Men's Ice Hockey IIHF Under 20 World Championship 2018

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Here tomorrows Schedule

 

 

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III
In Sofia, , 22-28 January 2018

 

Friday January 26th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Day 4 Schedule (GMT +2)

 

13:00  Israel vs Iceland

16:30  New Zealand vs China  

20:00  Bulgaria vs Australia

 

LIVESTREAM

ISR vs ISL

NZL vs CHN

BUL vs AUS

 

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2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III
In Sofia, , 22-28 January 2018

 

Friday January 26th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Day 4 Results (GMT +2)

 

13:00  Israel  6 - 2  Iceland

16:30  New Zealand  2 - 11  China  

20:00  Bulgaria  7 - 5  Australia

 

 

Provisional Standing After Day 4

1. Israel 12 pts, 2. Iceland 7 pts, 3. China 6 pts, 4. Bulgaria 6 pts, 5. Australia 5 pts, 6. New Zealand 0 pts.

* Israel is already, one day match to go, assured to win the gold and earn promotion to the next years U20 division II Group B 2019 tournament where they will replace Turkey, freshly relegated from this year U20 Div IIB tournament held a couple of days ago in Serbia.

**New Zealand is, one day match to go, already assured to be relegated in the Under20 Division III qualification tournament next year 2019.

 

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Schedule of the last day of the Division III tournament

 

 

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III
In Sofia, , 22-28 January 2018

 

Sunday January 28th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Final Day Schedule (GMT +2)

 

13:00  New Zealand vs Israel

16:30  Iceland vs Bulgaria  

20:00  Australia vs China

 

* Israel is already the winner of the tournament and will be promoted for the U20 Division II Group B next year 2019 and New Zealand will finish last of this tournament and thus will be relegated to the U20 Division III qualification tournament next year 2019.

** This means in the tomorrows program there will be only matches for the remaining medal positions.All 4 teams will fight for medals, Iceland with the best position for the silver, in case of regular time win they will finish second. Bulgaria in case of win will have to wait for Australian win over China. China can also finish in silver position if they win against Australia and Bulgaria defeat Iceland. Australia in case of regular time win will finish in bronze medal position.

 

LIVESTREAM

NZL vs ISR

ISL vs BUL

AUS vs CHN

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2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III
In Sofia, , 22-28 January 2018

 

Sunday January 28th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Final Day Results (GMT +2)

 

13:00  New Zealand  0 - 5  Israel

16:30  Iceland  2 - 3  Bulgaria  

20:00  Australia  1 - 6  China

 

 

Final Standing

 

1. Israel 15   

Qualified for the Men´s Under 20 Division II Group B World Championships 2019

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2. China 9

3. Bulgaria 9

4. Iceland 7

5. Australia 5

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6. New Zealand 0

Relegated for the Men´s Under 20 Division III Qualification Tournament 2019

 

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MEN´S UNDER 20

DIVISION III

2018

 

 

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U20 Division III concludes

Israel, China and Bulgaria win medals

 

The Israeli players and team staff pose for a team photo after receiving their 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III gold medals

 

 

Two days before the end of the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III the winner was determined. In the first game of the fourth competition day Israel beat closest rival Iceland 6-2 and secured the first place in the tournament and promotion for the next’s year Division II Group B. In the previous games the Israeli hockey talents defeated China 3-2, host Bulgaria 4-3 and Australia 7-2.

 

It was a historic day for Israeli ice hockey as the U20 national team won its first IIHF U20 event in its fourth participation. The debut was in 1997 and the next two were in 2016 and 2017 with a 4th and 5th-place finish. Israel has played in 14 IIHF U18 Championships since 2001, but has just one first place in the Division III Group B in 2013. There are no players from this winning team on the current U20 roster, but 5 years ago there was one American, Derek Eisler, on the team’s officials list as “team staff”. Since 2015 he is the head coach of all Israeli teams (Men, U20, U18) in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program with one exception – the U18 team last year.

