Ice Hockey IIHF World Championships 2017

[hckošice 14,829]

Mens

 

Division I Group B World Championships 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland (GBR)

Day 5 Schedule (29th April 2017)

GMT +1

 

Last Day

 

12:30  Lithuania vs Croatia

16:00  Estonia vs Netherlands

19:30  Japan vs Great Britain

 

*Japan vs Great Britain is the direct match for promotion between the 2 undefeated teams, the winner of the match will advance to the Division I Group A next year and will replace Ukraine relegated from this years Div IA.

**Estonia vs Netherlands is the direct match fro the maintain in this division, Netherlands must win in regulation time and hope for Croatia to gain at least 1 point against Lithuania, otherwise they will need to beat Estonia by at least 3 goals gap. Any other result will send the Dutch to Division II Group A next year.

 

Livestream

 

[lapaj 379]

8 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

Estonia	4	0(0)	3(0)	7	17	-10	3

 

[hckošice 14,829]

55 minutes ago, lapaj said:

 

 

Fixed.

[hckošice 14,829]

@heywoodu  Netherlands lost to Estonia and is relegated but it looks that it was a very close game, tough luck

 

Spoiler

 

[NikolaB 432]

As I said, it was now or never for UK. And it's now. Nice to see them in group A

[hckošice 14,829]

MEN'S

DIVISION I GROUP B

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

 

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Round-Robin

DAY 5

Lithuania 3 - 1 Croatia
Period-by-Period: 1-1, 1-0, 1-0
April 29th 2017, h. 12:30, SSE Arena, Belfast

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Estonia 4 - 3 Netherlands
Period-by-Period: 1-2, 1-1, 2-0
April 29th 2017, h. 16:00, SSE Arena, Belfast

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Japan 0 - 4 Great Britain
Period-by-Period: 0-1, 0-3, 0-0
April 29th 2017, h. 19:30, SSE Arena, Belfast

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Round-Robin Final Standing

 

Nation	P	W(OTW)	L(OTL)	GF	GA	+/-	Pt.
Great Britain	5	5(0)	0(0)	32	5	+27	15
Japan	5	4(0)	1(0)	22	11	+11	12
Lithuania	5	3(0)	2(0)	18	12	+6	9
Estonia	5	2(0)	3(0)	11	20	-9	6
Croatia	5	1(0)	4(0)	14	17	-3	3
Netherlands	5	0(0)	5(0)	6	38	-32	0

 

 

 

Great Britain  won the home tournament with perfect 5-0 record. Best offensive (32 Goals in) and best defensive (5 Goals against) were the keys of the dominant success, Team GB will be now promoted to the Division I Group A next year and will replace Ukraine relegated from this years home Div IA tournament which finished yesterday in Kyiv.

 

Silver for Japan, 12 points for 4 wins and 1 lose, unfrtunately for the Japanese the most crucial tonight against the hosts means Japan will have to stay in Div I B also for another year.

 

Expected bronze for Lithuania. Clearly the best team behind the top 2 (GBR and JPN) won all others 3 games and collected 9 points during the tournament to win bronze medal.

 

Estonia finished 4th with 6 points thanks 2 regulation time wins against Croatia and Netherlands. The Estonians were in big troubles during their last match for the maintain but succeeded to score 2 goals in the very last period to bet the Dutch and remains in Div IB also for next edition.

 

5th Place go to Croatia with 3 points. The Croatians managed to win one match but the most important against Netherlands and avoid relegation. Japan, Lithuania, Estonia and Croatia will be part of the Mens Division I Group B World Championships also next year 2018.

 

Last 6th place is for the Netherlands. Unfortunately a decimated and inexperienced young dutch squad lost all 5 matches and finished pointless resulting in the sad fact of the relegation to the next years Division II Group A where they will replace Romania promoted team from this years Div IIA tournament played in Romanian Galati a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

[hckošice 14,829]

MEN'S

DIVISION I GROUP B

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

 

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A Great night for Britain

GB storms past Japan, returns to Div. IA

 

 

Japan - Great Britain 0-4

 

Great Britain erased the pain of two last-day defeats in recent years to overpower Japan 4-0 and claim gold in front of an ecstatic Belfast crowd.

