Entering the final day of the 2024 IIHF World Championship Division I Group A in Bolzano, Slovenia had already secured advancement but three teams still vied for the second spot and two had a chance to be relegated. But with each passing game, more became clear and in the end, Hungary will join Slovenia at next year’s World Championship in Sweden while Korea will be relegated to Group B for the first time since 2015.

Romania 4 – Japan 2

After losing their first two games by 6-1 scores, Romania looked like an obvious candidate for relegation, but three wins later and they skated off the ice after their last game against Japan with still a faint hope to advance to the elite group. That didn’t end up happening, but it was a remarkable turnaround nonetheless.
 
“I don’t think many people believed in us,” said Romanian captain Roberto Gliga. “It’s certainly a big, big surprise, I think everyone can agree on that. I think it’s clear we surpassed our expectations.”

Gliga scored the game’s first goal, putting a nice mid-air deflection on a shot from Yevgeni Skachkov at 4:26. Then the two teams traded goals late in the first period. Sota Isogai tied it for Japan when he circled the net and his centring pass attempt hit a Romanian skate and went in, but Skachkov got that goal back just 18 seconds later, putting a nice finishing touch on a feed from Huba Bors.

Japan tried to push back in the second period but Romania scored the only goal to go up 3-1 on a nice rush into the zone, with Szilard Rokaly putting a nice backhand deke on Yuta Narisawa to finish it off. Down by two goals, the Japanese emptied the tank in the third period, outshooting Romania 15-2 but Zoltan Toke was brilliant. Yu Sato scord on a rebound with 3:38 to play to make it a one-goal game, but Matias Haaranen iced the victory for Romania with a late empty-netter.

“I liked how hard we competed,” said Japanese coach Jarrod Skalde. “We wanted to come out skating but every time we grabbed momentum, they seemed to score. We had to keep fighting to get the momentum back but, overall, I liked our compete and how we skated today.”

The loss left Japan with a razor-thin one-point lead on Korea in the race to avoid relegation. Looking ahead to the next game, Skalde said: “I’ve never been such a fan of Italy in my life.”

Italy 8 – Korea 1

As it turned out, Skalde and the Japanese team didn’t have to sweat it out very long, as Italy struck early and often to lead 4-0 after one period, ultimately cruising to a 8-1 win.
 
“I think we played really well today,” said Italian goaltender Damian Clara. “The boys did an awesome job getting some early goals and they helped me out a lot. We maybe played a little bit slower in the second period but we didn’t take it for granted and came back in the third.”

Luca Frigo opened the scoring just 21 seconds in, picking the top corner over Jung Ho Ha’s glove from the top of the circle. The Koreans thought they’d tied it 37 seconds later when they drove to the net and Shanghoon Shin forced the puck over the goal line, but Italy challenged the play, claiming the puck was played into the net by a hand, which was upheld. The Italians went back to work and Daniel Mantenuto, Diego Kostner on the power play and Daniel Frank scored before the opening frame was over.

“We are very disappointed because a lot of us have been in Group A for a long time now,” said Korean captain Sangwook Kim. “We played in the top division and we wanted to go back. We’ve got a lot of young kids who will get some good experience in I-B and hopefully, next year we get a promotion.”

After having an earlier goal disallowed, Shin got Korea on the board for real early in the second period by one-timing a pass from Heedoo Nam. That seemed to ignite the Koreans, who carried the play for much of the second period. However, that momentum was halted in the last minute of the period when, during a scrum, Sangyeob Kim was given a major penalty for head-butting and ejected from the game.

On the ensuing five-minute power play early in the third period, Italy scored four times to turn the game into a rout. And with that, the stakes became clear for the final game of the tournament. Slovenia had already advanced, and Hungary would join them with a win. If Slovenia won, Italy would be the second team.

“I guess we all love Slovenia for the rest of the day,” Clara smiled.

Hungary 2 – Slovenia 1

Even without the host team playing there was a buzz in the building for the last game as it had huge implications for Italy. The Italian fans joined forces with the travelling Slovenian fans in town, although both were drowned out at times by the Hungarian contingent. 
 
Hungary scored the only goal of an evenly-played first period. Just past the seven-minute mark, Istvan Terbocs centred for Janos Hari, who made no mistake from the slot. Early in the second period, Hari got a breakaway with a chance to make it 2-0 but slid the puck just wide of the post. Two minutes later, Slovenia tied on a tremendous play by Rok Ticar, who kept possession of the puck while being tripped, and from his knees swept the puck with his stick flat on the ice toward the net and through Bence Balizs’ legs.

Five minutes into the third period, Slovenia had a great chance on a 2-on-1 but Ziga Mehle hit the shoulder of the sliding Balizs and then slammed his stick on the ice in frustration.

But after the Slovenes had held an edge in play for most of the night, they ran into penalty trouble in the third period and with 2:51 to go, the Hungarians finally broke through with the winning goal. Balasz Varga took the initial shot and Kristof Papp was there to put in the rebound. With not much time left, Slovenia tried to reply and pulled Gasper Kroselj for an extra attacker, but to no avail.

“This was the toughest game, I’d say,” said Hungarian forward Istvan Terbocs. “This one and the Italian game, with the emotion and the speed. These teams had a lot of scoring chances and we’re lucky we have an outstanding goalie. We had really good goaltending again tonight; that’s what gave us the chance to win this game.”

“We’re happy to be going up but at the same time, we’re kinda disappointed because we were better the whole game today,” said Slovenian defender Bine Masic. “We wanted to win this tournament, but still, we’re going to the top so that’s good.”

With the regulation victory, Hungary claims gold, Slovenia takes silver and bronze goes to host Italy. The Top Goalkeeper was Gasper Kroselj of Slovenia, the Top Defender was Thomas Larkin of Italy and the Top Forward was Rok Ticar of Slovenia. The top scorer with six points was Janos Hari of Hungary.