hckošice

what a fantastic atmosphere in the absolutely full arena. What a moment it must be for the guys to play the world champs at home, the moment when they entered to the rink was just exceptional

Now go for the C2 and the world be again awesome, but I am afraid ICF has not the balls like IAAF, so they will remove the best event to replace it by a absolutely no competitive crap just to climb up to IOC ass

ROAD TO MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 DAYS -22 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22 Days to Go, Time to introduce another participating Team of the 2017 World Championships, today its the turn of Belarus, The Belarusians have never finished higher than 6th place at the IIHF world Championships, and will look to improve on their 12th-place finish in 2017. BELARUS

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016/2017 NORWAY STAVANGER OILERS 7th League Title ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still Stavanger Oilers win sixth consecutive championship For the seventh time in eight years the Stavanger Oilers celebrate the Norwegian title with their golden helmets The Norwegian GET -Ligaen has always been a league of dynasties, dating all the way back to the 1930s when Grane won four titles in five years. The early 1950s were Furuset’s time, the early 1960s Gamlebyen’s and in the late 1960s, the league was dominated by Valerenga as the Oslo-based team won seven straight titles, and eight in nine years but then had to wait for a decade for its next championship. Between 1985 and 1993, Valerenga won the league six times. The late 1990s were the Storhamar era, as the Hamar-based team won four straight titles (and five in six years). We entered the Stavanger Oilers dynasty at the beginning of this decade, and they haven’t yet reached the end as the oiltown’s aptly-named Oilers won their sixth consecutive Norwegian championship, beating Frisk Asker Tigers 5-2 in Game 6 of the best-of-seven final. The two games they dropped to the Tigers were also the only games they lost in the post-season, having swept Stjernen and Sparta Warriors in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, respectively. The Oilers domination was complete as they also won the regular season title. Pretty good for a team that played its first official game in 2001, in the Norwegian II division. “This is unbelievably huge. It’s fantastic, we’ve been the best team from start to finish, and here we stand. It’s a great group of guys and I’m incredibly proud of them. This is wild,” said the Oiler’s 39-year-old coach Pal Kristian Guldbrandsen, who took the step from assistant to head coach this season, after five years as a player and then six as an assistant coach in the club. “I think we were the best team, and played smart, except when we lost Game 2. This team is full of winners, and they proved it by rallying back in two straight games. Many people might crumble in situations like that, but not these guys. They refuse to lose,” he added. The best team also had the top players. Stavanger’s goaltender Henrik Holm, the 2013 playoffs MVP, posted the best save percentage in the regular season and was the only goalie to start every single playoff game for his team. His goals against average in the 14 games was 1.93 and save percentage 93.0, up from 92.4 in the regular season. The team’s American forwards Mark van Guilder and Dan Kissel finished first and second in both playoff and regular season scoring. Van Guilder won the regular season scoring race with 65 points in 45 games, Kissel was tied for first in goal scoring with 29 goals in 45 games. In the playoffs, they combined for 23 goals and 43 points in 14 games. They also led the plus/minus statistics in a convincing fashion. Van Guilder was plus-25 and Kissel plus-24 in the playoffs. Both were voted into the First All-Star Team, and both earned contacts in Switzerland with NLB team EHC Visp. One other key player also disappears, since the Oilers’ Christian Dahl Andersen, 36, has decided to hang ‘em up, having been a key player on the team during its entire dynasty. His eight Norwegian championships also include one with their 2017 opponent, Frisk Asker, in 2002. “It’s fantastic to win the title with these guys. It’s great to win, but it’s sad that it’s over now,” he says. He wasn’t talking about the Oilers era. We probably haven’t seen the last of them yet.

haha well, the good news are definitely worth to be shared

50km Race walk will stay in the olympics program Matej Tóth just said the unofficial news. source in svk http://sport.aktuality.sk/c/271606/rada-iaaf-dostala-rozum-toth-bude-moct-obhajovat-zlato-na-50-km/

