<< English entry below >>

日本対ウクライナ　ホッケー世界選手権の最後のゲーム 2026

ライター：ベアトリチェステファネーリ（通称：ビー）

日本 vs ウクライナ戦 ～残念な最終戦～

第1ピリオド

第2ピリオド

第3ピリオド

 

English ————————————————————————-

Japan’s final game vs Ukraine in IIHF 2026

By Beatrice Stefanelli (aka Bee)

Japan’s final game of Division 1A was disappointing and, at times, difficult to watch.
Japan started 29 Otsuka in goal; Ukraine started 29 Dyachenko.

First Period

Japan came out swinging for their final game.
Despite previous performance, Japan managed to play offensively well at the beginning of this period.

At 5:11, Ukraine’s 12 Yevgen Fadyeyev drew a 2-minute for interference; Ukraine would kill this, despite multiple good scoring opportunities for Japan.

3 minutes later, the pressure Japan had been putting on Ukraine would finally pay off.

At 10:45, Murakami fired one in off the faceoff with assists from Nakajima and Sato.
This would open up scoring, and, unfortunately, be Japan’s only goal in this game.

Japan maintained their offensive strength for two more minutes.
Takagi would get a tripping call at 12:44, but Ukraine 21 Olexi Vorona would receive an embellishment penalty, leaving the two teams at even strength.

Just 25 seconds later, though, 17 Olexander Peresunko would score unassisted for Ukraine to even the tally.
This marked the beginning of the end for Japan.

Two minutes later, Ukraine would score again, this time by 8 Olexi Dakhnovsky, with assists from 23 Danil Trakht and 21 Olexi Vorona.

Another two minutes later, Trakht would score on an assist from Vorona, bringing the score to 3-1.

Japan would attempt to pick it back up, making a few more shots on goal, but nothing would come of it.

This period ended at 3-1.

Japan made 16 shots on goal to Ukraine’s 9, and won 48% of faceoffs.

 

Second Period

Japan’s performance from here on was much of the same.
Defense was weak; not so bad that Ukraine managed to capitalize, but bad enough that they had too many opportunities.

The majority of this period was spent in the defensive zone.
Otsuka and the posts made some great saves.

Japan seemingly managed to pick up a little momentum, with Miura making a shot and then dislodging Ukraine’s goal; still, though, nothing.
Japan’s physical presence was there, with players like Irikura and Miura making many solid plays to prevent Ukraine from leveraging any opportunities they had.

14 minutes in, Ukraine 24 Denys Matsuyevych was penalized for delay-of-game.
Despite being on the power play, Japan played as though they were at even strength; about half of this power play was spent in their own zone.

Japan, seemingly, could not manage to maintain control of the puck.
This trend would continue throughout the rest of the game.
Ukraine killed the penalty.

At 18:02, Nakajima got a call for slashing; Ukraine was on the power play for all of 47 seconds before Fadyeyev drew another 2-minute, this time for hooking.

The period ended in an uneventful 4-on-4.

The score remained 3-1; Japan made 6 shots to Ukraine’s 4, and won 51% of faceoffs.

 

Third Period

This period began with a few seconds of 4-on-4; after, Japan had the power play for 52 seconds.
Nothing came of this.

The rest of this period would somehow be simultaneously eventful and fruitless for both teams.

At 1:34, Fuji Suzuki pulled a cross-checking penalty.
Although Japan handed Ukraine multiple opportunities to score, Ukraine couldn’t seem to connect, and Japan would kill the penalty.

Japan managed to keep it at even strength for all of 50 seconds before Fuji Suzuki received a penalty for cross-checking.
On this penalty kill, Japan maintained better control of the puck when they had it.
Otsuka also made some solid saves to prevent Ukraine from scoring.

After the penalty kill ended, though, Japan continued to play as though they were still on the penalty kill, almost as though the team was foreshadowing the holding penalty Takebe would incur at 4:58.
Japan managed to kill this one, too, though.

Japan then managed to make quite a few shots on goal, all of which were completely unavailing of any goals.

Just five minutes later, Irikura would pull a slashing penalty.
This was the last penalty of the game, and was a largely uninteresting 5-on-4.

Halliday and Otsuka connected a few times to keep Ukraine from extending their lead.
Once the penalty was killed, Jordan Keller made one last push to score.
Dyachenko thwarted this, though, and Japan lost control of the puck yet again.

With 3 minutes and 21 seconds left to go in Japan’s final period of Division 1A hockey for at least a year, Jarrod Skalde made the mind-boggling decision to pull Otsuka for the 6-man advantage.

Japan managed to push into Ukraine’s zone for the majority of the rest of the period, but Ukraine made multiple shots that were saved only by the posts and puck luck.
This period ended with a completely unchanged score.

Ukraine won 3-1, dooming Japan to relegation. Japan made 9 shots on goal to Ukraine’s 6, and won 51% of faceoffs.

 

Next Year

Japan has been relegated to Division 1B.
The last time they competed in this division was 2023.

They’ll compete against China and South Korea in next year’s competition, which should prove to be interesting games.

While this outcome is disappointing, it’s difficult to call it unexpected.
As the competition unfolded, it became clear that Team Japan was not at their prime.

Multiple Japanese star players were missing, and those who played were playing injured.

Coaching was lacking, an issue that became more glaring as more games went by without Japan getting a single power-play goal.

Hopefully, this team will only spend one year in Division 1B, and they will be seen again in Division 1A in two years.

Time will tell.