WC: 2017 Division I, II, III

[Nosswor]

Last year we were easily trashed by GB on our home ice. This year we were equal with them on heir ice.
That's what it means to have a good coach like Enio.

lol GB were much the better team last year and this year. [MOD]

 

[cave troll]

Damn. Good game vs Japan, and another defeat.

 

[filip85]

Damn. Good game vs Japan, and another defeat.

Yes, I expected much more lopsided SOG's and result.

 

[Urbanskog]

I hope this is the last IIHF tournament in Northern Ireland. The GB matches can barely fill one-fifth of the seats.

 

[tony d]

Interesting to see South Korea doing so well, big game tomorrow with Hungary for them.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

I hope this is the last IIHF tournament in Northern Ireland. The GB matches can barely fill one-fifth of the seats.

Britain scores. Cue the polite applause.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Rod Stewart's son just scored a goal.

 

[MeHateHe]

I hope this is the last IIHF tournament in Northern Ireland. The GB matches can barely fill one-fifth of the seats.

What kind of support would the tournament get if it were in England proper? Did they put it in Belfast because their arena was superior or why?

 

[cave troll]

I just saw there Netherlands got destroyed by Lithuania. 1-15 in 2 games.
Very bad.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well to be fair this is basically Netherlands B team.

 

[Siamese Dream]

What kind of support would the tournament get if it were in England proper? Did they put it in Belfast because their arena was superior or why?

A lot more if it were somewhere central like Sheffield or Nottingham, a lot of people would be able to drive there after work and be home at a reasonable time for the midweek games. Unless you live close to somewhere like Liverpool with a connecting port, you can't drive to Belfast. You can't really go there for just a day, you have to fly there and stay the night, which is more expensive than most European cities that might host a tournament of this level, going to Belfast is essentially going abroad and a lot of regular GB fans were actually annoyed it's in Belfast because it could be in a much nicer, cheaper foreign city. I am hoping attendances will pick up for Friday and Saturday night though when more people will be able to make the trip.

There aren't many arenas that would be suitable to host IIHF tournaments. They have had u18s and u20s in Dumfries recently, but it isn't big enough for a men's tournament. Nottingham and Sheffield are suitable but they are popular venues for other events which will make them more money so they weren't interested. I think the only other suitable rink is Coventry which is a bit of a dump, and the new arena in Cardiff which has 2 big dressing rooms with the size of the others being a joke so I couldn't imagine IIHF would be too pleased with that.

 

[MeHateHe]

A lot more if it were somewhere central like Sheffield or Nottingham, a lot of people would be able to drive there after work and be home at a reasonable time for the midweek games. Unless you live close to somewhere like Liverpool with a connecting port, you can't drive to Belfast. You can't really go there for just a day, you have to fly there and stay the night, which is more expensive than most European cities that might host a tournament of this level, going to Belfast is essentially going abroad and a lot of regular GB fans were actually annoyed it's in Belfast because it could be in a much nicer, cheaper foreign city. I am hoping attendances will pick up for Friday and Saturday night though when more people will be able to make the trip.

There aren't many arenas that would be suitable to host IIHF tournaments. They have had u18s and u20s in Dumfries recently, but it isn't big enough for a men's tournament. Nottingham and Sheffield are suitable but they are popular venues for other events which will make them more money so they weren't interested. I think the only other suitable rink is Coventry which is a bit of a dump, and the new arena in Cardiff which has 2 big dressing rooms with the size of the others being a joke so I couldn't imagine IIHF would be too pleased with that.

Such a shame, really. It looks like a nice facility. Disappointed that Belfast isn't supporting the tournament.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Such a shame, really. It looks like a nice facility. Disappointed that Belfast isn't supporting the tournament.

Most of the people here are locals. I haven't seen many jerseys of other British hockey teams, mostly Belfast Giants jerseys and people with local accents. I don't think the locals are the main problem even though a lot more do turn out to watch their own team, it is just so inaccessible to everyone else.

 

[kaiser matias]

Poland holding their own against Kazakhsan midway through the second, with some decent chances even. Would be nice for them to steal a point from the Kazakhs, though I'm not holding out hope for the Poles to get promoted.

And a side note, really like that Kazakhstan uses Kazakh on their jerseys. Much prefer for teams to use their local language rather than just English, especially when some countries (Belarus, Finland) have used the native language but switched.

