Kazakhstan has secured the gold medal with a game to spare at the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B in Sosnowiec, Poland. As a result, the Kazakhs will return to the top group, where they played every World Championship from 2021 to 2025. But who will join them remains to be determined on Friday, with Poland, Ukraine and France tied in points.
At the other end of the standings, Japan and Lithuania now both have two points, with Japan holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Results of Day 4:
- France over Lithuania 2-1 in a shootout,
- Kazakhstan over Ukraine 5-4 in a shootout,
- ​Poland over Japan 4-2.
France 2 – Lithuania 1 SO (0-1, 1-0, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0)
To start the day, France defeated Lithuania in a shootout – not an ideal outcome for either team, but better than nothing. France will probably have to become the first team to beat Kazakhstan in order to advance, while Lithuania will still need at least one point – and possibly more – in their last game against Poland.
“I think we tried to push as much as possible to make a difference in the game, but we weren’t able to beat their goalie enough for 60 minutes,” said French forward Nicolas Ritz. “So we’re happy with the win and we’ll just keep moving on.”
“I’m disappointed, of course, with the fact that we lost the game,” said Lithuanian goaltender Faustas Nauseda, who stopped 28 of 29 shots through 65 minutes. “One point is decent but we could have got more. The team played excellent, the effort was amazing, the D played excellent, I think. They were blocking shots … a really committed effort by the team.”
France had some chances on an early power play but failed to break the seal. They held the edge in play for most of the opening period but Lithuania struck first off a turnover in the French zone. Dovydas Jukna knocked down a pass with his glove and then tried to beat Quentin Papillon but ran out of room. Nonetheless, Jukna recovered the puck behind the net and, from his knees, passed out front to Martynus Grinius, who one-timed it in with 2:31 on the clock.
France came out fast to begin the second period and tied the score in the 23rd minute when Jordann Bougro’s wrister from the point deflected off the stick of Floran Douay and dribbled past a screened Nauseda.
The French had several chances to take the lead throughout the second period but were repeatedly repelled by Nauseda, who robbed Louis Boudon with the glove on a two-man breakaway, and in the dying seconds reacted quickly to stop a deflected shot.
“It’s hard to say which one was the toughest – maybe the 2-on-0 situation when he was trying to go backdoor,” said Nauseda. “That was a pretty good save. Yeah, I’d say the second period was the hardest. We gave up a few chances, but apart from that, we played very solid as a team.”
By contrast, the third period, as well as the five-minute overtime period, were played rather conservatively. In the fifth round of the shootout, Tomas Simonsen won it for France when the puck rolled off his stick and through the legs of Nauseda.
Ukraine 4 – Kazakhstan 5 SO (0-1, 3-2, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)
Entering the game 9-for-9 in points, the Kazakhs had a chance to secure first place and advancement with a game to spare with a win of any kind, but standing in their way was Ukraine, which had a chance to move into second place with a win.
“When there’s these deciding matches, everyone’s trying their best, and I think it was obvious it was going to be a tough match,” said Kazakh defenceman Dmitriy Breus. “Good thing we pulled through in the shootout at the end of the day.”
“We’ve come here to win and we knew it was going to be a hard game, but it was a good battle between two teams,” said Ukrainian forward Yevgen Fadyeyev. “They were up 3-1, we were actually up in the third period, 4-3, so we should have just kept the game there, but they’re a really good team, that’s why they’ve been in the elite division for so long, and that’s why they’re going back.”
Kazakhstan controlled the first period to a tee, outshooting Ukraine 17-2, but scored only once, and that came off a turnover. In the 13th minute, Vsevolod Logvin blocked a Ukrainian clearing attempt with his skate, then scored on a wrist shot that beat Bohdan Diachenko low to the blocker side.
The second period was a lot more even and saw Ukraine outscore Kazakhstan 3-1, thanks to goals right at the beginning and end of the period.
It took just 11 seconds into the middle frame for Andri Denyskin to tie the game with a high wrister off the rush.
Toward the game’s midpoint, Ukraine pushed hard for the go-ahead marker but Kazkahstan went up 2-1 thanks to a two-man breakaway against the flow of play, with Semyon Simonov setting up the Logvin one-timer that Diachenko had no chance on. Two minutes later, it was 3-1, as Roman Starchenko took advantage of a falling Ukrainian defender, skated in on Diachenko and slid the puck under the Ukrainian keeper’s pad.
