France thrashes China atop ice hockey tournament

France had no problem downing China in a commanding 10-0 win to lead the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Championship Division I Group A action in QIQIHAR on Thursday.

Six different French players scored in the first period pressing China to be bound to engage in defense¹ and could hardly build up challenging attacks.

The second period was much of the same as France continued to put in goals. French added another three goals in the period.

Francois Rozenthal made it a nine-goal difference in the final minutes of the second period with his second goal of the game.

China scarcely had any bright spot even when it played with two-man advantage.

After one last France goal in the third period from defender² Baptiste Amar, the final came to 10-0.

China had a humiliating four losses out of four games with only five goals scored and 36 goals conceded. With only one round left in the round-robin group tournament, China is fixed³ on relegation⁴ even though they manage to win the last game against the Netherlands.

"We have studied China's games before this match, so we know how they play and set down proper tactics against them," France head coach Dave Henderson revealed.

"We started the game in quick attack and strong defense. It worked well for we scored a few goals in the first period. China was astricted to fortification and slumped⁵ into confusion under our fierce assault," "Next game against Kazakhstan is decisive for both of us. We have to defeat them if we want a further step to attend World Championship," added Henderson.

China's head coach Xiang Shuqing admitted France is a much better team. "France has better strength, better speed and better skill, so the defeat for us is not a surprise at all. We are clear we should put defense ahead of attack in the game, but our defense is not well built and was broken down very soon in the first period. That's a catastrophe⁶ for the team," said Xiang.

In previous two games of the day, Poland stunned⁷ Kazakhstan 5-2, while unfavored Netherlands beared the palm 4-3 overtime⁸ against Estonia to secure its hold of Division I place.

The winner of France vs. Kazakhstan in the last round will get the qualification of playing the World Championship in Moscow