Switzerland won the placement game relegating Germany to the Division 1A tournament, while Japan won the 1A crown over Italy to earn promotion back to the top group of the U-18 women's World Championships.
After being promoted to the top division of the IIHF U-18 World Championships, Germany's U-18 women's team was relegated back to the Division IA tournament following a loss to host Switzerland.
Switzerland beats Germany in nail biter
Germany got out to a 1-0 lead, but the host Swiss fought back to earn a 2-1 lead to stay in the U-18 World Championships top division.
"I'm feeling very good," Swiss captain Naemi Herzig said in an IIHF interview. "I'm just proud that we stayed in the highest division. We did a very job and it's great to finish with a win."
"Germany was a tough, tough opponent. But in the end we won. That's the main goal. I don't care how many goals we scored. All that matters is we stayed in the top division."
Anna Rose opened the scoring for Germany before Switzerland's Norina Muller tied the game with assists going to Herzig and Ivana Wey.
Early in the third period, Xenia Balzarolo scored what would stand as the game winning goal to relegate Germany to the Division IA tournament and keep Switzerland in the top group.
Japan Earns Promotion From Division IA
Last year Japan was demoted from the top division of the U-18 World Championships. It didn't take long for their U-18 program to bounce back and earn promotion to compete again in the top group in 2025.
Japan went a perfect 5-0-0 in the tournament outscoring their opponents 21-4 in that span.
Host Italy fought hard in the tournament keeping things close enough that promotion relied upon a win in the final game of the tournament for either team, but it was Japan who dominated beating Italy 6-1 to earn promotion.
Italian captain Matilde Fantin, who plays for Lugano in Switzerland's top SWHL-A, led the tournament in scoring with seven goals and 11 points in five games.
Japans offense came from Umeka Odaira who topped the team with nine points. Japan also got contributions from Azumi Numabe who had seven points, and defender Kohane Sato and forward Ai Tada who each had six points.