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Ice Hockey 2015 - 2016 Discussion Thread

hckošice

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phelps Experienced

phelps   7,706

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Time for another update around the main European leagues, since many things happened in the last few days...

 

first of all, the regular season ended also in Sweden and Finland...

 

in the SHL, it was Skellefteå once again to win the first part of the championship, and frankly it's very hard to imagine some other teams stopping them from another SHL triumph also at the end of the PO...

the leading candidate to try stopping the multiple defending champions should be the Frölunda Indians (second in the RS), with remote chances also for Linköpings and Luleå (3rd and 4th respectively)...

the other teams' participation in the PO is in my opinion just "for the numbers"...

 

in the Finnish Liiga, at the end of a fierce battle it was HIFK Helsinki to get the edge over the usual suspects Kärpät Oulu after the completion of the 60-game RS...

and those 2 teams start the PO with all the favors to win the title, but, differently from the "cousins" just beyond the border, all the teams entering the PO have some chances to create big surprises in the early rounds, leaving the Liiga much more unpredictable if compared to the SHL...

in particular, CHL semifinalist Lukko Rauma shouldn't be underestimated (despite a modest 6th place in the RS), since they have on of the best goaltenders around Europe (the American Ryan Zapolski)...

 

in Switzerland, instead, the quarterfinals are already over, and as we said in the past days, the possible big surprise actually happened: no. 8 seed SC Bern simply destroyed the RS dominators ZSC Lions Zürich and swept them out of the play-offs (4-0 the final result of the series)...

and also Lugano and defending champions Davos swept their respective rivals (Zug and Kloten) to reach the semifinals, as did the Geneve Servette, but "only" in 5 games over the regional rivals Fribourg Gotteron...

so, we're going to have HC Davos vs SC Bern and Geneve-Servette vs HC Lugano in the round of last 4 (best-of-7 series, as always)...

 

but the hockey pages of the Swiss newspapers are all about the Kloten Flyers dramatic situation, in fact the historical club is just on the verge of collapsing...

more details can be found here:

http://www.eurohockey.com/article/4438-comment-on-the-kloten-flyers-situation-by-andreas-reiner.html

 

finally, a couple of quick news:

 

- in the German DEL, the Kölner Haie threw off the Adler Mannheim in the big clash of the preliminary round of the PO (2-1 the series)

- in the Austrian EBEL, the PO quarterfinals are also over. The semifinals are: Red Bull Salzburg vs VSV Villach and Orli Znojmo vs EHC Linz

- in the MOL League, the finalist are now known: it will be a clash between MAC Budapest and DVTK Jegesmedvék

 

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hckošice Mentor

hckošice   14,910

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Taipei takes Challenge Cup

Title defence with 6-1 win against UAE

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Chinese Taipei captain Yen-Chin Shen accepts the winners’ trophy

 

Chinese Taipei defended its Challenge Cup of Asia title. It again came to a winner-takes-it-all game with the United Arab Emirates, this time the host of the 2016 edition in Abu Dhabi, and Chinese Taipei claimed the trophy with a 6-1 win.

The players from the island of Taiwan steamrolled through the tournament. Before the final game on Friday evening they had already beaten Thailand (8-1), Singapore (14-2) and Mongolia (18-2).

The United Arab Emirates entered the last day with a clean record as well defeating Thailand (6-1), Singapore (5-2) and Mongolia (5-1).

The final game started as a tight clash but although Chinese Taipei outshot the UAE with a narrow margin (29-28), the team from Far East did much better in capitalizing on its chances. To Weng, who led the tournament in scoring with 14 goals and five assists in four games, opened the scoring on a lengthy power play at 8:33 and Ping-En Lu made it 2-0 with 71 seconds left in the opening frame.

The Emirati outshot their opponent in the middle frame but late in the period captain Yen-Chin Shen and Yen-Chih Chen scored for Chinese Taipei to make it a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Early in the third period Lin and Weng both scored their second marker of the night and UAE captain Juma Al Dhaheri scored his team’s only goal on a power play for the final score of 6-1. Yu-Cheng Liao had a strong night in Chinese Taipei’s net with 27 saves on 28 shots.

For Chinese Taipei it’s the sixth Challenge Cup of Asia win after 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The United Arab Emirates won in 2009 and 2012, Hong Kong in 2011.

Mongolia finished the event in third place after an 11-0 blanking of Singapore and a 7-3 win for third place on the final day against Thailand. Thailand was fourth getting its only victory against winless Singapore.

On 9th April the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia Division I will be played in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to determine the team to be promoted. Beside the host country also Macau, Malaysia, India and for the first time Qatar participate in the event.

Prior to that the Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia Division I will start in Chinese Taipei on Tuesday with the hosts, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India. For the women’s national teams from Malaysia and India it will be the first tournament ever.

 

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hckošice Mentor

hckošice   14,910

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Aussies win U18 by a goal

U18 team earns promotion in wild final day

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Australia won the tournament on a goal in just over a minute to go in its finale against Mexico

 

A wild set of events made the final day of the 2016 IIHF U18 World Championships Division III Group A one to be remembered.

A year ago Australia was relegated from Division II Group B and the history shows that every time this happens, the Kangaroos were right back with promotion next year (2005, 2009, 2011, 2014).