MEN'S UNDER 18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Group B Belarus 0 - 7 United States Period-by-Period: 0-0, 0-5, 0-2 April 13th 2016, h. 15:30, Arena Spisska Nova Ves, Spisska Nova Ves USA starts off strong Penalty-free Belarus no match in 7-0 loss The United States, gold medallists in six of the last eight WM18 events and bronze medallists last year, started off with an impressive win today. Belarus did not incur a single penalty all game, becoming the first team in tournament history to go penalty free for 60 minutes. Oliver Wahlstrom had two goals for the winners while Grant Mismash and Michael Pastujov had a goal and an assist. Joel Farabee chipped in with two assists. The Americans had a slow start, incurring the only three penalties of the opening period and failing to score, but by the second they got their legs and their momentum. Pastujov opened the scoring early in the second and two other goals followed soon after. Sean Dhooghe got a short-handed marker later and Wahlstrom capped a five-goal period with his second. Shots favoured the Americans, 51-17, and only the fine play of goalie Andrei Grishenko prevented the score from being worse. Belarus turns around and plays the Czechs tomorrow while the Americans have a day off before facing the Russians on Saturday night in what should be a thrilling game.

MEN'S UNDER 18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Group A Latvia 1 - 4 Canada Period-by-Period: 1-1, 0-2, 0-1 April 13th 2017, h. 15:30, Poprad Arena, Poprad Canada wins opener Solid outing leads to 4-1 win over Latvia Canada scored the first goal of this year's U18 on a penalty shot, controlled the second and third periods, and skated to an impressive win over Latvia. Although the first period ended 1-1, Canada outshot the Latvians 54-19 overall and controlled the last 40 minutes. Niklavs Rauza was stellar in goal for the Latvians. "We just needed to regroup after the first and listen to our coaches," defenceman Ty Smith said. "We came out much stronger in the second." "The Canadians broke our game plan," Rauza said. "It felt good that I played well, but a win would have been like heaven." The Canadians lost the bronze-medal game last year while Latvia finished ninth, and although both teams might have different aspirations this year, it's fair to say both hope to improve. "In the exhibition games we had some slow starts, but today we really brought our game," said defenceman Jett Woo, at 16 the youngest player on Canada. "We kept pounding in the second and third, and we're really proud about the way we ended the game." Latvia continues its schedule tomorrow against Switzerland while Canada has a day off before playing Slovakia on Saturday night in what should be a marquee game here in Poprad. Stylianos Mattheos opened the scoring at 11:50 on a penalty shot. He was tripped by Daniels Berzins on a clear path to the goal. Mattheos made a quick leg kick and a nice deke on Niklavs Rauza before roofing a forehand over the goalie's glove. "I was trying to get my glove on it," Rauza said, "but when he scored, I thought to myself, 'Wow, that's fast hands.'" The Latvians tied the game late in the period, though. Ian Scott couldn't handle a Deniss Smirnovs slapper, and Rihards Paskausks was right there to knock in the rebound. The Canadians overwhelmed their opponents in the second, outshooting them 25-6 and scoring the only two goals. They got an early power-play marker on a great three-way passing play between Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Mackenzie Entwistle, and Maxime Comtois. Comtois, the only Canadian on last year's team, finished the play with a quick shot at 3:36. Isaac Ratcliffe made it 3-1 five minutes later. He claimed a loose puck off a faceoff and snapped a hard shot past Rauza. Entwistle added to the tally midway through the third on a nice tip-in.

