ZAGREB, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Undefeated China overcame Spain 4-1 to win the title of Division 2 Group A at 2022 Ice Hockey Men's World Championship here on Saturday.
Before the game, China beat Israel, the Netherlands and Croatia to top Division 2 Group A and secured a spot of the higher-level Division 1 Group B. Spain, by contrast, had only one win.
The game was more intense than expected. Spain was off to a promising start while Jaime Capillas put the puck into the net at 7:23. Trailing 1-0 for most of the first two period, China captain Ye Jinguang made a comeback with two minutes left of the second period.
Four minutes into the third period, China took the lead after forward Luo Jia unleashed a powerful middle distance shot. Ye gave another nice shot in the next few minutes before China sealed the victory 4-1 with a spectacular empty-netter sent by Luo.
"I am very excited and proud that our team can win the championship. My teammates and I have been training and competing together for five and six years. Our hard work paid off," said the 37-year-old Ye.
"Winning the title is only the first step and the team still has a lot of work to do to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics," he added.
Chinese forward Fu Jiang was named the best striker of the tournament, Jordy Verkiel from the Netherlands and Croatia's Vilim Rosandicwas were awarded the best defender and the best goalkeeper respectively.
The Netherlands and Croatia finished second and third respectively in Division 2 Group A. ■
