Germany v Japan | HIGHLIGHTS | Ostersund 2017

Japan 6-2 Germany

The second game of the day was a feisty showing, with the Japanese side called twice for interference in the first period alone. Their aggression paid off though as they secured the opening day victory before a tough match-up against host Sweden on Tuesday.

Four different Japanese players scored, with Masaharu Kumagai being the offensive power for his side with a pair of goals.

Germany suffered a demoralising moment when Ingo Kuhli-Lauenstein deflected the puck into his own net, giving the Japanese the 3-0 advantage in the second period. There was a glimmer of hope for the Germans when Bas Disveld scored in the ninth minute of the second period to wake up his team.

But Japan put the game away with back-to-back scores only a minute apart in the same period and never looked back.

“By winning this game, we could send a message to Sweden,” said Japanese head coach Kojin Nakakita. “The Germans and us, we usually play really close games. But today was a blowout, so that was good.”

The competition continues on Tuesday (10 October) with Sweden facing Japan, followed by Germany versus Slovakia.

The Paralympic Winter Games Qualification Tournament are taking place from 9-14 October in Ostersund, Sweden. The Tournament is the last opportunity for teams to qualify for the PyeongChang 2018 Games, in which the top three finishers will advance.

All games from Ostersund 2017 are being streamed live at www.paralympic.org/ostersund-2017 and live statistics and results are available at www.paralympic.org/ostersund-2017/results.

Photos will be made available for media to download throughout the tournament on the IPC’s Flickr account at www.flickr.com/photos/paralympic/.