Tomorrow start the Under 18 mens world Championships top division in Slovakia, Everything is prepared and ready in Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves to host the best U18 world players under the Tatras. 10 Nations are divided in 2 preliminary groups and in Group A played in Poprad and and in group B in Spišská Nová Ves. Good luck boys ! Enjoy your home tournament. The expectations are high, and last few weeks the promo actions are rising in whole country, all SVK matches will be ofc broadcasted live in the public channel. this is gonna be a huge moment for the guys, it´s only the second time in history Slovakia host the U18 worlds. Mens Division III World Championships 2017 in Sofia (BUL) Day 3 Schedule (13th April 2017) GMT +3 Preliminary Round Last Day Group A 10:00 Bulgaria vs Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-0 Forfeited 16:30 Chinese Taipei vs Hong Kong *Bulgaria is already qualified for the knockout phase as group winner, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong will play in a direct macth for the second semifinals spot. Group B 13:00 Georgia vs United Arab Emirates 20:00 South Africa vs Luxembourg *Luxembourg with 6 points is very very close to win the group and move to the semifinals from 1st place, even a lose to South Africa might be likely enough, Georgia and South Africa both with 3 points will fight for the qualification as well, with Georgia in a better starting position since they have better H2H with RSA. UAE has also still very slim theoretical chance, but very unlikely to happen. they need to beat Georgia by a very sci-fi score difference and at same time Luxembourg to destroy South Africa also ba very high margin. Livestream Mens Under 18 Top Division World Championships 2017 in Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves (SVK) Day 1 Schedule (13th April 2017) GMT +2 Group A in Poprad 15:30 Latvia vs Canada 19:30 Slovakia vs Finland Group B in Spišská Nová Ves 15:30 Belarus vs United States 19:30 Russia vs Sweden *Tournament Format: 10 Nations are divided into two, five-team groups in the Preliminary Round. After a single round-robin series in each group, the top four teams from each group advance to the Playoff Round (Quarterfinals - a cross-over Quarterfinal games: 1A vs. 4B, 1B vs. 4A, 2A vs. 3B and 2B vs. 3A , Semifinals, Bronze Medal Match, Gold Medal Match) while the fifth-placed team in each group moves to the Relegation Round. in a best-of-three Relegation Round series. The third game is only played if needed. The winner of the series plays again at the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship, while loser is relegated to Division I Group A. Livestream Mens Under 18 Division I Group A World Championships 2017 in Bled (SLO) Day 5 Schedule (13th April 2017) GMT +2 Last Day 13:00 Norway vs Hungary 16:30 Kazakhstan vs France 20:00 Denmark vs Germany *In fact everything important is already known before this last round. France is the tournament winner and can already celebrate their first ever historic promotion to U18 World Championship top division. Also Hungary is already the official relegated team to U18 Division IB next year. the only remaining questions are who will win the other 2 medals, all other 4 teams are still in the game for silver and bronze. Livestream

Womens Division I Group B World Championships 2017 in Katowice (POL) Day 4 (12th April 2017) GMT +2 13:00 Kazakhstan vs Slovakia 4-2 16:30 Italy vs China 1-2 After GWS 20:00 Latvia vs Poland 5-4

Friendly Matches 12th April 2017 Mens Road to World Championships Czech Republic - Norway 4-0

Our young talent Albert Rusnák scored his first goal in the USA MLS for Salt Lake, and what a goal it was. at 0:25. but the weather

