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Russia edges China

With nothing more than pride and IIHF World Ranking status on the line, Russia beat China 2-1 in a spirited affair Thursday night to close out the womens preliminary round.

Marina Sergina scored the winning goal late in the second period.

Both teams are out of medal contention, but are still striving to achieve the best possible Olympic placements. Neither can finish higher than fifth. Chinas previous best was fourth place at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, while Russia peaked at fifth in Salt Lake City in 2002.

The women take a break on Friday before resuming with Saturdays placement games. The USA-Sweden and Canada-Finland semi-finals, which reprise the 2006 matchups, will be held on Monday.

A lively atmosphere marked the UBC Thunderbird Arena. The roaring, bell-ringing crowd, festooned with red Chinese flags, couldnt restrain its screams whenever the puck approached either teams net. The comparable skill levels of the two sides made for a more entertaining brand of hockey than when China and Russia faced the Group B-leading Americans.

"We were demoralized after the US game [a 13-0 loss], but we learned from that experience," said Russian captain Ekaterina Smolentseva.

Shots on goal favoured Russia 39-22.

"The game today was very nervous for us," said Russian head coach Valentin Gureev. "We had many chances to score but didnt. I liked the spirit of the Chinese team. They fought very well despite losing."

Chinese goalie Shi Yao has evoked memories of her famous predecessor, Guo Hong (aka “The Great Wall of China”), with her performance thus far. Coming off a 41-save outing in a 2-1 loss to Finland, the 23-year-old from Harbin showed stellar form here in the first period as Russia outshot China 15-7.

Russia finally solved Yao at 4:23 of the second period when Smolentsevas shot from the right faceoff circle deflected off a Chinese defender and into the net. It was the three-time Olympians first goal of the tournament.

After Russia was caught with too many players on the ice at 12:51 of the second, the Chinese pressed for the equalizer on the power play, with assistant captain Rui Sun firing one-timers. But they couldnt solve Russias Irina Gashennikova at this point.

With 3:58 left in the middle frame, the Russians went up 2-0 on a power play goal by Marina Sergina. She pivoted off the goal line and skimmed a shot between Yaos legs. The Chinese goalie might, as they say, like to have had that one back.

The same could have been said of Gashennikova when she allowed a turnaround shot by Fengling Jin from the goal line to trickle through her pads just 1:36 later, cutting the Russian lead to 2-1.

About seven minutes into the third, a great left-wing rush by Jin nearly paid dividends with Sun whacking away at the rebound, but Gashennikova kept her pad down for the save.

With the crowd cheering China on, Ben Zhang forced Gashennikova to make a fine glove save on a slapper from the wing.

In a freakish play, three Russians – particularly defenceman Olga Permyakova – were shaken up while sliding into the end boards to break up a Chinese rush. Permyakova was helped off the ice and did not return to the game, although she stayed on the bench, watching as her teammates hung on for the victory.

Gureev said afterwards that Permyakova had a problem with her knee, and would receive a medical exam at the Olympic Village. "I cant say right now how serious it is," he added.

"Today Russia was a little better team than ours," said Chinese head coach Hannu Saintula. "We didnt control the puck as well as the Russians, and their breakouts and passing were also better."

The Chinese called a timeout prior to a power play in the dying stages, but the Russians denied them quality opportunities. Several Russians were so tired they virtually collapsed at the final buzzer.