 

The silver and bronze medals were up for grabs on Sunday at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia after Israel had secured the top spot and promotion on Friday.

Four teams had chances to finish in the top-three. Iceland was ahead in this race with seven points before the last game day, followed by China and Bulgaria with 6 and Australia with 5.

In the first scheduled game Israel completed its perfect record (5 wins/5 games) with a 5-0 blanking of New Zealand, which finished last with zero points. Mark Revniaga, the captain of the Israeli team, scored two goals and finished the tournament with the most goals (11) and points (15). He was selected as the best forward by the directorate of the championship. Mark, whose father was assistant coach for the Israeli team in Sofia, is playing for New York Apple Core in Brewster. Raz Werner, a goaltender for the Grastorps IK in the Swedish U20 Elite, had the only shutout in the whole event after making 26 save and finished the competition with a 2.00 GAA and a 93.41% save percentage.

“We brought a well-rounded team that had all the pieces to produce and we worked as a team the whole week. Everybody was involved and followed our game’s strategy,” said the head coach Derek Eisler. Even when his team earned the promotion on Friday, he was seen on the stands, scouting the Kiwis and preparing the tactics for the last game. So it is not a coincidence that Israel was first in almost every statistical category in the end - scoring efficiency (19,53%), power play (44,44%, 12 from 27), goaltending (92,31%) and in second place for penalty killing (84,85%).

The drama unfolded in the next matchup on Sunday: Iceland vs. Bulgaria. The hosts could finish on every position from second to fifth in the standings, depending on their match, but also on the last encounter of the day: China vs. Australia. A win for the Icelanders would guarantee them second place, a win for Bulgaria would guarantee the third place for the host nation. And the Chinese players were watching the game from closeby, cheering for the Bulgarians, so they could have a chance to finish second by defeating Australia.

Iceland was leading half of the way on an early goal by Edmunds Induss at 2:52, but in the second period Daniel Dilkov tied the score at 13:08. With his aggressive style Miroslav Vasilev took three opponents to the right circle and then passed the puck back to Dilkov, who was alone in front of the net. He was able to beat the goalie with his third try.

The third period started with power-play goal for Iceland. Six minutes later Dilkov, who plays for the MsHKM Zilina U20 team in Slovakia, scored again after carrying the puck through the neutral zone and blasting a shot from the top of the left circle. The Bulgarian top line had the upper hand on the opposition most of the time, but the score was still 2-2 when Iceland was called for icing 18.6 seconds before the end.

Stanislav Muhachev, the head coach of Bulgaria, took a time-out and drew a combination. Veselin Dikov won the faceoff and passed the puck back to Dilkov, who shot through traffic. Suddenly the puck was again on Dikov’s stick and he scored the game-winning goal from close range in the open net after the Icelandic goalie was out of position.

“I need to sit down, can’t stand on my legs right now. We thought that the faceoff will be in the right circle, so during the time-out I drew a combination for this side and then it turned out it is in the left. Nothing you can do after that. I was just watching how the puck bounced back to Dikov,” explained Muhachev immediately after the nerve-wracking game.

“It’s a great tournament for us. The only sad note is that we couldn’t beat Israel as we had our chances. But when you compare the teams in the group and our preparation, I think the third place is success. Our top line played on high level. Dilkov was impressive with his movement and skating, Vasilev showed his speed and energy. He was very emotional during the whole process and was fully involved in every moment, taking things internally. And I want of course to point out the captain – Dikov. I’ve know him since he was a child. He was a true captain and helped this team a lot with his leadership. Without him this would not be achievable.”

