Slovakia's Samuel Bucek #23 skates with the puck while Denmark's Casper Mortensen #18 defends during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship.
Slovakia allowed three goals in 56 seconds in the first period, but bounced back to defeat Denmark 5-4 in Thursday's second game at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Milos Roman got the unassisted third-period winner, and captain Samuel Solensky scored twice for Slovakia, Jakub Lacka added a goal and an assist, and Samuel Bucek had a single. Adam Ruzicka had two assists.
"We knew we must win this game," said Bucek. "We were the favorites in this game. But we started off slowly. Denmark played very well and scored on their shots."
Nikolaj Krag tallied a goal and an assist, and Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup and Magnus Molge also scored for Denmark.
Slovakia outshot Denmark 33-16.
The newly promoted Danes are hoping to keep their place in the top division. They finished eighth in 2004, but have come 10th and last at every other top-division U18 they’ve played since then (2005, 2008, 2012, 2014).
Slovakia's goal is to improve on last year’s seventh-place finish. The Slovaks have finished one spot higher than the previous year at each of their last three World U18 Championships.
While reduced scoring is a concern for some people in NHL circles, clearly no such problem exists in international U18 hockey.
Especially in the first period, these Group B teams were scoring at a rate that would put 1986 to shame, and glove saves were not in abundance.
Lacka opened the scoring for Slovakia at 2:43 with a power-play one-timer from the left faceoff circle.
Then the Danes suddenly and briefly opened the floodgates.
Just 42 seconds later, Schmidt-Svejstrup tied it up when he snared the puck above the hash marks and teed up a wicked wrist shot past Slovak starter David Hrenak.
Denmark grabbed a 2-1 lead 33 seconds later. On the left side, Molge slipped past defenceman Martin Krempasky and curled in to roof one past the goalie’s glove.
When Krag stretched Denmark’s lead to two 23 seconds after that, the Slovaks, sensing that this game was spiralling out of control, called their timeout to regroup and pulled Hrenak in favor of David Durny.
The move bore fruit. Solensky danced into the slot and whizzed a backhander along the ice past Krog’s left skate just 34 seconds later.
Slovakia made it 3-3 at 10:59. Bucek stickhandled past Danish defenders in the left faceoff circle and zinged one high to the glove side.
At 17:45, Slovakia took a 4-3 lead when Solensky zapped one through Krog’s five-hole on a nice set-up from the goal line by Adam Ruzicka.
"He played good," said Bucek of Solenskky. "His line was very good. He got a lot of passes, played physical and was strong on the puck."
Reflecting Slovakia’s dominance after the goaltending change, the Danes wound up with three first-period goals on just four shots. They wouldn't get another one until past the four-minute mark of the second period.
"We got a timeout and our coach talked about how we must be better on defence," said Bucek. "We did a great job. We got three goals in a row, so it was very good for us."
Denmark made its own goalie swap to start the second period, but while Mads-Emil Gransoe played well, it wouldn't turn the tide ultimately.
The Danes got the 4-4 equalizer on the power play at 5:51 of the second. From the left faceoff circle, Blichfeldt lasered a perfect short-side shot over Durny's glove.
Ruzicka hit the post on a mid-game breakaway.
In the third period, the play was more tentative. Roman finally broke the deadlock at 8:11 when he waltzed into the middle of the ice with Danish defenders backing up and scored on a high glove-side wrister.
"The third period, I think, was our best," said Slovak coach Martin Struzinski. "We were satisfied with our game, at least a little bit."
The Danes had no reply, despite pulling Gransoe for the extra attacker with a minute to go.
Denmark’s next game is Friday against Canada, while the Slovaks will wait till Saturday to take on Finland.
"Of course, Canada is one of the best teams in the world," said Krag. "We just need to go out and skate and try to get some pucks to the net."
Switzerland's Yannick Lerch #18 gets ready to shoot while Latvias Gustavs Grigals #29 tracks the action during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship.
Dominik Volejnicek scored with seven seconds left in overtime as Switzerland beat Latvia 5-4 to open the World U18 Championship in Grand Forks.
