Hong Kong’s women’s ice hockey team made history this weekend by winning gold for the first time at the 2023 IIHF Women´s World Championship Division III Group A in Brasov, Romania.
Hong Kong, with seven debutants in their squad and the only non-European team in the six-team competition, defeated Estonia 3-0 in their final group match, securing 13 points with 4 wins out of 5 games.
The victory completed a successful four-week medal spree on European ice for the Hong Kong hockey program in World Championship play. In March, the men´s national team finished third to win its first medal in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. One month on and in wintry surroundings at the foot of the Southern Carpathians, the women´s team continued to write hockey history in Romania. A common denominator for both successful national teams, Russian head coach Nikita Smirnov.
“The last time I worked with the women´s team was at the 2020 World Championship Division III in Sofia, Bulgaria. Now three years later we have a different team with a lot of new players. With players coming from North America and Asia we met in Europe and just had a couple of practices before our first game,” said Smirnov.
Having comfortably beaten Bulgaria 6-2 in their opener, Hong Kong´s key win came against Ukraine. Head coach Smirnov opted to give 15-year-old debutant Keira Mok a start as netminder. It turned out to be a masterstroke with on-song Mok selected as the top goalkeeper of the tournament by the directorate. With the Ukrainians dominating proceedings and outshooting Hong Kong 31-10 during the first 40 minutes of play – it was Mok´s inspiring goaltending that kept Hong Kong in the game.
As the third period wore on, Hong Kong worked themselves into the game. Estelle Ip broke the deadlock for Hong Kong at 46:23 on an assist by Renee Ng. With Ukraine relentlessly charging ahead in their hunt for an equalizing goal, debutant Iris Li poached to double Hong Kong´s lead just over four minutes later. Polina Telehina then pulled one back for Ukraine with 6:37 left to play. In a last desperate attempt, Ukraine yanked goalie Viktoria Tkachenko with 50 seconds to go. Hong Kong held on for a massive confidence-boosting win!
“Ukraine is a strong team but I was impressed with our team who worked very hard and played well. With our new generation, it was hard to know before the tournament what to expect. But our ambition has been to win each game,” said Smirnov.
After dispatching Romania 3-1, Hong Kong headed into their penultimate game against Lithuania. Tracy Wong had put Hong Kong 4-1 ahead at 48:38. Then followed a remarkable fightback by Lithuania. With the Lithuanians tying the game with 4:25 left of the third period, Renee Ng became the only Hong Konger netting in the ensuing penalty shootout loss.
But all was not lost for Hong Kong. Heading into the final round of games twists were still left in this tale. Following a nervy 3-0 final day win against Estonia, the players of Hong Kong then moved up to the stands of Brasov´s Olympic Ice Rink. In the ensuing nail-biting encounter, they looked on as Ukraine stepped up to edge Lithuania 2-1 and play their part in Hong Kong´s historical gold.
Hong Kong moves up to 2024 IIHF Women´s World Championship Division II Group B.
