At the IIHF women's Division IB World Championship, South Korea and Italy have emerged as early favorites for promotion

At the IIHF women's World Championships Division IB tournament, South Korea and Italy are emerging as the early contenders for promotion.

The deciding game for each could turn out to be their first of the tournament where Korea edged Italy 2-1 in overtime. After both teams scored second period goals, Korea broke the deadlock in the extra frame with Heewon Kim scoring the winner. Eun-Bee Huh was spectacular in net for Korea, stopping 39 shots in the win. Martina Fedel, who plays USports hockey for the University of Guelph, turned aside 23 shots in the loss.

Both teams followed up their initial game with wins as Italy beat Great Britain 2-0, and Korea shutout Poland 4-0. For the second straight game, Korea was outshot, but Eun-Bee Huh stood tall.

Great Britain's loss to Italy puts their own advancement hopes in jeopardy after they opened the tournament beating Kazakhstan.

"Italy are an established side in this division and deserved their win, but nothing to take away from GB playing with Lioness heart and battled it out for 60 minutes," said Great Britain head Coach Mike Clancy following the loss. "Stepping up into this division was always going to be a learning curve."

In the other game of the day, one of the top goaltenders in NCAA hockey Pia Dukaric stood on her head leading Slovenia to a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan. In her second season with Yake, Dukaric posted a 28-4-1 record, alonside a 1.42 GAA and .935 save percentage. Dukaric was a finalist for the NCAA's goalie of the year award, and was the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year.

The tournament now takes a one day break before each team returns to action Thursday. Promotion and relegation from the Division IB tournament is based on round robin results. 

Last year China earned promotion from Division IB finishing with a perfect 5-0 record.