The power play goal came with Latvian captain Tomass Zeile in the penalty box for tripping Swiss star Nico Hischier. Volejnicek cruised into the slot and let one go that squeezed past goalie Gustavs Grigals' blocker side.
Axel Simic scored twice, and Philipp Kurashev and Tobias Geisser also tallied for the Swiss. Nico Hischier added three assists in what was a true see-saw battle.
"We played well, but we took many penalties," said Kurashev. "But we still won, so it’s good."
Renars Krastenbergs had a goal and two assists for Latvia, Erlends Klavins added a goal and an assist, and Vlads Vulkanovs and Emils Ezitis added singles.
Grigals was busier than his Swiss counterpart Matteo Ritz, as Switzerland outshot the Baltic boys 36-20. The gap could have been even higher if not for Latvia's diligent shot-blocking.
"We just have to shoot more on the net," said Latvia's Deniss Smirnovs. "If you don’t take shots, you can’t score."
Swiss head coach Thierry Paterlini emerged victorious in his World U18 debut behind the bench. Paterlini, 40, played at two Olympics, including the historic wins over Canada (2-0) and the Czech Republic (3-2) in Turin 2006. He also suited up at eight top-level IIHF World Championships.
Looking ahead to Switzerland's next game against Russia on Saturday, Paterlini said: "I think we can take a lot out of this game for our system. If we keep on going against the Russians like this, we have a good chance to have another success, which would be very, very nice for us."
In a spirited first period, Latvia drew first blood despite being outshot 13-4. Krastensbergs came down the right side and surprised Ritz with a wrister that beat the goalie on the blocker side at 3:55.
It took just 40 seconds into the second period for the Swiss to tie it up. Simic’s excellent snap shot from the hash marks got under the cross bar.
At 4:05, Switzerland went up 2-1. On the rush, Hischier skimmed a pass right over to Simic and his quick shot beat Grigals.
"We had problems scoring at first, but we started well in the second period, which was important," said Paterlini.
Just 1:42 later, Latvia fought back to even the score. Ritz made a nice pad save on Erlends Klavins but couldn’t stop Vulkanovs, parked in front, on the rebound.
The Latvians had a chance to go ahead as Switzerland took three straight minor penalties, but couldn't capitalize on the power play.
Switzerland regained the lead with 16 seconds left in the middle frame, as Geisser’s low shot to the stick side from the slot found the twine.
But the Latvians showed a never-say-die attitude. At 5:55 of the third period, Ezitis whooshed down right wing and unleashed one that slipped past the Swiss goalie's glove.
At 10:33, Switzerland went back up as Kurashev cruised down the middle and took a pass from Thomas Lust before whipping it high into the net.
Still, coach Eriks Miluns's team refused to wilt.
Latvia made it 4-4 with 5:58 remaining in regulation, as an unguarded Klavins pushed it home on the doorstep. Klavins missed a glorious opportunity for the go-ahead marker with one minute left.
"We didn’t have luck today," said Smirnovs. "It wasn’t our time. That’s it."
The Latvians are right back in action on Friday versus Sweden.
Paterlini was happy with the way his Swiss team handled the opener overall: "For them, it’s quite big to be here in this nice, big arena. It was the first game of the tournament, so we coaches had to calm them down a little bit to make sure their emotions didn’t go too high or too low. It’s important to find a good balance."
It was the third World U18 meeting of all time between these two nations. In 2012, Latvia beat Switzerland 4-2. The Swiss won 3-2 in overtime in 2015 to send the Latvians to the relegation round.
Local schoolchildren, many of them colourfully attired in neon green, enlivened the proceedings with their vigorous cheering in the lower bowl at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
well, this was just a friendly and a test match, with many players which for sure, (and after what they showed those last 2 matches) for a million %! will not be selectioned for the final team roster, but still..this was a incredible shame that we had to endure...I just have no words..no comment
Really I wish to never! never! never have to experience again something like this, and will never see in my life again anymore such a embarrassing and dishonouring performance..
Slovak Television presented today the program for the upcomming world championships.
63 of the 64 matches will be broadcasted in our 2 national channels STV 1 and STV 2.
