Japan won the bronze medal of the 2009 Division 1 Group A World Championships after beating hosts Lithuania in an ill tempered match.

Japan v Lithuania

Japan won an ill-tempered bronze medal play-off 5-1 against Lithuania in the final match of the 2009 IHWC Division 1A.

After surviving an early penalty, Japan simply dominated the first period. Toru Kamino opened the scoring at 6:40 on the break, beating a suspect Dauksevicius glove hand and Lithuania were lucky not to end the period further down.

Japan were continually breaking the Lithuanian offence in the neutral zone, forcing turnovers and spending more time in control in the offensive zone. Lithuania returned to their physical, spoiling game plan after dropping it for their previous 2 games against weaker opponents.

However, Japan have already shown this tournament that they are not scared of physical play. As a result, the tactic, if anything played into Japan's hands. They refused to be intimidated by the Lithuanian play and were then able to capitalise on the inevitable mistakes.

Although the shot advantage for Japan dropped in the second period, this was when they really ripped the game apart. Kuji scored in the 27th minute and the Lithuanian discipline all but disappeared for the next 10 minutes. During which time Iimura and Obara would add another 2 goals, effectively killing the game.

The mindset of Lithuania during this phase was clear to see as Dauksevicius spent most of it expressing his disgust to the crowd and referee and never really seemed to get his game head back on. When Lithuania called a timeout immediately after the Japanese 4th goal, there was a suspicion that he was not going to be the netminder returning to the ice.

But, return he did, and whatever Lithuanian coach Dmitrij Medvedev said had some effect. Lithuania looked a bit more composed and managed to get their own first counter with just under 2 minutes left in the period through Verenis.

But, that was to prove the high watermark for the hosts. When they returned for the 3rd period, the indiscipline returned in an increasingly aggressive game. Tetsuya Saito scored in the 49th minute just in case there was any doubt that the game was Japan's.

The inevitable fight in an ill-tempered period finally came with 7 minutes left when Lelenas over-reacted to an Iumura hook and was given a misconduct to go along with his double minor.

But this turned out to be an appetiser for the main event when Kaminskas and Takeshi Saito went toe-to-toe. So infuriated were the local fans, that bottles rained down the ice, ensuring a lengthy delay with just seconds remaining.

Ultimately, Japan deserved this medal. They have clearly been the 3rd best team in the tournament. Lithuania have played well in patches, but not consistently enough.