 

In an arena overlooking the shipyard that built the Titanic, Great Britain ensured that its World Championship heartache would go on no longer. A crushing 4-0 victory over Japan earned gold for the host nation and secured promotion to Division IA after four seasons.

 

For many of the players it was a case of third time lucky. In Eindhoven in 2015, and again in Zagreb 12 months ago, Britain had been within minutes of promotion only to fall at the final hurdle. This time, there was no mistake.

 

"It feels like we've got an identity again," said jubilant head coach Pete Russell. "We played a bit different from the way GB played in the past, we were pretty aggressive, we don't sit back. Our identity now is as a proactive team.

 

"We've earned the right to play at the next level, now we need to stay there. But this is a young team and we have a lot of players who are here for a long time to come."

 

Aided by a couple of early GB penalties, Japan took the early initiative and home hearts were in mouths as a shot dinged off Ben Bowns’ post. But the Japanese suffered a big blow midway through the opening stanza when Hiroki Ueno limped out of the game after taking a hit in front of the benches. Ueno, part of Japan’s free-scoring first line, was replaced by Masahito Nishiwaki, but some of the chemistry that had powered the team’s speedy offence was diluted and Britain began to take control of the game.

 

The breakthrough came late in the first period as Japan ran into penalty trouble of its own. GB earned a 5-on-3 advantage and Robert Dowd cashed in with the opening goal. Ben O’Connor saw a slap shot come back to him and passed to Robert Farmer on the goal line.

 

Farmer then picked out Dowd in front of the net and the Sheffield Steeler sent the crowd into raptures with his fourth goal of the tournament.

 

And Dowd was involved again as the host nation doubled its lead on another power play in the 25th minute. His shot from the top of the circle took a touch from Brendan Brooks and went through the five-hole.

 

Japan thought it had a lifeline in the 28th minute when Kenta Takagi put the puck in the net, only for the on-ice officials to call no goal because the net was off its moorings. After a long look at the video, that verdict was upheld, much to Takagi’s disgust.

 

Seconds later, Japan trailed by three. Colin Shields, one of the heroes of the tournament for GB, fired in a shot from the point and Matt Myers threw up a huge screen to redirect the puck beyond Fukufuji. The Belfast crowd, which included Rod Stewart, in town to watch his son Liam, went wild.

 

Shields, who also won the forward of the tournament prize, was one of those who had missed out in the past two years. He attributed this victory to solid teamwork.

 

"We learned from our mistakes of the last two years and this year we really came together," he said. "Tonight was our best game, we played a full 60 minutes. Everybody made a contribution, all four lines, all the defence, Ben Bowns with a shut-out. It was a team effort from top to bottom and we can be really proud of the job we've done here."

 

Then Myers grabbed his second of the night, finishing off an odd-man rush after a superb David Phillips pass sent Evan Mosey off to the races. With a 4-0 lead, the home crowd started the party 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

 

"We knew that Japan was a good team, full of goals, and they are flying machines," Myers said. "We knew it was going to be tough but once we got that first one we just kept rolling and finished that job."

 

That confidence was justified. Japan struggled to get its pacey offence into the game, managing just 10 shots on goal through 40 minutes, an astonishing turnaround from the devastating attacking play Takahito Suzuki’s team had produced in its first four games. The loss of Ueno clearly hurt the Japanese, but the home defence deserves credit for the way it denied the opposition the chance to turn over the puck as freely as it had in previous games.

 

Aside from a spell early in the third period, Britain kept Japan at arm’s length, and when called upon Bowns was alert between the piping to deny Makuru Furuhashi on a power play chance or kick away a dangerous effort from Takagi. The Cardiff Devils goalie made 20 saves for a well-deserved shut-out.

 

"I thought we were unbelievable defensively," he said. "We've been great all week but tonight we went to another level. To play a team like Japan and only allow two shots in the first period is just incredible. For me it was a fairly easy night because we all played so well."

 

Lithuania - Croatia  3-1

Bronze for Lithuania

Comeback win seals third place

Lithuania claimed bronze for the fourth season running after recovering from 0-1 down to beat Croatia in its final game of its 2017 Div IB campaign.

