Men's Ice Hockey Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018

[mihamiha 124]

5 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

Congrats

thanks.uf,penalties are always lottery.sometimes you win,sometimes you loose

[hckošice 14,821]

FINAL QUALIFICATION ROUND

Tournament 1

Minsk (BLR) - 01.09.2016 - 04.09.2016

 

Day 3 Results

 

Round-Robin

4 Nations, Round-Robin Tournament, 1st Nation will Qualify to the Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018

 

Poland  2 - 5  Denmark      

(Score by Period: 1-1, 0-2, 1-2)

  4th September 2016, h. 13:00 (GMT +3), Minsk Arena, Minsk

 

Belarus  2 - 3(GWS)  Slovenia    

(Score by Period: 0-0, 1-2, 1-0, OT: 0-0, GWS: 0-1)

  4th September 2016, h. 17:00 (GMT +3), Minsk Arena, Minsk

 

Round-Robin Final Standing

RANK	NATION	GAME	WINS	W(OT)	L(OT)	LOSE	SCORE	POINTS
1	Slovenia	3	2	1	0	0	11:3	8
2	Belarus	3	2	0	1	0	12:8	7
3	Denmark	3	1	0	0	2	7:10	3
4	Poland	3	0	0	0	3	6:16	0

 

 

 

Following Nation Have Qualified to Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament at Winter Olympic Games 2018

• Slovenia

[NearPup 3,044]

Slovenia making the Olympics in 2014 was a shock, them making it twice in a row is just extraordinary. They did great in 2014, though, so it's nice to see them back.

[hckošice 14,821]

Final Score

 

Latvia - Germany  2-3

16:18 Leon Draisaitl 0-1

24:51 Felix Schutz 0-2

34:55 Miks Indrašis 1-2

46:19 Martins Karsums 2-2

54:51 Tom Kuhnhackl 2-3

 

Germany Qualified to Pyeongchang 2018

[mihamiha 124]

27 minutes ago, Near said:

Slovenia making the Olympics in 2014 was a shock, them making it twice in a row is just extraordinary. They did great in 2014, though, so it's nice to see them back.

yes,amazing.slovenia: 2 million people,2 average hockey clubs,200 registred senior players, about 7 hockey rooms, but we are almost regular in group a of hockey

[Quasit 865]

Congratulations to Norway and Slovenia only.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Quasit

[hckošice 14,821]

FINAL QUALIFICATION ROUND

Tournament 2

Riga (LAT) - 01.09.2016 - 04.09.2016

 

 

Day 3 Results

 

Round-Robin

4 Nations, Round-Robin Tournament, 1st Nation will Qualify to the Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament at the Winter Olympic Games 2018

 

Japan  0 - 3  Austria      

(Score by Period: 0-1, 0-0, 0-2)

  4th September 2016, h. 14:00 (GMT +3), Arena Riga, Riga

 

Latvia  2 - 3  Germany    

(Score by Period: 0-1, 1-1, 1-1)

  4th September 2016, h. 18:00 (GMT +3), Arena Riga, Riga

 

Round-Robin Final Standing

RANK	NATION	GAME	WINS	W(OT)	L(OT)	LOSE	SCORE	POINTS
1	Germany	3	3	0	0	0	14:2	9
2	Latvia	3	2	0	0	1	13:5	6
3	Austria	3	1	0	0	2	4:8	3
4	Japan	3	0	0	0	3	1:17	0

 

Following Nation Have Qualified to Men´s Ice Hockey Tournament at Winter Olympic Games 2018

• Germany

 

[hckošice 14,821]

Kazakhstan closes with win

Starchenko's late game-winner against Italy

 

Roman Starchenko became Kazakhstan's hero as he scored the game-winner with 3:48 remaining. Kazakhstan beat Italy 3-2.

 

Roman Starchenko's goal with less than four minutes remaining in the game lifted Kazakhstan to a 3-2 win over Italy in the last game of the Olympic qualification tournament in Oslo. 

 

Vitali Kolesnik made 13 saves for Kazakhstan who grabbed third place. Italy finished fourth. 

 

Steven Pressfield, author of, for example, The Legend of Bagger Vance, has said that “The difference between being an amateur and a professional is that professionals do the work even when they don't feel like it.” Amateurs only produce good work when they’re so inspired. 

