Japan, Czech Republic, Sweden make quarterfinals in Beijing 2022 women's ice hockey

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Sweden and Japan both made the quarterfinals after defeating their respective rivals in the women's ice hockey at Beijing 2022 on Tuesday.

Sweden beat Denmark 3-1 to place third in Group B on six points, while world No. 6 Japan edged the Czech Republic 3-2 in shootout to finish atop the group on nine points.

The Czech Republic finished second in Group B to also reach the last eight on seven points, while hosts China (five points) and Denmark (three points) crashed out.

According to the tournament rules, the top three teams in Group B and all five teams in Group A will qualify for the quarterfinals.

In their match against Denmark, Sweden's forward Emma Nordin scored first at 3:02, while Julie Oksbjerg equalized for Denmark in the 35th minute. But Sweden scored after two minutes to lead again.

Ebba Berglund then scored in the last minute to seal the victory for Sweden.

Canada, winner of four Olympic gold medals, beat defending champion the United States 4-2 to finish first in Group A with 12 points, with the United States ranking second.

Canada was hungry for revenge after a 3-2 shootout defeat to the U.S. in the final of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.

Canada forward Brianne Jenner broke the deadlock at 14:10, but the Americans scored twice in three minutes in the second period to take the lead.

Canada equalized after 26 seconds, and then scored twice more to seal the victory.

"We had a lot of offensive zone time and generated a lot of shots. But shots don't win games, goals do. We ended up on the wrong side of the goalscoring," said U.S. head coach Joel Johnson.

Elsewhere, Finland defeated the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 5-0 in Group A.