[hide] Event and Date Gold Medal Winner Silver Medal Winner Bronze Medal Winner Athletes Women's Team Sprint Day 1, April 12th, 2017 China Germany Russia Australia Canada China Colombia France Germany Netherlands Russia Spain Any Other Men's Team Sprint Day 1, April 12th, 2017 Great Britain France New Zealand Australia France Germany Great Britain Japan Netherlands New Zealand Poland Russia Any Other Women's Scratch Race Day 1, April 12th, 2017 Kirsten Wild Jolien D'Hoore Sarah Hammer Amy Cure Verena Eberhardt Jolien D'Hoore Stephanie Roorda Jarmila Machacova Elinor Barker Rachele Barbieri Kirsten Wild Evegeniya Romanyuta Sarah Hammer Any Other Women's Team Pursuit Day 2, April 13th, 2017 Great Britain Canada :USA United States Australia Canada China France Germany Great Britain Italy :NZL New Zealand :USA United States Any Other Men's Keirin Day 2, April 13th, 2017 Francois Pervis Matthew Glaetzer Any Other Matthew Glaetzer Fabian Puerta Zapata Tomas Babek Francois Pervis Joachim Eilers Callum Skinner Yuta Wakimoto Azizul Awang Matthijs Büchli Sam Webster Any Other Men's Team Pursuit Day 2, April 13th, 2017 Great Britain Australia Denmark Australia Belgium Canada Denmark France Great Britain Italy New Zealand Russia Any Other Men's Scratch Race Day 2, April 13th, 2017 Any Other Any Other Morgan Kneisky Morgan Kneisky Lucas Liss Cheung King Lok Felix English Adrian Teklinski Evgeny Kovalev Someone from Spain Someone from Switzerland Roman Gladush Zachary Kovalcik Any Other Women's Sprint Day 3, April 14th, 2017 Kristina Vogel Simona Krupeckaite Anastasiya Voynova Stephanie Morton Zhong Tianshi Katy Marchant Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte Lee Wai Sze Simona Krupeckaite Natasha Hansen Anastasiya Voynova Tania Calvo Barbero Any Other Women's Omnium Day 3, April 14th, 2017 Sarah Hammer Kirsten Wild Lotte Kopecky Amy Cure Jolien D'Hoore Lotte Kopecky Tatsiana Sharakova Luo Xiaoling Laurien Berthon Yumi Kajihara Kirsten Wild Anita Yvonne Stenberg Sarah Hammer Any Other Men's Indivudual Pursuit Day 3, April 14th, 2017 Andrew Tennant Any Other Thomas Denis Callum Scottson Mikhail Shemetau Jay Lamoureux Thomas Denis Kersten Thiele Andrew Tennant Filippo Ganna Artyom Zakharov Dion Beukeboom Sebastian Mora Any Other Men's Points Race Day 3, April 14th, 2017 Eloy Teruel Kenny de Ketele Sam Welsford Sam Welsford Andreas Graf Raman Ramanau Kenny de Ketele Moreno de Pauw Benjamin Thomas Cheung King Lok Regan Gough Eloy Teruel Ian Holt Any Other Women's 500m Time Trial Day 4, April 15th, 2017 Anastasiya Voynova Kristina Vogel Laurine van Riessen Zhong Tianshi Martha Bayona Pineda Katy Marchant Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte Lee Wai Sze Laurine van Riessen Daria Shmeleva Anastasiya Voynova Tania Calvo Barbero Olena Starikova Any Other Men's Omnium Day 4, April 15th, 2017 Any Other Attilio Viviani Any Other Liu Hao Leung Chun Wing Attilio Viviani Artyom Zakharov Park Sang-Hoon Aaron Gate Dylan Kennett Eloy Teruel Gaël Suter Any Other Men's Sprint Day 4, April 15th, 2017 Callum Skinner Matthew Glaetzer Quentin Lafargue Matthew Glaetzer Fabian Puerta Zapata Quentin Lafargue Joachim Eilers Callum Skinner Yoshitaku Nagasako Azizul Awang Matthijs Büchli Sam Webster Someone from Russia Any Other Women's Madison Day 4, April 15th, 2017 Russia France Great Britain Australia France Great Britain Hong Kong Ireland Italy New Zealand Russia Ukraine Any Other Women's Individual Pursuit Day 4, April 15th, 2017 Lotte Kopecky Elise Delzenne Annie Foreman-Mackey Amy Cure Rebecca Wiasak Lotte Kopecky Annie Foreman-Mackey Elise Delzenne Katie Archibald Beatrice Bartelloni Jaime Nielsen Jennifer Valente Ruth Winder Any Other Women's Keirin Day 5, April 16th, 2017 Kristina Vogel Simona Krupeckaite Someone from China Someone from Australia Someone from China Martha Bayona Pineda Kristina Vogel Miriam Welte Lee Wai Sze Simona Krupeckaite Shanne Braspennincx Someone from Russia Lee Hyejin Lyubov Basova Any Other Women's Points Race Day 5, April 16th, 2017 Someone from Great Britain Lotte Kopecky Elise Delzenne Lotte Kopecky Ina Savenka Jasmin Duehring Jarmila Machacova Elise Delzenne Someone from Great Britain Minami Uwano Anita Yvonne Stenberg Gulnaz Badykova Kimberly Geist Sarah Hammer Any Other Men's 1000m Time Trial Day 5, April 16th, 2017 Matthew Glaetzer Callum Skinner Denis Dmitriev Matthew Glaetzer Tomas Babek Someone from France Joachim Eilers Callum Skinner Yoshitaku Nagasako Azizul Awang Someone from Netherlands Someone from New Zealand Krzysztof Maksel Denis Dmitriev Any Other Men's Madison Day 5, April 16th, 2017 Great Britain France Spain Belgium Denmark France Great Britain Ireland Italy New Zealand Poland Spain Any Other [/hide]

Womens Division I Group B World Championships 2017 in Katowice (POL) Day 4 Schedule (12th April 2017) GMT +2 13:00 Kazakhstan vs Slovakia 16:30 Italy vs China 20:00 Latvia vs Poland Livestream

Womens Division I Group B World Championships 2017 in Katowice (POL) Day 3 (11th April 2017) GMT +2 13:00 Slovakia vs China 2-1 16:30 Latvia vs Kazakhstan 1-2 20:00 Poland vs Italy 1-3

