Japan and Germany to play for gold

Japan defeated Estonia and Germany beat Great Britain in the semi-finals at the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool. 15 Mar 2013

A picture of a man in ssledge playing ice hockey

Germany triumphed 4-0 in its semi-final against Great Brtain at the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool in Nagano, Japan.

ⒸMoto Yoshimura

By IPC

The gold and bronze-medal games will then be played on Saturday (16 March) at 10:30 and 14:00, respectively. The top three finishers from the Championships will keep their hopes alive for Sochi 2014 by advancing to the Paralympic Qualification Tournament.

Host nation Japan defeated Estonia 4-1 and Germany beat Great Britain 4-0 in the semi-final round of play on Friday (15 March) at the 2013 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool in Nagano, Japan.

With the wins, Japan and Germany both earned their spots at this year’s Paralympic Qualification Tournament and will now play for gold at 14:00 local time on Saturday (16 March).

Kazuhiro Takahashi led Japan for the second time this week, scoring two goals early for the home team, while Eiji Misawa and Tomohiko Maruo also found the net to seal the Japanese win.

Tarmo Eermo scored the lone goal for Estonia.

In the day’s other semi-final Germany triumphed against Great Britain by a score of 4-0. After a scoreless first period, Germany quickly stole the momentum early in the second frame and maintained it through the remainder of the contest.

In the fifth-place game, Slovakia picked up their first win at a World Championships event with a 4-0 victory over Poland. Slovakia’s Martin Joppa found the net twice, and Peter Stit and Marek Gergely also both scored for the winning side.

Miroslav Pastucha saved all five pucks that came to Slovakia’s net, while Poland’s Andrzej Mlynarczyk saved 26 of the 30 shots that came his way.

The gold and bronze-medal games will then be played on Saturday (16 March) at 10:30 and 14:00, respectively. The top three finishers from the Championships will keep their hopes alive for Sochi 2014 by advancing to the Paralympic Qualification Tournament.

To stay up to date on the Championships throughout the week, please visit www.icesledgehockeyworldspoolb.org. You can also follow the action on Twitter at @IPCISH and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/IceSledgeHockey.