WC: 2023 IIHF World Championship Division III, Group A and B
- Thread starter Eye of Ra
- Start date
I suspect this is in part a result of the pandemic-influenced 2022 championships, which were all over the place in terms of attendance. Div IIIB had just three teams. Kyrgyzstan ran roughshod over Div IV over three of these same teams, plus Kuwait.
I suspect once things normalize a bit, you'll see a more competitive division. Kyrgyzstan and its contingent of Russians will move up to Div IIIA (where they will probably steamroll over South Africa and the rest) and the likes of Bosnia and Iran will muddle through on their own.
aquaregia
Registered User
Hard to argue with that - next years' 3B could be quite a tightly contested fight for gold between Hong Kong, Singapore and BiH (Iran will need another couple of years probably). I think it's confirmed already that North Korea will be demoted from 3A after withdrawing again due to their zero-covid policy, and it's hardly guaranteed whether they'll show up for 2024 either (even if they do, what shape will they be in after no competitive games for five years?).
aquaregia
Registered User
Malaysia 1-16 Hong Kong
Iran 0-18 Kyrgyzstan
Singapore 2-8 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Not too much new learned in the first game - Malaysia predictably still barely functional. Hey at least they got on the scoreboard this time! Iran though have less of an excuse to be losing by that margin to Kyrgyzstan (well, in relative terms anyway), both in terms of performance and result it was a regression for them from 2022. Injuries maybe took their toll in mitigation, as they could only dress 14 skaters for the match, and they may be saving themselves for the Singapore game where they can still salvage 4th if they win.
In what could have shaped up to be a tough battle between the teams featuring the two best forwards not playing for Kyrgyzstan (Mirza Omer and Ethan Redden), it was the home side that got out the blocks quicker, swarming Singapore and being rewarded with two early first-period goals for their pressure. Singapore did gradually find a bit more attacking rhythm as the match progressed, but when Omer broke away on Singapore's powerplay to hold up the puck and dish perfectly for Mlivic to make it 3-0, the Singaporeans' heads dropped. Goals four, five and six (the latter two coming from bad goalie errors), the game was all but won before the Third period had started. Ethan Redden's goal at the end of the period was no more than a consolation.
Gakkovic scored to make it 7-1 and put Singapore on -2 from 2 on the powerplay overall, London got in on the act crashing the net for number eight, and Singapore even got a shorthanded goal of their own, with a bit of fisticuffs in between as the city state's frustrations briefly boiled over.
A great win to seal silver for the Bosnians and cause for optimism for next year's tournament, but a major crash back down to earth for Singapore, who'll have to raise their game if they want revenge on Iran in their final match.
Iran 0-18 Kyrgyzstan
Singapore 2-8 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Not too much new learned in the first game - Malaysia predictably still barely functional. Hey at least they got on the scoreboard this time! Iran though have less of an excuse to be losing by that margin to Kyrgyzstan (well, in relative terms anyway), both in terms of performance and result it was a regression for them from 2022. Injuries maybe took their toll in mitigation, as they could only dress 14 skaters for the match, and they may be saving themselves for the Singapore game where they can still salvage 4th if they win.
In what could have shaped up to be a tough battle between the teams featuring the two best forwards not playing for Kyrgyzstan (Mirza Omer and Ethan Redden), it was the home side that got out the blocks quicker, swarming Singapore and being rewarded with two early first-period goals for their pressure. Singapore did gradually find a bit more attacking rhythm as the match progressed, but when Omer broke away on Singapore's powerplay to hold up the puck and dish perfectly for Mlivic to make it 3-0, the Singaporeans' heads dropped. Goals four, five and six (the latter two coming from bad goalie errors), the game was all but won before the Third period had started. Ethan Redden's goal at the end of the period was no more than a consolation.
Gakkovic scored to make it 7-1 and put Singapore on -2 from 2 on the powerplay overall, London got in on the act crashing the net for number eight, and Singapore even got a shorthanded goal of their own, with a bit of fisticuffs in between as the city state's frustrations briefly boiled over.
A great win to seal silver for the Bosnians and cause for optimism for next year's tournament, but a major crash back down to earth for Singapore, who'll have to raise their game if they want revenge on Iran in their final match.
aquaregia
Registered User
Iran 2-11 Singapore
Hong Kong 2-12 Kyrgyzstan
Bosnia-Herzegovina 15-1 Malaysia
That's the division wrapped up, and not too much else to add. Iran finish the section very disappointingly after a bright start to the campaign - conceding twice off their own powerplay rather summed things up for them this afternoon. Kyrgyzstan manage double digit wins in every single match and Mamed Seifulov ends the tournament with 18 goals from the five games.
The only blot on BiH's copy-book tonight is that they went behind for all of three minutes to Malaysia, but they'll be holding their heads high taking 2nd place on home ice (about as much as they could have realistically hoped for), and being set well to challenge properly for promotion next year.
Hong Kong 2-12 Kyrgyzstan
Bosnia-Herzegovina 15-1 Malaysia
That's the division wrapped up, and not too much else to add. Iran finish the section very disappointingly after a bright start to the campaign - conceding twice off their own powerplay rather summed things up for them this afternoon. Kyrgyzstan manage double digit wins in every single match and Mamed Seifulov ends the tournament with 18 goals from the five games.
The only blot on BiH's copy-book tonight is that they went behind for all of three minutes to Malaysia, but they'll be holding their heads high taking 2nd place on home ice (about as much as they could have realistically hoped for), and being set well to challenge properly for promotion next year.
alko
Registered User
The Bosnian Hockey Federation streamed them all live on Youtube. You can find them on their channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@hokejaskisavezbih/streams
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
Came across the hydra page for the women's Division IIA. North Korea has been demoted after forfeiting again. I assume it will be the same for the men's team. Didn't find anything about it newer than the news they weren't going to show up last year due to Covid.
aquaregia
Registered User
tiburon12
Registered User
- Jul 18, 2009
- 4,651
- 4,463
Taiwan should win, though Thailand can beat them. They just played a dogshit 1st game and got smoked 11-2. Felt like Thailand had the better players but Taiwan capitalized and got some fortuitous bounces from deflections etc.
I think final standings will be
Taiwan
Thailand
SA
Turkmenistan
Luxembourg
With the only Olympic-size rink in the country now closed, does that mean Singapore is about to drop out of WC program after this season as they now don't meet minimum participation requirements?