 

For a hockey player, showing up for a game that has no bearing in the standings at 11.30 in the morning is the true test of a professional attitude. Both Kazakhstan and Italy passed it today at the Jordal Amfi in Oslo, even if both teams surely had even more to give. 

 

"We're professional hockey players and we have to be ready to play a game like this, even if they wake us up at two in the morning," said Kazakhstan's Maxim Khudyakov.

As for Kazakhstan, a team with only Barys Astana players on it, it also provided another good test for the rest of the season, he added.

 

"We were close, and we played well but we'll have to take this as a good test for the World Championships in May," said Italy's goaltender Andreas Bernard who finished the game for Italy. 

 

Italy scored the important first goal of the game early in the game after Kazakhstan had a long possession in the Italian zone creating a couple of good chances. When Italy regained possession of the puck, they played it first quickly out of the zone and then Anton Bernard sent a long pass to Giulio Scandella who fired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. His shot hit a Kazakhstan defenseman’s stick on the way and fooled Vitali Kolesnik Kazakhstan’s goal at 6.47 into the first period. 

 

In the next shift, Italy’s Simon Kostner took a high sticking minor and Kazakhstan’s powerplay got to work. Alexander Shin played the puck to Yevgeni Rymarev behind the net and his pass found Maxim Khudyakov who drove towards the net and fired a slapshot that Italy’s goaltender Frederic Cloutier couldn’t stop, to tie the game at 8.51. 

 

Halfway through the game, Kazakhstan had taken command of it, and could take the lead when Brandon Bochenski won a puck battle in the corner, cycled it with Alexander Shin who sent it back to Bochenski at the far post, and he could fairly easily exploit Italy’s mental lapse - four skaters were in the corner - and score Kazakhstan’s second goal at 8.42 into the period. 

 

But with 65 seconds remaining in the period, Tommaso Traversa tied the game again with a nice deflection off Stefano Marchetti’s perfect slapshot of a pass from the point. 

And then, with 3.48 remaining, a shot from the poin, hit the side of Italy's net and then bounced back from the end boards from the same side as the shot had come from, which threw off Andreas Bernard, and Starchenko had an easy job to lift the puck to the back of the net. 

 

Italy pulled goaltender Bernard with a minute remaining in the game, and pushed hard to get a third goal, put couldn't tie the game. 

 

[hckošice 14,821]

Zuccarello's Norway to Olympics

Norstebo's late goal gives ticket to Korea

 

Mats Zuccarello's Norway will play in the 2018 Olympics in Korea, thanks to their 2-1 win over France. Zuccarello led the tournament in scoring.

 

Norway will play in the 2018 Olympics, thanks to their 2-1 win over France. Norway's big hero was Mattias Norstebo who scored the game-winner with 2.29 remaining in the game. 

 

"This is one of the best wins in my career, for sure. It's an unbelievable feeling. I grew up down here and this was probably my last game at this rink so it's a little emotional," said Mats Zuccarello who scored Norway's first goal in the game. 

 

"Playing in the Olympics is the bggest thing you can do with your national team so to qualify there is amazing," he added. 

 

France's captain Laurent Meunier was frustrated with the number of penalties his team took, even if it was a close game. 

 

"But, no win," he concluded. And with that, nothing.

 

France did get into penalty trouble in the second and third period and while they defended well, Norway used their last chance. With nine seconds on the clock of Floran Douay's penalty, Norstebo lifted the puck into France's net after a mad scramble in front of the goal when France's goaltender Cristobal Huet couldn't hold on to the puck.  

 

The table was set for a hockeyfest at the soldout Jordal Amfi in Oslo. The winner of the game between Norway and France would qualify for the Olympics and while both teams had bene pushed in their first games in the tournament, the final was expected to be a close one. 

 

"The atmosphere was fantastic, a soldout crowd, we don't get that often in Norway so that was wonderful," said Norway's captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. 

 

Norway is ranked 11^th in the world, it had the home crowd, and it had NHLer Mats Zuccarello in a good mid-season form. France is ranked 14^th, they hoped that the home crowd would make Norwegians nervouse, and  Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, their NHLer and as of tomorrow, Zuccarello’s teamnate on the World Cup of Hockey, had also shown to be ready to carry his team. 