Mens Under 18 Division I Group A World Championships 2017 in Bled (SLO) Day 4 (11th April 2017) GMT +2 13:00 Kazakhstan vs Denmark 4-3 After OT 16:30 Germany vs Hungary 10-0 20:00 France vs Norway 3-2

wow, what a moment for France, a empty net winner goal in the last seconds resulting in the 1st ever U18 top division participation Congrats

Friendly Matches 11th April 2017 Mens Road to World Championships Slovenia - Hungary 2-1

MEN'S DIVISION III WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 2 Group A Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 - 5 Chinese Taipei Forfeited April 11th 2017, h. 10:00, Winter Sports Palace, Sofia Hong Kong 3 - 10 Bulgaria Period-by-Period: 2-4, 1-2, 0-4 April 11th 2017, h. 20:00, Winter Sports Palace, Sofia Group A Provisional Standing After Day 2 Nation P W(OTW) L(OTL) GF GA +/- Pt. Bulgaria 3 3(0) 0(0) 18 3 +15 9 Chinese Taipei 2 1(0) 1(0) 5 3 +2 3 Hong Kong 2 1(0) 1(0) 8 10 -2 3 Bosnia and Herz. 3 0(0) 3(0) 0 15 -15 0 Group B Luxembourg 6 - 4 Georgia Period-by-Period: 1-1, 3-1, 2-2 April 10th 2017, h. 13:00, Winter Sports Palace, Sofia United Arab Emirates 0 - 8 South Africa Period-by-Period: 0-1, 0-4, 0-3 April 10th 2017, h. 16:30, Winter Sports Palace, Sofia Group B Provisional Standing After Day 2 Nation P W(OTW) L(OTL) GF GA +/- Pt. Luxembourg 2 2(0) 0(0) 23 4 +19 6 Georgia 2 1(0) 1(0) 10 11 -1 3 South Africa 2 1(0) 1(0) 13 6 +7 3 United Arab Emirat. 2 0(0) 2(0) 0 25 -25 0

Yep, I see. Well, I agree, your federation is doing one great job. I follow a bit closely your hockey now for a while, and since your federation did left the french ice sport federation and became independent, your hockey began to really flourish. I see it year after year (even if the last one wasn´t very great tho ) but still. amazing job. This is a long time I haven´t see so many atractive ideas and promo actions for a world championship than your federation is doing for this one. Hopefully the interest will rise more when the day D will get closer and Team France will do well in the tourney, this might be a huge boost for ice hockey in France, I sincerely hope French hockey will use this big opportunity. 2:1 after 40 min. looks good just the guys must avoid these dumb penalities

you´re welcome. btw whats the current situation about the upcomming worlds in Paris and Cologne. Do you notice some increasing interest in the public or eventually a bigger medialisation in France ? or it is still the same. I heard that many famous persons were invited to promote the event, also there a special ice rink with WCH logo build on the Eiffel Tower. si I´m interested to know if it helped to popularize more the event in France.

Yes until now the only french team who has ever played the top dividion (except the mens team ofc) was the womens U18 last year. Hopefully your youngs will do it this time. Allez les Bleuets !

ROAD TO MEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 DAYS -24 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Days to Go, Time to introduce another participating Team of the 2017 World Championships, the co-host Germany, The 2017 co-hosts have a lot to play for as they prepare to take to the ice in Cologne, can Marco Sturm's crew make a storybook run like their fourth-place finish in 2010? GERMANY

