Ukraine loses: The door to promotion is wide open

Against all expectations, the Italian national ice hockey team has promotion to the top division in its own hands. The reason: Ukraine lost to Japan in the midday match.

03 May 2025

From: leo

Japan gave the Azzurri a great gift early Saturday afternoon. The Asians defeated Ukraine 3-2 in a surprise victory. That means: With a victory after 60 minutes against Romania (the Azzurri won 7-1) The Blue Team would be promoted to the top division. A scenario that was not expected at the start of the day, especially since Ukraine had made a very strong impression so far.

The Ukrainians got off to a better start thanks to Viktor Zakharov, who had found the net in every World Cup match, but Japan equalized in the first period through Teruto Nakajima of HC Merano. A double strike within 57 seconds put the Asians on the road to victory in the middle period. Olexi Vorona's goal in the 50th minute wasn't enough to force overtime. A bitter blow from the Ukrainian perspective: One point would have been enough to secure early promotion.