32 games will be broadcasted live and 31 in re-live right after each live match will be ended.
all 64 matches will be streamed and commented also online on slovak national television website, they will prepare 2 stream channels.
All slovak matches will be live also on slovak national radio.
STV will send 3 main commentators, 4 secondary commentators and reporters and 4 well known ex-players and already experienced co-commentators. also as traditionally during last years 1 our experienced video-analytic who will review and analyse the matches during the special studio between the different periods of the matches.
Also they will prepare some secondary programs, like "mix zona" and a stand up comedy program "predlženie" (overtime) a program where known humorists will glos the matches with humor.
and here the trailer of STV for the IIHF world championships 2016
The Hungarian women’s national team celebrates its biggest success in history after winning the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group B
The Hungarian women’s national team has won promotion to the Group A next year, claiming first place in the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group B.
Latvia and Kazakhstan finished second and third respectively. The host nation Italy narrowly avoided relegation with a shootout win against Kazakhstan in the tournament’s final game.
The Division IB tournament came to a thrilling close on Sunday, as almost every team had a chance at winning the gold but also had to worry about avoiding relegation. There were a number of upsets and exciting games all throughout the week.
The pre-tournament favourites were Latvia who had been relegated from Group A last season, along with the Netherlands and China. The tournament started off with an expected result as Latvia got past Kazakhstan, who had won promotion to the group the previous year, on a hat trick by Liga Mijone. The opening game was followed up by two upsets as Hungary got revenge against the Netherlands for last year’s 2-0 loss by winning 2-1 and the hosts Italy got past last year’s bronze winners with a third period goal by Chelsea Furlani.
The upsets continued on the second match day. Latvia picked up their first loss of the tournament as Hungary won easily with Bernadett Nemeth and Nora Brgles had two points each, missing from the lineup was Andi Kiss, who was player of the game the day before.
“We played a complete game and everything went according to plan. We were able to play with four lines and everyone did what was asked of them as they all created scoring chances as well,” said Hungarian head coach Tibor Marton after the Latvian match. “A number of girls stepped up today and I noticed that the girls play very motivated against higher ranked opponents.”
China really dug themselves a hole after they lost their second game in two days this time to Kazakhstan, who had won promotion the previous season and were hoping to avoid relegation.
China had to wait until the third match day to pick up their first win, a 3-1 victory coming against the Netherlands. Hungary dispatched Kazakhstan in a 3-2 game that was much closer than expected. Latvia stayed within three points of group leaders Hungary with a win against Italy.
If Latvia wanted to win the gold they needed to win their last two matches and Hungary would need to lose their last two games, Hungary held the tiebreaker as they had defeated Latvia on the second match day.
The Latvians did their part as they defeated China 3-1, however, they would still need help from the host nation Italy. In the late game of the day Hungary jumped out to a 4-0 lead with four different goal scorers as Lili Pinter, Reka Dabasi, Bernadett Nemeth and Tifani Horvath all found the back of the net. Hungary would hold on to a 4-2 win as Italy came back with two goals. With the win Hungary had captured gold and promotion to the Division I Group A for the 2016/17 season.
“I have never been a part of such a World Championship where I received this much help from not only my defencemen but my forwards as well. The forwards blocked a number of shots and I was able to work real well with the defencemen,” said goalie Aniko Nemeth after the game.
Forward Reka Dabasi added “It wasn't easy but everyone played well all four lines, we were able to pick up the win just like we did the other three games and now we have picked up the gold.”
For the Hungarian women’s national team it will be the first trip to the Division I Group A after three years in the Division I Group B.
There was much still to be decided on the last match day even though Hungary and Latvia had locked in the top two spots in the group. Third place was still up for grabs with China, Italy and the Netherlands all trying to avoid relegation. China had defeated Hungary to stay in the group for next season and the Netherlands helped their chances with a win against Latvia, however, the faith of the Dutch was in the last game of the tournament.