Also glad to see Poland go back to this logo. The other one they were using last year just felt odd to me, looked like a giant S.

 

[kaiser matias]

Poland holding their own against Kazakhsan midway through the second, with some decent chances even. Would be nice for them to steal a point from the Kazakhs, though I'm not holding out hope for the Poles to get promoted.

And a side note, really like that Kazakhstan uses Kazakh on their jerseys. Much prefer for teams to use their local language rather than just English, especially when some countries (Belarus, Finland) have used the native language but switched.

Also glad to see Poland go back to this logo. The other one they were using last year just felt odd to me, looked like a giant S.

Now after being able to watch the second, I'm going to say I think Poland could actually take this. Kazakhstan is playing really sloppy, and Poland has had a lot of good chances, though I feel it could end up being a one-goal game decided on a weak shot that gets through. Don't know why Kazakhstan hasn't shown up today, they should be a lot better than this; maybe the loss to Korea just totally demoralised them.

 

[Urbanskog]

Poland holding their own against Kazakhsan midway through the second, with some decent chances even. Would be nice for them to steal a point from the Kazakhs, though I'm not holding out hope for the Poles to get promoted.

And a side note, really like that Kazakhstan uses Kazakh on their jerseys. Much prefer for teams to use their local language rather than just English, especially when some countries (Belarus, Finland) have used the native language but switched.

Also glad to see Poland go back to this logo. The other one they were using last year just felt odd to me, looked like a giant S.

What do you mean? Finland has always used Finnish on their jerseys.

 

[kaiser matias]

What do you mean? Finland has always used Finnish on their jerseys.

They usually have both "Finland" and "Suomi" on their jersey, like this:

Though a quick look tells me that the country is also called Finland in Swedish, which would explain it, being an official language and all.

So not the same as Belarus, who had Беларусь on their jersey, but now just have "Belarus," which is not the official name in either Belarusian or Russian (its the same word in both).

 

[kaiser matias]

And really annoying that the IIHF website went down with less than 5 minutes in regulation in Poland-Kazakhstan. Really wanted to see how that game ended.

 

[ozo]

Kazakhstan looks poorer than they should. That NA line should be dominant but it simply isnt. I kinda like it.

 

[HungryFrank]

IIHF should raise time for players to become eligible to 5 years. Maybe players that belong to the same ethnic group can have a limit of 2 years but having artificial teams like Korea is ruining the international competitions. Their U20 team has played in D2B this year, I mean, come on...

 

[kaiser matias]

IIHF should raise time for players to become eligible to 5 years. Maybe players that belong to the same ethnic group can have a limit of 2 years but having artificial teams like Korea is ruining the international competitions. Their U20 team has played in D2B this year, I mean, come on...

Or even instead of having the separate 2-year and 4-year rule (the former for players who never competed internationally, the latter for them) just make it a uniform 4-years. Wouldn't totally eliminate it (and several of the Korean and Kazakh players would still qualify), but it would make players commit to the country rather than treating it just like another club team. But I also am against something like FIFA with their heritage nationality rules: the player should have played in the country they represent, so as fun as it would have been to see Wojtek Wolski play for Poland back when he was decent, I would have preferred he spend some time in Poland actually playing hockey first (not to mention what it would do for countries like Italy, which used to be notorious for it's Canadian contingent).

 

[jonas2244]

As they still face the Ukraine that (very probable) win vs. Ungary should pretty much secure the spot in the WC for South Korea next year.

(Only one point by a natrualised player. Though Dalton is quite important there).

 

[stv11]

Korea's imports don't score that many points but they still play key roles for a team that is a bit clumsy at time but know how to play as a team and have a great attitude.

Austria-Korea will be very interesting.

 

[sytheman]

9 points in the first three games. Who'd ever thought about it?
This is actually more enjoyable because our locals have significantly contributed to our success thus far.
The naturalized players still play important roles but you can't deny the fact that Korea does not rely on certain individual to make run.

 

[jonas2244]

Korea's imports don't score that many points but they still play key roles for a team that is a bit clumsy at time but know how to play as a team and have a great attitude.

Austria-Korea will be very interesting.

I think that's the main difference between Korea and Kasachstan and Belarus. Korea tried to build a team which integrates the importants but also puts their "local" players into important position while the KAZ just sends Dawes on the ice everytime it's important.

I'd be in favor of Korea to have it in the WC.