Hungary, Austria and Slovenia open with wins

Japan 1:5 Hungary

In the opening game of the tournament, Japan outshot Hungary, but it was the third seed who came away with the big three points. Despite their advantage in the shoot department, the Japanese struggled to create high quality chances, whilst the Hungarians were lethal in front of goal. 

Hungary scored a pair of goals in the opening frame to jump out to a quick 2:0 lead, thanks to Balint Magosi's rebound goal, quickly followed by Andras Horvath's goal, as the defenceman scored on a second effort past Masahita Haruna. 

The Japanese came out much the better team in the opening part of the second period, but they simply had no luck, as they had goals wiped out firstly for a player in the crease, before a goal was disallowed due to the referee adjudging the puck to have been deflected by a high stick. Only a couple of minutes later, Hungary scored a backbreaker of a goal, as a one timer by Istvan Sofron scorched the twine and send the travelling Hungarian fans into raptures. Japan looked rattled, and when Makoto Kawashima was given a 5+game penalty for checking to the head, Hungary were given a great chance to put the game to bed. Csaba Kovacs scored with 47 seconds left in the period to make the score 4:0 to Hungary.

The teams traded goals in the third period, but a big three points for Hungary, and arguably the most convincing performance of any of the teams so far.

Austria 5:4 Ukraine

Austria went into the tournament as the favourites, but they faced a tough challenge from a resilient Ukraine side, hoping to perform better than last year. Ukraine put up a valiant defence, but three goals in 97 second period seconds took the game away from them, and Austria managed to hold on in the final frame for the victory.

Manuel Geier opened the scoring three minutes into the game on the powerplay, and after the Austrians killed their first penalty of the night, they succumbed on the second, as Oleg Tymchenko batted the puck out of mid air off a rebound to send the teams into the first break level.

A six goal second period set the game up for a thrilling finish, as the game went back and forth. Thomas Raffl scored 47 seconds into the second period, once more on a powerplay. Austria then scored a pair of goals in a minute, as Johannes Kirisits and Daniel Welser found the back of Igor Karpenko's net. Soon the score was 5:1 as captain Thomas Koch scored. However, the Ukrainian side showed their resilience as they battled back in the second half of the period. Olexander Pobyedonostsev scored with a wicked wristshot, before two minutes later, Tymchenko scored his second of the game, to cut Austria's lead to two as the teams went in for the second intermission.

Ukraine outshot Austria in the final period, and they were given powerplay chances. Eventually, with three minutes to go they found the net once again, as Oleg Tymchenko completed his hatrick. Ukraine pushed and pushed but they couldn't find their way past Bernhard Starkbaum, and Austria held on for the victory.

Slovenia 3:2 Great Britain

Slovenia outshot their hosts 2 to 1, but it took a late winner by captain Tomaz Razingar to lift the hosts over Great Britain, who impressed in their opening game of the tournament. Great Britain came from behind twice, but eventually Slovenia had too much for them.

The game got off to a frantic start, and three minutes into the game, some slack defending by Great Britain gave Slovenia a chance, which was converted by Zika Jeglic, captailising on the space created near to Stephen Murphy's goal. However, three minutes later the game was level. Great Britain counter-attacked, and a smart no-look pass by Robert Dowd found Colin Shields, who fired from the left circle past Robert Kristan. Britain then got themselves into penalty trouble, and managed to kill one period of 5 on 3, but two was too much, and as the penalties expired, David Rodman managed to knock the puck into the goal as a scramble ensued in front of Murphy. Britain were outshot 18:4 in the first period, but went into the break only a goal behind.

Great Britain pegged back Slovenia in the second minute of the middle period, as a poor defensive play by Slovenia gave Britain a 2 on 1 break. Craig Peacock passed across the zone to Colin Shields, who waited and waited, before finding Peacock on the doorstep, who fired over a sprawling Kristan to level the score. Britain were given two powerplay opportunities as time expired in the period, but failed to find the net.

As the third period began Britain were still on the powerplay, and seven seconds into the period they thought they had scored. Robert Dowd wheeled away in celebration, only to find that the goal had been waved off due to Matthew Myers being in the crease. Things got feisty between the teams, as numerous scrums broke out after whistles, and as time wound down, Britain were getting the better of the chances. However, after Britain failed to clear their zone, Slovenia made them pay. The puck was kept in by Andrej Tavzelj who found his captain Razingar with an inch perfect pass, who then rifled the puck into the top corner to the delight of the home faithful in Ljubljana. Britain had a late powerplay, and pulled the netminder, but they failed to create any chances, and the hosts held on for a big three points to open the tournament.

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