Depending on the outcome of the game Italy could finish anywhere between third place and being relegated. They needed two points to stay in the group and three would give them the bronze. The Italians tied the game up in the third period. After a scoreless overtime period the game went to a shootout. It was 1-1 after three shooters meaning that the game would be decided by a sudden-death shootout. After three rounds, Kazakh shooter Zarina Tukhtieva missed high and Chelsea Furlani scored, keeping Italy in Division I and sending the Netherlands to Division II.
Another gold-medal win for Poland in Division II. Two days after the women’s team, the U18 national team followed suit.
The Polish national U18 team was unstoppable at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division II Group A, going undefeated through five games to win gold and promotion to Division I just two days after the Polish women’s national team celebrated the same accomplishment.
The Poles began with a 7-2 win over Croatia and didn’t let up, racking up big wins over the Netherlands, Romania, Great Britain and Lithuania to run the table in Brasov.
In fact the only time the Poles were behind in a game at the 2016 tournament was when they gave up a 1-0 lead to the Croats midway through the first period of their opening game. The team responded by scoring five unanswered goals in that game, and didn’t look back the rest of the tournament.
In all Poland potted an impressive 43 goals in five games, while giving up just eight overall. The team’s offence was led by forward Dominik Pas, who averaged two goals per game and had a pair of hat tricks, coming against Croatia and Great Britain.
The 16-year-old finished with 12 points to lead all scorers (10G+2A). His teammates Alan Lyszczarczyk and Bartlomiej Jeziorski also finished in the top five in scoring with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Poland will move back up to Division I for the 2017 season, where the U18 team had been competing since 2003 before being relegated two years ago.
The Poles’ dominant run in 2016 left the rest of the field competing for second and third place. Silver went to hosts Romania, who aside from a tough loss to the Poles played a solid tournament and beat Lithuania 6-1 in a key game to earn second place.
Helped by a strong effort from Directorate Top Forward Dominik Bogdziul, Lithuania finished third, followed by Great Britain and Croatia.
Winless Netherlands was relegated to Group B following a tight loss to Croatia on the final day, Matija Stubicar scoring the game winner in the third period to claim a 2-1 win and fourth place.
The Directorate best Goaltender award went to Romania’s Adorjan Ors. Ors posted a 92.50 save percentage and a 2.47 GAA through five games, bettered only by Polish goalie Kamil Lewartowski, who was aided by some great play from his blueliners including Top Defenceman Jakub Michalowski, who was a +11 and had six points in the tournament.
How I want same atmosphere in our ice rinks too. But unfortunately nobody cares about ice hockey in this country
yes it would be great to have such atmospheres everywhere in the whole Ice hockey world hope your very good recent results will help to increse the interest for hockey in Serbia.
But yes, well, thats our only sport with this kind of interest, you will find empty stadiums in practically all other sports, so it´s nothing amazing too for example we hardly have more than 400-500 peoples in basketball or handball, so we have what to envy you and I don´t speak about football, 1000 peoples is a maximum for a league match
HK Nitra qualified for the final in Slovak National Championships after 4-3 serie win against HKM Zvolen, Nitra won the 7th match yesterday 4-0, the atmosphere once again fantastic.
here the 7 minutes video about the atmosphere in the stands
In other hands, HC Košice will not maintain the national title, after a upset lost in the second semifinal with Banská Bystrica, great performances and deserved finla for the team coached by 2 our great players of previous years Vladimír Orszagh and Richard Zedník and lead by Michal Handzuš and a amazing american goalie Jason Bacashihua...anyway shameful season of HC Košice, just the epic end for a disastrous season
The Polish women’s national team sings the national anthem after landing a win on the last game en route to gold
The 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group A in the picturesque Slovenian town of Bled was a tournament the Polish women’s national team will never forget. The Poles landed gold and earned promotion to the Division I for the first time ever in what has been the biggest success for Polish women’s hockey so far.
The Polish women’s national team entered the program at the lowest level in 2011 with opponents such as Ireland and Turkey at the tournament in Bulgaria. They earned promotion twice in a row in 2011 and 2012 and now in their fourth year in the Division II Group A Poland won gold and qualified for the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group B.
