Ryan Fujita.
Japan pulled their goalie with under two minutes to go and a German goal into an empty net was called back due to an offside.
A minor scuffle broke out with less than five seconds remaining as several players exchanged punches. (Kyodo News)
Belarus beats France 4-0 in Olympic hockey debut
Olympic ice hockey debutant Belarus shut out France 4-0 Saturday in their opening preliminary round match of the Nagano Olympic men's ice hockey tournament.
Forward Viktor Karachun opened the scoring 15:06 into the Group B match by tapping in a rebound off French goaltender Christopher Huet following a long-range shot from the blue line by defenseman Oleg Romanov.
Vadim Bekbulatov stretched the lead with 1:18 left in the second period as his shot from inside the crease rebounded off a skate of Huet and into the goal at the Aqua Wing ice arena.
Aleksei Kalyuzhny and Aleksandr Andrievsky assured Belarus of its first Olympic victory with third-period goals.
It was a demoralizing loss to France, which has built up the national side under former star U.S. national head coach Herb Brooks who led top American collegians players to the gold medal in the ''Miracle on Ice'' in 1980.
Brooks' squad, featuring a handful of imported players from Canada, was increasingly dominated by the Belarussians as the game went on. France outshot 13-10 in the first period but wound up being outshot 50-27.
''It's obvious that Belarus was a bigger, stronger and more experienced team. That's all,'' said James Tibbets, an assistant for Brooks who did not show up for a post-match press conference.
France's best performance in the Olympic ice hockey competition was fifth in the inaugural 1924 Games in Chamonix.
Belarus will play Germany and France meets Japan on Monday.
The top finisher of each of the two preliminary groups will advance to the next round joined by six seeded powerhouses fielding National Hockey League stars -- Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia in one group and Sweden, Canada and the United States in the other.
Slovakia held to 2-2 tie as Olympic competition begins
Austria held group favorite Slovakia to a 2-2 tie in one of the two opening games of the Nagano Olympic men's ice hockey tournament, kicking off the athletic competition of the 18th Winter Games.
Stellar goaltending by Claus Dalpiaz was the key to the result, having saved 36 of the Slovaks' 38 shots on goal in a Group A preliminary round game that began only three hours after the end of the Olympic opening ceremony.
''Slovakia is really a favorite team and more talented,'' said Austria head coach Ron Kennedy, who appeared satisfied with his team's performance when asked how his team ''stole the tie.''
''We had many good chances of scoring in the second half of the game. The goalie was outstanding and we weren't able to score goals,'' said Slovakia head coach Jan Sterbak.
Austria, squeaking past the qualifying tournament for Nagano, opened the scoring 7:16 into the game when a power play goal by defenseman Dominik Lavoie passed between the legs of Slovak goaltender Igor Murin.
Austria made it 2-0 at 3:30 in the second period as Christian Perthaler tapped in a rebound that Murin could not handle off a hard shot by Mario Schaden.
Slovakia pulled one back three minutes later when Zdenko Cigar broke away from the center circle to beat Dalpiaz before Robert Petrovicky equalized at 13:52 of the same period with a deft flick near the crease.
Both teams fought an aggressive but clean scoreless final period. Slovakia outshot Austria 61 to 27.
Petrovicky is a member of the team which finished in sixth place in the 1994 Lillehammer Games where Slovakia made its Olympic debut after separating from the Czech Republic in 1993.
The tie was apparently disappointing for Slovak President Michal Kovac, who watched the game from the stands after attending the opening ceremony in his first visit to Japan.
''I think the victory was ours but we had some hard luck. We don't feel happy very much,'' said Kovac, who was among 4,315 spectators at the Aqua Wing arena in Nagano.
Kovac said national attention is being paid most to ice hockey at the Nagano Games, adding he also has high hopes for women's biathletes.
Slovakia is considered the strongest side of Group A which also includes Kazakstan and Italy. Slovakia's eight National Hockey League (NHL) players are unavailable until later in the round.
The top finisher of each of the two preliminary groups will advance to the next round where they join six seeded powerhouses -- Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia in one group and Sweden, Canada and the United States in the other. (Kyodo News)
Kazakstan defeats Italy 5-3
Kazakstan roared back from a two-goal deficit to post a 5-3 victory over Italy in the qualifying round of the men's hockey tournament Saturday at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
Kazak forward Mikhail Borodulin paced the comeback with two goals as the athletic competition in the largest winter sports spectacle got under way at the Big Hat, the main venue for the men's hockey tournament.
With the score knotted a 3-3 in the third period, Borodulin netted a power-play goal, his second of the game, when he beat Italy's goalie Mike Anthony Rosati low on the stick side at 7:44 of the period.
Earlier, Borodulin scored at the 5:49 mark of the second period for the Kazaks second goal, pulling the central Asian team to within 3-2 of the Italians, who had raced out to a 3-1 in the first period.
Kazakstan had opened the scoring at 12:11 of the first period when Vitaliy Tregubov scored on a high blast from the face-off circle.
But, Italy came back to tie a minute later when Bruno Zarrillo beat Kazakstan goalie Vitaliy Yeremeyev.
Dino Felicetti put Italy up 2-1 converting a nice pass from Stefan Figliuzzi. And, Zarrillo tallied his second goal of the period at 19:55 to put the Italians up 3-1.
Kazakstan changed goalies to start the second period when Alexandr Shimin replaced Yeremeyev. The strategy seemed to work as Shimin held the Italians scoreless for the final 40 minutes.
Kazakstan tied it up early in the third when Dimitriy Dudarev slipped the puck under Rosati following a scramble in front of the net.
Pavel Kamenstev gave the Kazaks an insurance goal when he scored a shorthanded goal, taking a nice centering pass from Dudarev and fired a shot over the sprawling Italian goalie. (Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun