Seventh heaven

China beats Kazakhstan for seventh place

PROVO, Utah (Ticker) -- Hongmei Liu scored off a rebound 99 seconds into overtime as China defeated winless Kazakhstan 2-1 in the seventh-place game of the women's hockey tournament Tuesday.

After killing the remnants of a power play early in the extra period, China had two good scoring chances turned away by goaltender Natalya Trunova.

But Chunrong Hu tested Trunova with a short wrist shot and Liu -- known as the "Wayne Gretzky of Chinese women's hockey" -- pounced on the rebound at the left goal post, sending the puck into an open net for her third goal of the tournament.

It ended the first overtime contest of the Salt Lake City Games -- women or men -- and earned seventh place for China, which finished fourth in 1998 at Nagano.

Kazakhstan forced overtime on Nadezhda Losyeva's goal with 2:14 left in the third period. But it squandered a pair of late power plays, scored just twice in five games and finished last in its first Olympic appearance.

 

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