Mark Viitanen scored twice as Estonia beat Romania and secured promotion to Division I, Group A. Korea beat the Netherlands 4–1, and China handed Spain a 3-0 loss.
 
Estonia – Romania, 3–1 (1–0, 0–1, 2–0)
 
Both teams knew the stakes. Romania needed a win in regulation time to keep their hopes alive, while Estonia, with a regulation win, could clinch promotion to Division I, Group A.
 
It was obvious to everyone that it was an important game. The intensity rose with every passing minute.
 
Estonia started strong. On his first shift, Mark Viitanen forechecked behind the net, flushing out the Romanian defender. Robert Arrak intercepted the breakout pass and quickly sent the puck to Viitanen in the slot, and he didn’t hesitate before firing a one-timer that beat Attila Adorjan to give Estonia a 1–0 lead at 1:23.
 
The second period was a battle for every centimeter on the ice. Romania got off to a great start when Tamas Laday broke up an Estonian attack at the red line and sent Balazs Gajdo on a partial breakaway from the left. Gajdo tied the game with a quick wrist shot through Conrad Molder’s five-hole just 2:43 into the period.
 
Romania outshot Estonia 12–5 in the period but couldn’t beat Molder a second time.
 
Just as it seemed the game was heading to overtime, Estonia got the chance they had hoped for. Morten Arantez Jurgens held on to the puck in the Romanian zone, surrounded by four Romanian players. 
 
Meanwhile, Viitanen raced into the Romanian zone from the bench, and when Jurgens got him the puck, Viitanen showed off his quick release and whipped a wrister from the slot to restore Estonia’s lead with just 2:02 remaining in the third period.
 
Kristijan Kombe picked up his second point of the game when he scored an empty-netter with 19 seconds remaining, kicking off the Estonian celebration.
 
Estonia last earned promotion—from Division II to Division I, Group B—in 2014. They finished third in 2025 and 2024.
 
Korea – Netherlands, 4–1 (2–1, 0–0, 2–0)
 
With Estonia beating Romania in the first game of the day, Korea’s chances of earning promotion were gone, while the Netherlands wanted to build on their strong performance against China, even though they lost that game 3–6.
 
Korea struck first on the power play. Sangwook Kim and Minwan Kang set up Sanghoon Shin at the doorstep with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play for 1–0 at 4:13.
 
Five minutes later, the Netherlands took advantage of Korea’s sloppy play in their zone. Raymond van der Schuit found Danny Stempher wide open in the slot, and the Dutch captain wired the puck top shelf to tie the game at 9:08.
 
With 2:16 remaining in the period, Jin Hui Ahn put Korea back in the driver’s seat. The Netherlands defense couldn’t clear the puck from the crease, and goaltender Cedrick Andree made two spectacular saves, but finally Ahn found an opening to push the puck through and make it 2–1.
 
Korea’s third goal was another impressive tic-tac-toe play on the power play.
 
Sangwook Kim sent a cross-ice pass to the front of the net, where Jin Hui Ahn immediately sent it to the far post with a nifty no-look spinorama backhander, and Sanghoon Shin tapped it in for 3–1 at 18:20.
 
Seongjae Kim’s empty-netter with just 23 seconds on the clock sealed the final score, 4–1.

China – Spain, 3–0 (0–0, 0–0, 3–0)

Spain had shown in their previous games that even if they hadn’t won any yet, they were a team that never gives up.
 
China learned it the hard way today. Spain battled hard and defended well, and their penalty kill was perfect. China outshot Spain, but only 10–9.
 
The second period was just as close — and also scoreless.
 
Spain had a golden opportunity to take the lead and seize control of the game when they got to play on a two-man advantage for forty seconds. They created several Grade A chances, but China’s goaltender Yueran Tu was perfect between the pipes.
 
Just as good was his colleague Raul Barbo at the other end of the rink, who had even more to do. Barbo turned away all ten Chinese shots, while Tu made six saves in the period.
 
Even though there were few goals, the game was rich in entertainment value. The ending, in particular, was wild.
 
With 6:10 remaining, after missing a wide-open net seconds earlier, Hou received a gorgeous pass from Jin Wang in front of the net, went around Barbo, and gave China the lead.
 
On the next shift, China received a hooking minor and Spain’s hopes were up again. Instead, Hou got on a breakaway and was tripped by a Spanish defender.
 
Hou took the penalty shot and, with great patience, waited until Barbo made the first move before sliding the puck in to make it 2–0 for China.
 
It was his tournament-leading tenth point.
 
Zihao Liu’s empty-netter sealed the final score, 3–0.
 
The final games of the tournament will be played on May 5: 
Romania - Korea
Spain - Netherlands
Estonia - China