Calgary 2024: Slovakia, Korea win qualifying to avoid relegation

Slovakia slipped past Italy and Korea trumped Japan in the qualifying round at the World Para Ice Hockey Championships A-Pool on Wednesday (8 May) to advance to the tournament’s fifth-place game and avoid relegation. 

The qualifying round games, played at Winsport Arena in Calgary, Canada, marked the first day of playoff action with the semi-finals up next.

Slovakia 2, Italy 1

Winning for the second time in two days, Slovakia escaped relegation with a 2-1 win against Italy, as star forward Martin Joppa scored two goals for the second day in a row. 

Joppa found the net 11:40 into the game on power-play off a pass from Milos Vecerek, and then again in the second period, assisted by Marian Ligda. Veteran Gianluigi Rosa grabbed his first goal of the tournament for Italy in the second stanza from the right face-off circle, but Italy was unable to crack the crease the rest of the game. 

Eduard Lepacek had 13 saves for Slovakia, while Santino Stillitano recorded seven saves for Italy.

Advancing to the fifth-place game, Slovakia now guarantees its highest finish ever in the A-Pool, while Italy will play for seventh place and be relegated to the B-Pool for next season.

Korea 5, Japan 1

With two goals from speedy forward Seung-Hwan Jung and 25 shots on goal, Korea defeated its rivals from Asia, 5-1, to avoid relegation. 

Korea shot out of the gates early against Japan, with Jung and four-time Paralympian Dong-Shin Jang scoring within the first 12 minutes to give them the early 2-0 advantage. 

Captain Young-Sung Kim added a score for Korea early in the second, with Japan’s captain Masaharu Kumagai responding with 44 seconds left in the period for his third goal of the tournament, bringing his team within one.

In the third period, Byeong-Seok Choi found the net on the power-play and Jung scored for the second time on the night to pad Korea’s lead.

Wataru Horie had 20 saves for Japan before being pulled in the final seconds of the contest, while Hyuk-Jun Choi racked up 12 saves for Korea. 

Korea will now play for fifth place for the second consecutive season, with Japan vying for seventh as it gets relegated to the B-Pool.

What’s coming on Day Five? 

All teams will have a day off before the semi-finals on Friday (10 May), which will feature Paralympic and world champions USA (3-0) against Czechia (2-1) at 13:30 local time followed by host nation Canada (3-0) versus China (2-1) at 17:30.

How to follow?

Watch all the action across World Para Ice Hockey Facebook page, and on the Paralympic Games YouTube.