“You never want to look past anybody, but maybe, at that point, we let up on our pressure a little bit, so Ukraine had a breath of fresh air,” said Breus. “We can’t let that happen.”
Ukraine was down but not out. Captain Igor Merezhko cut the deficit in half on the power play by working a nice give-and-go with Danil Trakht, finishing it with a one-time blast. Then with the seconds ticking away in the second period, Olexander Peresunko took a breakaway pass and beat Nikita Boyarkin with a quick shot to the blocker side.
Ukraine took its first lead of the game with 9:02 to play, with Fadyeyev putting a nice deflection on Artem Hrebenyk’s waist-high shot. The lead lasted only 47 seconds, however, as Batyrian Muratov one-timed Samat Daniar’s feed in the slot.
The remainder of the third period and five minutes of overtime settled nothing, giving Sosnowiec its second shootout of the day. In the fifth round, Muratov settled it, beating Diachenko on the forehand deke to secure Kazakhstan’s promotion.
Japan 2 – Poland 4 (1-1, 1-1, 0-2)
For Poland, playing in front of another large home crowd, a win would put them into a three-way tie for the second promotion spot heading into the last day – a three-way tie they would win, by the way, if it happens at the tournament’s end. For Japan, the more points they could add on before Lithuania plays its last game, the better. In fact, a regulation win could have assured they'd stay in this group. Alas ...
“We’ve had so many close games and we let it slip again,” Japanese forward Chikara Hanzawa sighed after the game. “This time, a close game isn’t enough. We have to find a way. I'm really proud of the effort tonight, but we fell short.”
“That was a big game against a tough opponent – Japan was really good,” said Polish forward Patryk Wronka. “We were watching the game before us, Kazakhstan versus Ukraine ... That was a good score for us. We are really happy, but still, we have one game more.”
Japan outshot Poland 36-29 in the game. In each of the first two periods, Poland took the lead and Japan responded.
Dominik Pas gave Poland a 1-0 lead on the power play just shy of the six-minute mark – his shot from the point through a crowd beat a screened Yuta Narisawa. Japan got a couple of fortunate bounces on the equalizer. First, Teruto Nakajima’s centring pass hit the skate of a Polish defender and went through the goal crease, with a surprised Tomas Fucik being unable to cover it. Then, from below the goal line, Hanzawa threw the puck into the slot and it hit a different Polish defender in the upper leg and redirected into the net.
On the Polish power play’s second opportunity of the game, Poland went up 2-1 at 31:22. This time, some good puck movement around the zone was finished with Patryk Krezolek finding Filip Komorski for the backdoor tap-in. Six minutes later, it was once again Hanzawa tying it for Japan. This time, he was in front of the net, firing Yu Sato’s centring feed under the crossbar.
“I try to do as much as possible, find open space,” said Hanzawa, who gave credit to linemates Sato and Nakajima. “Those guys can make plays, so when I don’t have the puck, I try to get loose, find open space, and I found a way to score a couple of times today.”
With under nine minutes to play, Poland began to pressure furiously, wanting to win the game in regulation time. Pas hit the goalpost. Moments later, Pas got another shooting opportunity, but instead found Wronka, who gently tapped the puck into the net behind a helpless Narisawa with exactly eight minutes to play.
“That was a great pass from Dominik Pas,” said Wronka. “That’s my job, you know, I’m a forward and when I get a chance, I have to score. Every shift, I try to help the team, so I’m happy when I can do that at a big time.”
The Japanese pulled Narisawa with more than three minutes remaining and they did apply pressure for the equalizer, but that was relieved by Krezolek's empty-netter with 1:34 remaining.
Standings after Day 4:
1. Kazakhstan – 11 points (promoted to 2027 IIHF World Championship)
2. Poland – 7 points
3. Ukraine – 7 points
4. France – 7 points
5. Japan – 2 points
6. Lithuania – 2 points
Friday’s schedule:
12:30 – Kazakhstan vs France
16:00 – Ukraine vs Japan
19:30 – Poland vs Lithuania
All times listed in Central European Summer Time.