In the last game China defeated Australia 6-1 and took the second place having the tie-breaker against Bulgaria after beating the host badly on Thursday (10-4). The captain Rudi Ying had two goals and an assists to finish second on the tournament’s scoring list with 14 points (8+6) ahead of Dilkov (8+5) and Vasilev (5+7). The expectations were high for China as the project for developing the game in the country for the 2022 Winter Olympics is in full mode. The first two games were frustrating though – a 2-3 loss against Israel and 1-2 defeat to Iceland. After that China won three in a row with a 27-7 goal record.

“Our players are looking much better than the opposition here, but we missed our chances in the first games and made some mistakes too. We outplayed every other team, but against Israel, for example, we scored only two goals on 36 shots and allowed three on just 12 shots. If there was a playoff-system as a year ago, we would have had a chance to win it all, but this tournament is very short and you can’t afford to lose a game,” said the China’s U20 national team head coach Alexander Barkov.

“Israel won the tournament deservedly as they played smart and tactical hockey in all games. They did that against China, waiting for their chances and scored the game winning goal on a power play eight minutes to the end. Against us their coach matched his top line to our top line all the time and didn’t take any risks. It worked again,” Bulgarian head coach Muhachev explained his opinion about the tournament winner.

Iceland had to settle for fourth place while top-seeded Australia was fifth. Winless New Zealand is relegated to the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III Qualification.

 

 

Results Thread

 

 

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Today started in Cape Town the last U20 world championship program 2018 tournament, the Division III qualification.

 

Originally there were 3 teams considering to compete, but since for some reason Turkmenistan announced their withdrawal, the organizers decided to keep the round-robin format also for the 2 remaining teams...so we have a very strange system for this tournament. South Africa and Chinese Taipei will play during the next 3 days three matches the team with the highest amount of accumulated points will win the tournament and qualify for next years U20 Division III world championships.

 

here todays 1st match result

 

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III Qualification
In Cape Town, , 5-7 February 2018

 

Monday February 5th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Day 1 Results (GMT +2)

 

20:00  Chinese Taipei  0 - 1  South Africa

 

Provisional Standing After Day 1

1. South Africa 3, 2. Chinese Taipei 0

 

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Tomorrows schedule

 

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III Qualification
In Cape Town, , 5-7 February 2018

 

Tuesday February 6th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Day 2 Schedule (GMT +2)

 

20:00  South Africa vs Chinese Taipei  

 

*2nd of the 3 matches, South Africa can already secure their qualification if they win tomorrow, in other side Chinese Taipei must win to keep their chances alive also for the 3rd final match.

 

LIVESTREAM

HERE

 

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2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III Qualification
In Cape Town, , 5-7 February 2018

 

Tuesday February 6th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Day 2 Results (GMT +2)

 

20:00  South Africa  5 - 4  Chinese Taipei  

 

 

Provisional Standing After Day 2

1. South Africa 6, 2. Chinese Taipei 0

 

*South Africa already assured to win the qualification tournament and earn promotion to next years U20 Division III where they will replace New Zealand, freshly relegated from this years U20 Div III tournament held a couple of weeks ago in Bulgaria.

 

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Tomorrows last day of the Men´s Under 20 world championships 2018 program schedule

 

 

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III Qualification
In Cape Town, , 5-7 February 2018

 

Wednesday February 7th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Final Day Schedule (GMT +2)

 

20:00  Chinese Taipei vs South Africa  

 

*Final 3rd match of the tournament, however the result will not have any influence about the final standing as South Africa is the already winner of the tournament.

 

LIVESTREAM

HERE

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The todays scheduled match has been cancelled upon decision of the Directorate, so the Men´s Under 20 World Championship 2018 program is over

 

2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III Qualification
In Cape Town, , 5-7 February 2018

 

Wednesday February 7th, 2018 -

Round-Robin Final Day Results (GMT +2)

 

20:00  Chinese Taipei  Cancelled  South Africa  

 

 

Final Standing

 

1. South Africa 6   

Qualified for the Men´s Under 20 Division III World Championships 2019

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2. Chinese Taipei 0

  Turkmenistan  DNS