Olympia 2018: Ice Hockey Opener: Tough Compulsory Victory for Sweden

The women’s Olympic ice hockey tournament in Pyeongchang began with a difficult favourite victory. The two-time medalist Sweden, however, had a surprisingly difficult time in the preliminary round group B against the World Cup star Japan at 2-1 (1-0,0-1,1-1,1-0).

Fanny Rask led the 2006 Olympic runner-ups and third from 2002 (3rd) but Rui Ukita equalled in the second period (37th). Sara Hjalmarsson won the opening match of the tournament (42nd) in front of 3762 spectators at the Kwandong Hockey Centre in the final section.

In the evening (21.10 o’ clock OZ/13.10 CET) the joint Korean team has its first appearance against Switzerland. The German women, 2014 in Sochi seventh, had not qualified for the winter games in Pyeongchang.