The tournament was far from easy for the fourth-seeded Poles. They started with a 9-2 win against Slovenia and a 9-4 victory against DPR Korea but then they met their opponents who would end up with them in a three-team tie each with a 4-1 record from the five games.
First Poland edged Korea 2-1. After two scoreless periods with a 24-14 shot-on-goal advantage for the South Koreans it was team captain Katarzyna Frackowiak who broke the deadlock at 4:29 and scored a second marker at 13:00.
Korea had to play the dying minutes of the game shorthanded but Ye Eeun Park managed to score on the box play with 32 seconds left. However, the Poles didn’t allow another goal and had the tournament win in their own hands when facing Great Britain on Day 4. The British had a strong tournament but suffered a 1-0 defeat to Korea on a power-play goal from Hye In Ko.
Against Great Britain Frackowiak scored again the first goal of the game but the British reacted with a strong second period and markers from Christine Newman and Louise Adams. The 2-1 score stayed until the end of the game causing a three-team tie between Great Britain, Korea and Poland.
In the head-to-head standings each team was 1-1 and had a neutral goal difference but Poland had a 3-3 goal record that became the tie-breaker and placed the red-and-white team ahead of the group. Korea and Poland both had a 2-2 goal record but Korea finished in second place thanks to the win in the head-to-head game.
The tournament was not over though. On the last game day on Friday Poland had the start and needed three points to confirm its position. They easily got it in a 16-0 blanking of winless Croatia. Great Britain went up to 12 points as well by blanking DPR Korea, 7-0, and would have won the tournament if they were only tied with Poland. However, in the evening game Korea got a 3-0 win against host country Slovenia to secure silver while Poland won gold and Team GB bronze.
The offensive stats were in the hand of Poland’s top forwards. Karolina Pozniewska was the scoring leader with 14 points (7+7) ahead of her teammates Magdalena Czaplik (3+8=11) and Katarzyna Frackowiak (8+2=10), who led the tournament in goal scoring and was named Best Forward of the tournament. Great Britain’s Nicole Jackson, who had an impressive 97.6 save percentage in five games, was named Best Goaltender and Kyou Sun Lee of Korea Best Defenceman.
Top-seeded DPR Korea, which came down from Division I, had to settle for fourth place. The North Koreans had a rough start with a 4-1 loss in the neighbouring rivalry against their opponents from the south of the peninsula. It was the first time in Women’s Worlds history that Korea was placed ahead of their northern rivals.
Host Slovenia, which was promoted to this group one year ago, finished the tournament in fifth place. The Slovenes beat neighbour Croatia 6-1 in front of 860 fans in Bled in what was their most important game for survival at this level thanks to a hat trick from Pia Pren, who plays for Linkoping in Sweden.
Even we lost 2 - 3 it was a good game for our guys. I still believe we can be first this year and back to the first division. At last our team improve a lot this year, we play much better than in previous years
yes, must admit that I´m falling in love with your team you are showing a very strong and pleasant team spirit since the olympic qualifiers in Spain, and your level is really improving. pity for today, it was really close, and also the return back from 0-3 to 2-3 against Netherlands was also impressive. ofc we must take in mind the Netherlands aren´t playing with their best team, because of play-offs of the Belgium-Netherlands league rulling these days, but still, very nice second part of the match from Serbia.
Luxembourg’s father-and-son duo Robert and Thierry Beran at the ice rink in Istanbul during the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III.
Sharing a burning passion for the game, their age difference of 23 years goes unnoticable out on the ice as Luxembourg's Robert and Thierry Beran set their sights on equalling the record set by one of the game's all-time greats.
Overcoming their disappointment not to be travelling back home with a medal, Luxembourg finished off the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III in Istanbul all smiles during their final day 13-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina to finish fourth. Influential in their win was Luxembourg's second line where Thierry Beran recorded 4+0 and Robert Beran notched 2+2 in a father and son combination complementing each other out on the ice.
He has a better shot and is also stronger than me so he doesn't get checked as easily, says 24-year-old Thierry about his father Robert. "But I think I skate and handle the puck better."
