In the third round of the World Hockey Championships Division II Group B, hosts Croatia won their third consecutive match after beating China 5-2
China proved to be Croatia’s toughest opponent. The team Romania ran over 9-4 proved to be a tough nut to crack by putting heavy emphasis on defense.
Croatia’s Borna Rendulic opened scoring for Croatia and added another to put the hosts 3-1 over China. Croatia lacked toughness, which China exploited. After closing the first period tied at one goal each, Croatia closed the second period scoring three more for 4-1.
China opened the scoring in the third period closing the gap to 4-2 just forty seconds in.
In addition to Rendulic, Mario Sertic, Kresimir Svigir and Dominik Kanaet scored for Croatia with Kanaet scoring an empty netter with twenty-nine seconds left on the clock.
Croatia’s next game is on Friday against hopeless Ireland who lost 22-0 to Romania on Wednesday while practically being kept behind their blue line. This will be Croatia’s chance to lay on the goals before Saturday’s decider against Romania. Saturday’s game will decide on who will win the gold and promotion to Division One. If the Croats lack like they did against China, then there will be problems against the high-scoring Romanians.
In the other match of the group, Iceland beat Bulgaria 3-2, practically securing a bronze medal and leaving only China to beat.