MEN'S DIVISION II GROUP B WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- China’s vision Olympics give new life to Chinese ice hockey Like two years ago in South Africa, China ended up on top of the standings in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B. The Olympic Games has been the spark that has lifted Chinese ice hockey to new heights and helped them gain promotion to the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A. China remained unbeaten and was the dominant team at the week-long tournament at the Paradice Ice Rink in the Auckland region in New Zealand. “China is staging the Olympic Winter Games in 2022,” head coach Jiang Hu said. “To play well at the Olympics we need to put in a lot of effort and improve our team to a very high level. That is very important to us at this time.” Winning the tournament, China is ranked 35th overall in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program and has a lot to improve to be able to compete at an Olympic tournament. At the Division II Group B level it worked well. In the round-robin competition China beat Israel 5-2, New Zealand 5-2, DPR Korea 8-3, Turkey 7-2 and Mexico 3-2. The final points were: China 15, New Zealand 12, Israel 9, Mexico 3, DPR Korea 3, Mexico 3, Turkey 3. The gold medal and promotion to the higher grade was important to China. “We have put in a lot of effort in training and in all the games,” Hu explained. “The team management and the players are very happy about this and are very satisfied. “We have received a lot of respect from our opponents, and that is very pleasant for us.” There is a lot of excitement in China about the 2022 Winter Olympics and the national and local governments are backing the national ice hockey programme. “Because we are holding the Olympics all the local programmes and the local and national hockey teams are being supported,” Hu said. “The Olympic Games is bringing more attention to ice hockey.” But the Chinese head coach and his team are very aware of the responsibility that rests on their shoulders. “We need to perform to bring rewards back to our local government,” Hu said. There is little doubt that Chinese hockey is on a steep rising curve. Between 2009 and now the team was ranked 34th to 38th and hopes to get back to higher levels. Beijing made its mark on world sport when the 2008 Summer Olympics were held in China. Two of these arenas will be used for ice hockey in 2022 one of them already hosting new KHL team Kunlun Red Star. “There are a lot of other good players outside this team training inside China,” Hu said. “Players are putting more effort into their work to get selected in national teams and they are very enthusiastic about this.” It is the support from national and local government that has played an important role in China’s improvement. “To help us the local government has organised a lot of competitions. We have never had this type of support before,” Hu said. China’s biggest tests at the championships came in the first two games against Israel and New Zealand. They won both games 5-2. There was a similar pattern in both games with the scores level at two-all after two periods. China then took control to score three more goals in the final period. The Ice Blacks were fired up for the game and scored the first goal in each of the first two periods. China only equalized by scoring on power plays at the end of both periods. “New Zealand was the toughest game for us and gave us a good fight,” Hu said. “But our players did not give up even when we got behind.” China plays an efficient game at speed and is skilled at making the power plays count. Four goals were scored from power plays against DPR Korea and three against Turkey. There was a lot of width in the Chinese play and their forwards move at speed to pressure the defence. They had the ability to strike quickly. During this tournament the Chinese were more physical than they used to be. They played with more intensity and have the ability to move quickly from defence into the attacking zone. The player statistics illustrate the depth in the Chinese squad. Jiachang Boa, the face-off leader with 76.92 percent, was the only Chinese player to top the list in any key area. But there were enough others in the top-10 to give China the edge. The highest placed were goalkeeper Zehao Sun in second place with 136 saves from 148 shots at goal and defenceman Mingxi Yang with five scoring points. Another key Chinese player was captain Ling Chen who was third on the table with four assists. The Chinese goal scoring leaders were Cheng Zhang and Hao Zhang with four goals and two assists. The other key face-off player in the team was Rudi Ying, who was the scoring leader at the U20 World Championship Division III that was also held in New Zealand, at Dunedin, with 19 points and was named the best forward by the directorate then. He plays for Kunlun Red Star in the Kontinental Hockey League. New Zealand The Ice Blacks probably had its best prepared team since it won the Division III title in 2009. But it was up against a Chinese team that has Olympic aspirations. “It was one of the best teams we’ve had in my time,” captain Bert Haines, who first played for New Zealand in 2010, said. “We were well prepared and this was shown by the way we matched China for 60 minutes. It was the top ranked team. “We could have won. There were just a couple of plays that opened up that game. It was much tighter than the final score would indicate. “We came back well to beat Israel and that was a must win game for us. We were able to dictate play for most of that game.” The Ice Blacks beat Turkey 4-1, lost to China 5-2 and beat Israel 5-2, Mexico 4-2 and DPR Korea 8-1. The games against Israel and Mexico were hard fought and brought out the best in the maturing Ice Blacks team under new head coach Maru (Stacey) Rout. The gold medal had been conceded to China after they beat the Ice Blacks in the second game. The next two