 

Lithuania claimed a bronze medal for the fourth Division IB campaign in a row as goals from Mindaugas Kieras, Edgar Protcenko and Ugnius Cizas delivered a 3-1 win over Croatia.

 

The result was also Lithuania's first victory over Croatia in four attempts, underlining the steady progress made by the Baltic nation.

 

For head coach Bernd Haake, the tournament lived up to expectations. "We're going home with a medal, so this is a success for us," he said. "We knew before we came that Japan and Britain were the real candidates for the gold medal and for us it was about staying ahead of the rest.

 

"It was our discipline and our hard work at camp that got us here."

 

Both teams had hopes of a podium finish ahead of the game, but the Baltic nation had the advantage, needing just one point to guarantee third place. Croatia required a victory in regulation and a favourable result in the Estonia – Netherlands game that would follow if it was to reach the podium.

 

After losing on Friday, both teams were eager to end the week on a high. Lithuania’s loss to promotion-chasing Japan followed the formbook, but Croatia’s 3-4 reverse against Estonia was an unhappy surprise for a team looking to secure its first medal since 2014. The team also lost David Brine in that game after the Cardiff Devils forward took a big hit.

 

Croatia made the brighter start, and was almost presented with a goal when Lithuania’s goalie produced a sloppy clearance from behind the net and set up Mislav Blagus with a look at an empty net; Kieras got back to spare his goaltender’s blushes with a vital interception on that occasion, but could do nothing as Matija Milicic opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a goal on the wraparound.

 

"This was a hard game for us," Haake added. "We deserved it, but the stats show each team had 26 shots on goal. Croatia certainly had its chances but our young goalie, Artur Pavliukov, saved us." 

 

Kieras, though, is renowned as the warrior of Lithuanian hockey and he wasn’t about to allow a medal chance to slip away easily. In the 16th minute he came up with the equaliser, collecting a Darius Pliskauskis feed in the deep slot and flipping a wrist shot over Vilim Rosandic’s shoulder. A tied game, and bronze was heading to Vilnius.

 

The Lithuanians tightened their grip on a medal in the second period when Protcenko made it 2-1 in the 25th minute. His slap shot from the top of the circle went through traffic to beat Rosandic.

 

Croatia’s goalie pulled off a spectacular diving stop early in the third. Seemingly stranded behind the net, he hurled himself back on to the crease to deny Emilijus Krakauskas when a goal seemed certain.

 

But he had no answers seconds later when Cizas got Lithuania’s third. Arnoldas Bosas stripped Luka Jarcov of the puck on the blue line and dropped a pass onto Cizas’ stick for a close range finish. Croatia made one last push, pulling Rosandic for a late power play, but Lithuania successfully closed out the game.

 

Lithuania received its bronze medals right after the lunchtime game, enabling the team to make an afternoon flight back home.

 

And, according to Haake, the future is bright. "We know we are only looking at one more season for our veterans, they will retire after 2018, so we're looking to our young guys to step up," he said. "It's not just the goalie, we had some young defencemen who did well for us here. Now it's their turn to push Lithuanian hockey forward. It's our future, and it's a new generation emerging."

 

Croatia, with one win from its five games, could yet be embroiled in a three-way tie at the foot of the table if the Dutch get the better of Estonia on Saturday afternoon. However, Enio Saccilotto’s team is unlikely to be pushed into last place thanks to its convincing 6-2 victory over the Dutch earlier in the competition.

 

Estonia - Netherlands  4-3

Estonia sends the Dutch down

Netherlands battle in vain, finish winless

The Netherlands came close to pulling off a sensational escape from relegation, but Estonia had enough to edge its second win of the tournament and take fourth.

 

The Netherlands battled hard to pull off an against-all-odds escape, but Estonia did enough to secure its Division IB status.

 

Going into the game, the Dutch knew that it would take a three-goal victory to edge ahead of Estonia in a tie at the foot of the table. Twice, they moved two goals in front, but the men in orange were never able to generate the advantage that would have kept them in the division.

 

And when Robert Rooba completed his hat-trick in the 54th minute to make it 4-3 for the Estonians, his country’s survival was all but assured.

