Japan got off to a strong start, defeating newly promoted Norway 5-2 in Thursday’s early Group B game. It marked the first IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship meeting ever between these two nations, and it was quality entertainment for the 3,314 vocal fans at Arena Ceske Budejovice.

For coach Yuji Iizuka's squad, Mei Miura stepped up with the second-period go-ahead goal and an assist, and was named Japan's player of the game. Suzuka Maeda chipped in three assists, and Makoto Ito had two asists.

"It was really big for us, starting off with a win," said assistant captain Akane Hosoyamada. "It's going to give us momentum for the rest of the tournament."
 

 

 

 

 

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Industrious and well-structured, the Japanese managed to overcome Norway’s early excitement about returning to the top division. The Norwegians were outshot 57-27 in their first Women’s Worlds game since 1997.

"I think we played a strong first period, coming out with a lot of energy," said Norway's Marthe Brunvold. "Unfortunately, we didn't have the same in the second and the third."
 

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JAPAN VS NORWAY
GAME HIGHLIGHTS | CONDENSED GAME

The result wasn’t unexpected. Japan enters this tournament in seventh place in the IIHF Women’s World Ranking, while Norway sits 14th. 
  The Norwegians wasted no time in lighting the red lamp. Off a faceoff in the Japanese end, veteran forward Andrea Dalen grabbed the puck and whipped it past screened goalie Miyuu Masuhara’s blocker at 2:05.

Dalen is coming off a championship run with Frolunda. The 32-year-old led the SDHL playoffs with 13 points. Dalen is one of 11 SDHLers on the Norwegian roster, while Japan has two players in the top Swedish circuit, including Lulea’s Akane Shiga, the lone Japanese player with PWHL experience (Ottawa in 2023-24).

Japan answered back at 4:51. Goalie Ena Nystrom stopped Miura’s shot from right wing off the rush, but gave up a big rebound, and Hosoyamada backhanded it into the open side.
 
The hard-skating teams continued to trade goals. Rui Ukita made it 2-1 Japan at 13:38, following up on her shot from the side boards to convert a loose puck.

At 15:33, Norway tied it up again on an odd-player rush. Masuhara stymied Ida Haave’s attempt from the right faceoff circle, but couldn’t prevent Brunvold from shoveling home the rebound.

"It's important for us to score on those chances that we get," said Brunvold. "So it feels amazing to contribute to the team. Very fun!"

In the second period, Miura restored Japan’s lead at 4:40. Cutting in over the blue line, she used blueliner Andrine Furulund as a decoy and slid a shot on net tha slipped through Nystrom.



With 3:59 left in the middle frame, Japan went up 4-2 after capitalizing on a Norwegian neutral-zone turnover. Maeda busted in over the blue line and lost the puck in front of the net as she was about to shoot, but Riri Noro swooped in to follow up and went top shelf.

Shots in the second period favoured Japan by a whopping 25-5 margin.

Akane Shiga gave Japan some more breathing room with a nice solo effort in the third period. She walked around blueliner Thea Jorgensen and deposited a forehand past Nystrom's left skate for a 5-2 gap at 8:05.

"We have to tighten up a little bit, but it’s fun to be back," said Dalen. "Hopefully we can push back and get some wins in this tournament as well."

The Japanese are hoping to improve on last year’s eighth-place finish in 2024. In Utica, Iizuka’s team squeaked into the quarter-finals after starting off with three straight Group B losses, and exited with a 10-0 quarter-final loss to the Americans. This win over Norway was a necessary step in the right direction.

Japan gets right back at it versus Hungary on Friday, while Norway gets a day off to regroup before confronting Germany on Saturday.

Looking ahead to the Hungarians, Hosoyamada said: "I think it's going to be a totally different game, but we've got to go with the physicality of the game. I think that's going to be really big for us. We've just got to battle through that."