They did it again, but in the most dramatic fashion by far. After a big upset win by Bulgaria over Turkey which gave them the chance to advance, the Aussies found themselves in a fight against bottom-ranked Mexico.

In a wild third period that saw both teams pull their goalies and a 3-1 Mexico lead evaporate in a four-goal comeback from the Australians, Ellesse Carini scored the game winner with just over a minute left, winning the final game 5-4 and earning promotion for his team back to Division II.

It was a promotion that seemed lost to Australia only hours before. Turkey, the surprise of the tournament, overwhelmed Australia 9-6 in a match of undefeated teams two days earlier and was just one point from getting its second straight promotion in this age group.

Considering the Turks came into the tournament as the bottom seed, it was a shocking loss for Australia.

“We took the game against Turkey too lightly. We obviously underestimated them and our defence let us down in this game. Our number one goalie (Alex Tetreault) is the best one we have in Australia and you’ll never see him having another bad game like that one,” said Australia’s head coach Stephen Laforet.

“But we don’t want to take anything from Turkey. I’m impressed the way they competed in the whole tournament. They played against our system, shut us down and that was the key.”

In 2015 Turkey won the Division III Group B in Auckland (New Zealand) and went up for the first time since 2011. They have never been in U18 or U20 Division II. The last opponent for the Turkish squad was the host Bulgaria, another chapter in the fierce rivalry between these two junior teams.

Bulgaria ended up winning the bronze after Chinese Taipei prevented Israel to win in regulation time in the first game on Sunday. Israel was leading 3-1 late in the third period and was so close to the 3rd place in the tournament, but Chen-Wei Chang tied the score in the 56th minute.

The winner was decided in a penalty shot shootout after Dani Boudnikov beated the Chinese Taipei’s goalie Sheng-Chun Huang and completed a hat trick. This way Israel finished the journey in the Winter Palace with 8 points (wins against Mexico 3-1 and Bulgaria 4-3 as well).

Bulgaria had six points before the game with Turkey, which for the first time had four wins in an IIHF U18 World Championship (the previous record was two) and needed a regulation tie to secure its debut in Division II. But in front of a passionate crowd of 2,000 in the Winter Palace in Sofia the hosts played their best game of the week in a 1-0 shutout win.

The top scorer in the event Ferhat Bakal (4+4 in the game versus Australia, 9+6 overall) missed a couple of scoring chances and was shut down by the Bulgarians. The only goal was scored by Aleksandar Gatsev who snapped the puck after a beautiful pass from behind the net by Tareq Abdi at 34:22.

“It was a great game. My concerns were only how we will play in the first 10 minutes. That cost us in the games against Australia and Israel. Overall I’m happy with the way we played in the tournament, despite losing two games that we should not lose, but that’s hockey. Today the kids played solid defense and stuck to the tactical plan”, explained Bulgaria’s head coach Daniel Cuomo.

“I said to my players that I’m proud of their achievements and they have to look at the overall picture. Nobody expected us to win so many games. In the last one there were more nerves and it seems that Bulgarians have the way to get under our player’s skin,” said Keith McAdams, the American coach of Turkey. “Bulgaria played a very good game, had a great goaltending and it was entertaining match-up.”

The result of the Bulgaria-Turkey game opened up an unexpected chance for Australia to top the group. In the last game of the tournament the Kangaroos had to take three points (regulation win) against the already relegated Mexico, who lost their previous four games with a goal difference of 6:15.

But it wasn’t going to be easy, the underdogs’ day continued with Mexico scoring in the 24th second and leading 2-0 and 3-1 in the third period. The Kangaroos kicked back with two goals in 1:23 to tie the game and Thomas Steven tallied another one at 53:26 to make it 4-3.

But the real drama started in the last two minutes of the game. A tripping penalty to Evan Connard gave Mexico a power play. After a time-out the goalie Sebastian de la Vega was taken out for an extra attacker and the Aztecas scored just 8 seconds later at 58:29.

Now was Australia’s turn to take their goalie out and the magic worked again in no time. The captain Ellesse Carini found the opponent’s net at 58:54 for the final score 5:4. This way Australia finished in the first place, followed by Turkey and Bulgaria.  

“The dominos had fallen for us. Again it was up for us to go out and do something for the gold medals. Our problem is that in our summer time we don’t play hockey, so I have to bring the players here earlier to have some kind of preparation before the Championships. We are playing against teams that are in their winter time and this is a real disadvantage for us” said Laforet.

On Australia’s roster there were six players (Steven Thomas, Lachlan Fahmy, Nicholas Weiland, Jakob Ruck, Andrew Chen and Findlay Wood) and a back-up goalie (James Downie), who are training in hockey academies in Canada and USA.

“It’s very hard to scout these kids, but all of them were outstanding in the tournament. I’m Canadian and I went back home to pick them for this event." 

"I think the level in Division III is improving every year and we can see also in other teams very good players who are developing in North America. Bulgarian captain Veselin Dikov was absolutely amazing and he is somebody to watch in the future. Ferhat Bakal from Turkey showed very good hands, speed. The guys from our team – Ellesse Carini and Liam Manwarring they also stood up”, said Laforet.

 

 

 

 

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