 

Captain Kevin Bruijsten said: "We really battled hard and we really gave it our all but in the end it just wasn't enough. With the team we have right now we did a pretty decent job. Everyone knows we're missing 14 guys, this isn't the same team we'd usually have, but we can't just dwell on the negatives.

 

"I'm proud of the guys for the way they battled to the end, and for a second I even thought we might pull it off."

 

There was plenty to give the Baltic team cause for concern early in the meeting. The Netherlands shrugged off Friday's painful 0-14 loss to GB and showed plenty of enterprise in the first period. Two quick goals late in that session breathed life into the impossible dream.

 

Young forward Guus van Nes got the opener when Nardo Nagtzaam’s pass sent the Junior Bruin clear of the Estonian defence. The 20-year-old showed great composure, getting up close before beating Villem-Henrik Koitmaa to make it 1-0 in the 16th minute.

 

Van Nes and the other Dutch youngsters got the thumbs-up from their captain for their efforts this week. "They've stepped up and it's good for them," Bruijsten said. "This is the future for Dutch hockey and it's good to get some experience and a taste of what the higher level is like."

 

Ninety seconds later it was 2-0, and the Netherlands was in with a real chance of salvation. Sloppy play in the corner from Estonia’s Marko Kettunen presented Raymond van der Schuit with the puck and his pass found Jeffrey Melissant on the doorstep.

 

But the Dutch defence has struggled throughout this competition, and when Estonia got a power play the Baltic nation took advantage to halve the deficit. Aleksandr Ossipov’s shot was padded away and Rooba showed great reactions to smash home the rebound and tighten Estonia’s grip on its status.

 

The second period saw Bruijsten put the Netherlands 3-1 in front after Nagtzaam went round the back and fed Steve Mason for a shot.

 

Koitmaa blocked the first attempt but Bruijsten claimed the rebound and, with half the game left, the Dutch were right back in contention.

 

Again, though, it was a tantalising vision of safety. Estonia, so sluggish in the early exchanges, awoke to the danger at last and began to step up its offence. Rooba struck again as the middle stanza came to a close, exchanging passes with captain Lauri Lahesalu before launching a wrist shot from the top of the circle.

 

The Dutch, visibly tiring, finally folded in the third. A last-ditch clearance from Rick van Haren took the puck off Fabian Schotel’s goal line early on before Petrov tied the game on 47 minutes. Andrei Makrov shaped to shoot, deceiving the goalie, then slipped a pass to Aleksandr Petrov in the centre. Petrov made no mistake and the Dutch dream was almost over. Fittingly, it was Rooba, probably Estonia’s liveliest player in the competition, who wrapped it up with his hat-trick goal late on.

 

"By the end we were running almost two lines and especially on the special teams we had a couple of guys who clocked a lot of minutes," Bruijsten added.

 

Estonia had something to celebrate as back-to-back 4-3 wins lifted it to fourth in the table. But before the formalities could be completed, the hooter sparked a bout of fisticuffs in front of the Dutch bench as the teams' frustration bubbled over. Four players, Ossipov and Rooba from Estonia, Joey Oosterveld and Thomas Roosendaal from the Netherlands, were handed 25-minute penalties for fighting.

 

 

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ROAD TO MEN'S

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

 

DAYS

-4

 

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TEAMS PREVIEW

 

France

 

 

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JERSEY

Home

Away

 

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France’s big chance

Will Paris ice be nice for hosts?

 

When Paris last hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 1951, France had to play in the B-Pool. This time, Les Bleus are legitimate threats.

 

France sits 14th in the IIHF World Ranking and has appeared in the elite division every year since 2008. Under long-time coach Dave Henderson, France’s results have ranged from eighth in 2014 to 14th three times (2008, 2010, 2016). It’s impressive for a country where hockey’s popularity is still developing: there are 135 rinks and 8,615 registered male players.

 

The national team benefits from the cohesion and relentless work ethic of its established regulars, but France is starting to develop more young talent as well. At the 14,500-capacity AccorHotels Arena, the hosts will get a unique opportunity to lift their nation’s spirits at the world’s largest annual winter sports event.

