Hanae Kubo celebrates a goal at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship.
photo: Francois Laplante / HHOF-IIHF Images
When the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship got under way in Malmo, Sweden, in late March, things looked pretty good for the hosts. They had lost a heart-breaking and dramatic bronze-medal game at the previous year’s Olympics in Sochi, and 16 players from that team were in Malmo.
Japan, on the other hand, had lost all five of its games in Sochi and had played in Division I at the 2013 Women’s Worlds. It finished first to earn promotion for Malmo, but surely not much could have been expected, especially given that most often a team that earns promotion one year is demoted the next.
Yet when these two teams met on the first day of the 2015 tournament at Malmo Issadion, it was the Japanese who stunned Sweden, winning 4-3 in a penalty-shot shootout. Hanae Kubo was the hero, scoring the winning goal, but she was hardly the only hero.
Twice Japan had to overcome a deficit. Sweden scored early in the game, but Miho Shishiuchi tied it late in the first period. Sweden got the only goal of the second, but again Ami Nakamura tied the game early in the third.
A short time later, captain Chiho Osawa put Japan ahead for the first time, but this time Sweden tied the game. Erika Grahm got the goal, her third of the game for Sweden, forcing overtime. Those five extra minutes yielded little in the way of good scoring chances, so the penalty-shot shootout was required.
Kubo scored with Japan’s first shot and Nana Fujimoto stopped the next two Swedish shots. When Osawa scored on her attempt, victory was assured. It was their most important WW win for the country to that point, and Japan later beat Germany, 2-0 in the round robin.
A 3-0 loss to the Swiss, however, put Japan in the relegation round against the Germans, but Japan won the first two games in overtime to stay up for 2016 and, shockingly, demote Germany.
It may have been only one win, but the only other two wins in the nation’s WW history in 23 games were both against China. This was Japan’s greatest moment.
Click here for the overview of stories.
Japan, on the other hand, had lost all five of its games in Sochi and had played in Division I at the 2013 Women’s Worlds. It finished first to earn promotion for Malmo, but surely not much could have been expected, especially given that most often a team that earns promotion one year is demoted the next.
Yet when these two teams met on the first day of the 2015 tournament at Malmo Issadion, it was the Japanese who stunned Sweden, winning 4-3 in a penalty-shot shootout. Hanae Kubo was the hero, scoring the winning goal, but she was hardly the only hero.
Twice Japan had to overcome a deficit. Sweden scored early in the game, but Miho Shishiuchi tied it late in the first period. Sweden got the only goal of the second, but again Ami Nakamura tied the game early in the third.
A short time later, captain Chiho Osawa put Japan ahead for the first time, but this time Sweden tied the game. Erika Grahm got the goal, her third of the game for Sweden, forcing overtime. Those five extra minutes yielded little in the way of good scoring chances, so the penalty-shot shootout was required.
Kubo scored with Japan’s first shot and Nana Fujimoto stopped the next two Swedish shots. When Osawa scored on her attempt, victory was assured. It was their most important WW win for the country to that point, and Japan later beat Germany, 2-0 in the round robin.
A 3-0 loss to the Swiss, however, put Japan in the relegation round against the Germans, but Japan won the first two games in overtime to stay up for 2016 and, shockingly, demote Germany.
It may have been only one win, but the only other two wins in the nation’s WW history in 23 games were both against China. This was Japan’s greatest moment.
Click here for the overview of stories.
Hanae Kubo after the shootout-winning goal against host Sweden.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images