 

The fans of both teams could easily find reasons for hope but there was also that “on the other hand” to which there was only one answer and that was to play the game.

 

The first period was scoreless and just as close as could be expected. Norway controlled the game during the first half of the period, France took over in the latter half. Both teams had their chances, especially on powerplay, but the importance of the game also showed in careless penalties in the offensive zone. Teddy da Costa took a slashing minor behind the Norwegian net and Tommy Kristiansen a goalie interference penalty when he collided with France’s goaltender Cristobal Huet. 

 

Less than two minutes into the second period, France’s caotain Laurent Meunier sent a long pass meant for Yorick Treille, but Norway’s captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen got his stick on the puck. However, he couldn’t stop the puck and it ended up at Treille’s tape. He faked a shot and waited for Lars Haugen in Norway’s goal to hit the ice before firing the puck top shelf to give France a lead in the game at 1.49. 

Five minutes later, Norway’s first line stepped up. The French turned the puck over in their own zone, when Patrick Thoresen intercepted a breakout pass at the halfboards. He quickly passed it to Mats Zuccarello who found himself alone with Huet. He made a nice deke and then fired the puck upstairs, tying the game. 

 

"It was a great pass from Patrick, and I almost panicked, I wanted to pass but the goalie bit hard on my deke so it went in," Zuccarello said. 

After the goal, Norway took over the game completely, aided by da Costa brothers taking penaltie for unsportsmanlike conduct; Teddy a minor, Stephane a major.

 

And Norway thought they had capitalized on it. With one second remaining on Teddy Da Costa’s penalty, Jonas Holos fired a shot from the point, Huet left a rebound which Thoresen batted in from mid-air but the goal was disallowed after a video review. If anything, it got Norway even more fired up, while the French couldn’t stay out of the penalty box – which was also a sign of the fact that they were often a half a step behind the Norwegians. 

 

And then Norstebo, 21, put the final nail in France's coffin. 

 

"We never give up. The whole team played well today, this was a win for the collective," Tollefsen said. 

 

Ad for Norway, it was a nice farewell to the 1952 Olympic arena.

 

"For someone like me who's grown up in Oslo, to get to play in front of a soldout crowd at Jordal was the perfect finish," said Zuccarello. 

 

Mission accomplished. 

 

[hckošice 14,821]

Third-place finish for Austria

Power play leads to 3-0 win vs. Japan

 

 

 

After a disappointing start with two clear losses Austria bounced back on the last day of play with a 3-0 blanking of winless Japan.

 

The Austrians outshot Japan in each period, 40-24 in total, but didn’t have an easy game against the Asians, who came here as the last-seeded team after advancing to the Final Olympic Qualification from the Preliminary Round.

 

The power play made the difference. Austria had two power plays and capitalized on both while the Japanese were not able to make use of four Austrian penalties including 39 seconds of 5-on-3 play early in the game.

 

“We’re disappointed. We had our chances but we were not able to put the puck into the net,” said Japanese forward Takuma Kawai.

 

With 97 seconds left in the first period during a power play the Austrians eventually opened the scoring after some good pass play. Michael Grabner hit the back of the net after a drop feed from Raphael Herburger.

 

The game remained open and the second period scoreless but at 7:27 of the third period the Austrians capitalized on the next power play thanks to a shot to the top-left corner taken from behind the right face-off dot by Andreas Kristler.

 

With 87 seconds left the Austrians also scored a goal five-on-five with a semi-wraparound from Thomas Raffl for the final score of 3-0.

 

“Today we finally implemented what we planned before. We played compact on defence and scored the goals,” said Raffl, the team captain and elder brother of his teammate and NHL forward Michael.

 

Finishing third was of course not what the Austrians planned especially after winning the Final Olympic Qualification for Sochi 2014.

 

“We knew we would play against top nations but our roster was not well balanced. The teams who beat us deserved to win against us, they were simply better.”

 

After a tough Olympic Qualification for both teams the players will now return to their club teams. At the end of the season Austria will compete in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A in Kyiv, Ukraine, while Japan will play one tier below after having been relegated, at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B in Belfast.