 

Goal

Cristobal Huet, the grand old man of French goaltending, will enjoy his last international hurrah between the pipes in Paris. The 41-year-old, who won a Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010, is coming off a strong season with Lausanne of the Swiss NLA (40 GP, 2.47 GAA, 91.9 save percentage). As long as his recent knee surgery isn’t a hindrance, Huet will likely carry the load once again. Back-ups Florian Hardy and Ronan Quemener both saw spot duty last year. Hardy, who will suit up for Angers next season, earned fame in 2013 when he backstopped France to a 2-1 shocker over defending champion Russia. The French goalies must steal a game or two for their team to succeed.

 

Defence

At age 27, Yohann Auvitu is in his prime. This year, he became the only French defenceman ever to make the NHL, scoring two goals and two assists in 25 games in his first season with the New Jersey Devils. Since the Albany Devils have been eliminated from the AHL playoffs, Auvitu will be a valuable addition to France.

 

Veterans Kevin Hecquefeuille and Nicolas Besch also bring good puck-moving skills, while the 191-cm, 102-kg Antonin Manavian offers some physical presence. Last year, the French surrendered an average of 3.25 goals per game, and will need good attention to detail in their own zone to reduce that number.

 

Forward

Adding Antoine Roussel (Dallas Stars) and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Philadelphia Flyers) was a huge coup for this squad. Neither is an offensive god in the NHL: the ever-agitating Roussel had 12 goals and 27 points in 60 games this season, while Bellemare got four goals and four assists in 82 games as a fourth-liner. But with the national team, both will be expected to produce as they did in France’s 2014 quarter-final run, where Roussel was named a tournament all-star. Stephane Da Costa, though limited by injuries in recent years, has established himself as a CSKA Moscow regular, and a revival of the 27-year-old’s partnership with the two NHLers could be fruitful.

 

As usual, Damien Fleury from Chinese KHL team Kunlun Red Star will be expected to provide timely goals. Sacha Treille (Rouen) was France’s leading scorer last year (3-1-4). Regrettably, budding 17-year-old star forward Alexandre Texier (Grenoble) suffered a shoulder injury in a 3-1 exhibition win over Belarus on 30 April and will be unavailable. The French forwards bring a never-say-die attitude, but can’t afford to play run-and-gun too often in an exciting home-arena atmosphere.

 

Coaching

Dave Henderson is the consummate player’s coach. The 65-year-old Winnipeg native, a former Amiens star, is adept at squeezing the most out of a limited talent pool. He’s helmed the men’s national team since 2004-05, and it’s fitting that he’s still in charge 13 years later in Paris. Henderson can rely on veteran voices in the dressing room too, like 38-year-old captain Laurent Meunier, who has worn the “C” since the start of Henderson’s tenure. After failing to make the 2018 Olympics after a 2-1 loss to Norway in qualification play last September, Henderson has a chance to consolidate his legacy with this program with a memorable performance on home ice.

 

Projected Results

Up-and-coming hockey nations sometimes struggle when they host this tournament. Austria was ignominiously relegated in 2005. The Latvians came 10th in 2006 after finishing ninth, seventh, and ninth in the three preceding years. Yet the French have proved to be a resilient bunch over the years, and will likely do a better job at sticking to their system than some of their foreign peers have. They’ll be in tough against the likes of Canada and Finland in Group B, but if they come out hard, they’ll have at least a chance to secure points in every game.

 

A top-12 finish is a reasonable target. A quarter-final berth might be an impossible dream. Yet as Napoleon once said: “The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” That’s a motto the French must follow as they strive to delight their devoted fans.

 

 

 

 

 

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ROAD TO MEN'S

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

 

DAYS

-4

 

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Just 4 Days to Go, Time to introduce another participating Team of the 2017 World Championships,

today its the turn of the United States,

It's hard to believe that the United States has not competed in an IIHF World Championships final in over six decades.

Could 2017 be the year that Team USA goes for gold?

 

UNITED STATES

 

 

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ROAD TO MEN'S

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2017

 

 

 

DAYS

-3

 

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Just 3 Days to Go, Time to introduce another participating Team of the 2017 World Championships,

today its the turn of Finland,

The Finns are always a solid pick to make it to the medal round,

appearing in the final game in three out of the last six IIHF World Championships

 

FINLAND