At 11:32 the Ukrainians were closest to the equalizer but a shot hit the post as the video review showed. On the other side the fast Japanese players were waiting for counter-attacks like one by Seiji Takahashi, who decided to shoot himself on a two-on-one but the puck went slightly over the crossbar.

The Ukrainians eventually tied the game early in the third period. After a rebound, Roman Blagy sent a pass to Andri Mikhnov, who shot the puck past Yutaka Fukufuji. The game continued with chances on both sides although with more for the Ukrainians who also had one power play late in the game.

Just when the match was approaching overtime, Takuro Yamashita regained the lead for Japan with 1:44 left to play after receiving a pass along the side boards from defenceman Denis Akimoto. That was the decision. The Ukrainians pulled their goalkeeper for a sixth skater but were not able to use the little time to tie the game again.

The win lifts Japan to first place before today’s last game between Austria and Korea and well in race for the first two spots at the end of the tournament that mean promotion to the top division.

“It’s very exciting. We stayed disciplined, skated well and played smart. We need to play according to our game plan and did that today,” Japan captain Go Tanaka said.

Japan was leading for most of the game. After two periods Japan outshot Ukraine 19-13 and was leading 2-1 before the Ukrainians came back into the game in a strong third period.

Japan opened the scoring already at 4:31. On the first power play of the game, Japan Shuhei Kuji converted a pass from defenceman Aaron Keller.

Soon later Japan already had its second power play and Takuma Kawai’s shot hit the post but the score remained and after the penalty had expired, the Ukrainians had the chance to react. After a horizontal pass through the crease from Oleg Tymchenko, Olexander Materukhin scored into the open net from the left side to tie the game at one.

But at 13:11 Kuji made the Japanese fans in the arena cheer again when his shot from the face-off circle went in after a drop pass from Ryo Hashimoto.

Also the second period started with chances on both sides like a Kazumasa Sasaki shot that hit the upper side of Sergi Gaiduchenko’s pad but went down just in front of the Ukrainian netminder and a wraparound attempt from Sergi Varlamov.

At 11:32 the Ukrainians were closest to the equalizer but a shot hit the post as the video review showed. On the other side the fast Japanese players were waiting for counter-attacks like one by Seiji Takahashi, who decided to shoot himself on a two-on-one but the puck went slightly over the crossbar.

The Ukrainians eventually tied the game early in the third period. After a rebound, Roman Blagy sent a pass to Andri Mikhnov, who shot the puck past Yutaka Fukufuji. The game continued with chances on both sides although with more for the Ukrainians who also had one power play late in the game.

Just when the match was approaching overtime, Takuro Yamashita regained the lead for Japan with 1:44 left to play after receiving a pass along the side boards from defenceman Denis Akimoto. That was the decision. The Ukrainians pulled their goalkeeper for a sixth skater but were not able to use the little time to tie the game again.