games against Israel and Mexico defined New Zealand’s place at the championships. The team wanted the silver medal and came out with all guns blazing in the first period against Israel and led 3-0 after just 15 minutes. It was the game in which 19-year-old Jacob Ratcliffe came of age and scored a hat trick of goals. He scored six goals and shared top spot on the championship table. Ratcliffe has jet propulsion on skates and this enables him to jump on any chance to score goals. He has the potential to become a super star. He grew up in Canterbury and was in the Red Devils team that won the New Zealand League in 2013 and 2014. He made his senior international debut last year. Mexico caused the Ice Blacks some grief when they came back from a two goal deficit in the first period to be just one goal behind at the end of the second period. It was Ratcliffe who came to the rescue by scoring his fifth tournament goal with just five minutes left to give the Ice Blacks a two goal cushion. The Ice Blacks went to Melbourne for pre-tournament training and honed their skills with games against the Melbourne Ice and Northern Mustangs Australian league teams. “The biggest benefit of going to Melbourne was pre-tournament games against teams that compared in skill with the teams we faced at the world champs,” Haines said. “We were a new team coming together and learning new systems and were able to try out our systems and use them.” Haines instilled his high principles into the Ice Blacks. “Everyone embraced the fact that it is an honour to represent your country at home. We were a great group of guys who came together in a supportive culture.” It was a big step up by a New Zealand side that had finished fourth at Mexico City last year. Head coach Maru Rout likes winning and coached the Canterbury Red Devils to three titles from 2012 to 2014. He has co-opted Anatoli Khorosov, who followed him at the Red Devils, to be assistant coach of the Ice Blacks. Khorosov brings a strong style of Russian and European hockey to the table. It is fast passing and utilizes the whole ice Rout used to like the more physical North American style of hockey but he now uses a mixed combination of physical and European skills with fast passing and shooting. The best New Zealand player was Rick Parry who topped the goal keeper list by making 125 saves and conceding just nine goals. His best performances came in the key games against Israel when he conceded just two goals from 39 attempts and against Mexico when he saved 30 shots and conceded just two goals. Parry, 29, has been a regular in the Ice Blacks since 2008 and now plays for the Adelaide Adrenaline in the Australian Ice Hockey League. Two experienced 26-year-olds played a key role in the New Zealand forwards. Chris Eaden was third equal on the table with four assists and Paris Heyd hit three goals. Heyd played a power forward role on defence and had the ability to take control of a game. He is fast on skates and skilled on the breakaway. Haines and Andrew Hay were solid defenders who made life easier for Parry in goal. Israel Israel had to be satisfied with the bronze medal when it was beaten by China and New Zealand with scores of 5-2 in the first and third games. It retained the third spot it filled at Mexico City last year. Israel beat Mexico 6-2, DPR Korea 9-2 and Turkey 5-0. The player statistics show that Israel had some elite players but the big problem for American coach Derek Eisler was the lack of depth. Israel has compulsory military training for two years and eight months and it robs the sport of promising players before they reach their prime. The best player for Israel at the championship was Elie Klein, 27, who was the scoring leader with 11 points. He scored four goals and had seven assists. He was top of the assist ladder and was runner-up in the face-off table with 76.47 percent. Ilya Spektor, 20, one of the youngest players, was the joint leading goal scorer with six and was third on the scoring table with nine points. Daniel Mazour scored a hat trick in the final-round win against Turkey to finish third on the goal-scoring table with five. Other key players for Israel were defender Michael Kozevnikov and Roey Aharonovich, who is the first Israeli to play in the NCAA College system in the United States. He will play for Neumann University in Pennsylvania. The men’s ice hockey team competes at the Division III. Outside the medals The three other teams only gained one win and their play was noted for its inconsistency. They just did not have the depth to have back-to-back top performances. Mexico’s only win came in its first game against DPR Korea, 5-1. But they had strong performances in its last two games to lose narrowly to New Zealand and China. Mexico lost 3-2 in its final game and held China scoreless in the final period. The best player was Luis Alberta de la Vega, who was fourth equal on the goal scoring table and filled the same spot on the defencemen scoring table with four goals. Goalie Alfonso de Alba made 120 saves and only conceded 13 goals to be third on the table. DPR Korea looked to be a major threat when it thumped Turkey 11-3 with blitzkrieg tactics. Chun Rim Hong scored a hat trick of goals and Pong Il Ri was runner-up on the assists table with five and topped the defencemen’s scoring table with six points. The young Turkish team that included 13 players from this year’s championship-winning under-20 team could not match it with the big boys and finished last and will be demoted to Division III next year. The one bright spot was the 1-0 win over Mexico in the third round. Its best player was goalie Tolga Bozaci. The Directorates best players of the championships were: Goaltender: Rick Parry (New Zealand). Defenceman: Michael Kozevnikov (Israel). Forward: Hao Zhang (China). Results Thread

but it´s really enough of those bronzes and podium places. It´s Time now for gold and promotion higher hopefully next year will be the right one