When it comes to father and son combinations in hockey, Gordie Howe, one of the finest players ever to grace the game, famously even played with both of his sons, Mark and Marty on the same line. In Luxembourg, Robert and Thierry Beran first started playing competitive games as linemates seven years ago for Tornado Luxembourg and suited up for the national team together at the 2011 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III in Cape Town, South Africa.
The story of how the duo came to have a big impact in Luxembourger ice hockey dates back to the early 1990s. Robert, originally from Martin in Slovakia, was then in his early 20s and had in theory hung up his skates after sustaining a knee injury. One sunny day an old friend contacted him and little did he know what changes it would bring to his life.
A team mate of mine from my time as a player at Banska Bystrica, Ivan Oskem, asked me to come to Luxembourg and play in a tournament just for fun, says Robert. "There I met Alain Schneider, today President of our national ice hockey federation, who asked me if I wanted to stay in Luxembourg and that he could get me a job."
Soon after his arrival he met Thierry's mother and the rest is history. With hockey in Luxembourg not having the same physical constraints as the top end of the Slovak leagues, Robert was able to return to the game and in the process got Thierry introduced to the game from an early age.
Already from the age of four-five I liked hockey and always saw him play for the senior team. It was my big wish to join him and be a part of the family, because in Luxembourg ice hockey is like a big family, because everybody knows each other, says Thierry.
Over a decade upon touching down in Luxembourg, Robert Beran got his citizenship in the country he made his home and made his World Championship debut at the age of 34. Between 2005 and 2009 he was Luxembourg's leading scorer for points at World Championship level. In the meantime, he also had spells as coaching the Luxembourg junior national teams as Thierry was coming of age as a player. When Thierry was 17 they made their competitive debut together, which according to Thierry can be challenging at times.
It is fun, but it is also very difficult. I try to play my own game, but he is always trying to show me how I could do it better, but I realize that he actually is right in what he is trying to teach me, he says about Robert, who also carries a lot of respect from his peers inside the dressing room of the national team.
He is very valuable for our team. When he speaks, everybody is quiet, because we know he is very experienced so we listen, Thierry continues.
Thierry, who plays his club hockey for Tornado Luxembourg in the French fourth tier while Robert is suiting up for Beaufort, from the eastern part of Luxembourg, which competes in the fifth tier in Germany. While Robert is now back coaching juniors, Thierry attended the Learn to Play instructor program at the 2015 IIHF Hockey Development Camp in Vierumaki and looks set to get more involved with the coaching side as of next year, as injury scares taught him that the playing days might come to an end at some point.
While Robert managed to return to the game following his knee injury sustained in his youth, Thierry broke his hip during an exhibition match a week before the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III on home ice in Luxembourg and was out of the game for around nine months.
But despite their injury setbacks, they both vow to soldier on. Robert, who will turn 47 this summer, played this year's World Championship in Istanbul with a broken rib and is showing no signs of contemplating giving up on his playing days.
I will be playing until I am unable to do so anymore, says Robert, while for Thierry, he is aware that his serious injury sustained three years ago might shorten his career but being forced to hang up his skates before his old man would be a bitter pill to swallow.
I hope not, but the doctors say my injury can get worse, so it is risky, but I love this game so much that I will have to continue and try to do my best, says Thierry, who together with his dad also has another reason to keep on going.
I have a younger brother, Markus, who plays hockey and is 14 years old, so in three years maybe he will be good enough to play with us on the same line.
Now that would be quite something. Even in comparison with Gordie Howe.
Yeah, you're right and I believe you, I just wrote that live scores says that GB is first
And, it's very big success for our women's ice hockey
Congrats
Also your U18 team is in the best way to advance, you just need to not lost with Lithuania in regular time, and still if this by I don´t know by how such miracle will happen, you just need that Romania win his match also in regular time against GB in the last match.
Slovakia 0 - 6 Russia 
Latvia 1 - 3 Belarus 
Switzerland 3 - 2 Czech Republic 
hope your very good recent results will help to increse the interest for hockey in Serbia.
and I don´t speak about football, 1000 peoples is a maximum for a league match
Denmark 3 - 4 Latvia 
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Czech Republic - Finland 3-4 (GWS)
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