U18: IIHF U18 Men's Div IIIA and IIIB

[MeHateHe]

Division IIIA underway in Iceland with Israel, Mexico, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Turkiye and Luxembourg along with the hosts. Looks to be setting up for a showdown between the two Is (Israel and Iceland) for the gold and promotion to Division IIB, as both teams are undefeated through three games. (Actually, as I write this, Iceland is up 6-3 through two periods on Turkiye, but it would be a big collapse if they were to lose. Luxembourg is getting hammered, having given up 39 goals and scored only once in three games. I'll defer to our more frequent contributors to the prospects thread as to whether any of these players counts as a prospect in any real sense, although it doesn't seem like there are any players with any real playing connections to stronger hockey countries. One of the Mexican kids is listed as being a player on a US prep school team, but that's it.

The games are all being streamed from the IIHF page. The level of play is as you might expect. I'm watching the Ice/Tur game now and it's striking how much showboating the Turkish kids are doing, given they're three goals down.

Anyway, link to the tournament is here: IIHF - Schedule and Results 2023 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division III, Group A

Division IIIB will wrap up tomorrow in South Africa. It's a four-team tournament, also including New Zealand, Hong Kong and Thailand. They're four relatively evenly matched teams, with three of the four games played so far being within two goals. Hong Kong (2-0) can win promotion with a win tomorrow over Thailand, although a Thai win could leave a three-way Thai (ha!) with New Zealand, should the Kiwis beat South Africa in the late game. A 3-goal win by Thailand would give them the tournament. If they win by 2, New Zealand wins the tournament and if it's a one-goal Thailand win, then I think it might actually be Thailand again, although the IIHF tiebreaking procedure is mysterious lady.

Streams of the games are posted to what looks to be the third-party company hired to shoot video, here:

https://www.youtube.com/@PedigreeMedia69/streams

And the tournament website is here:

IIHF - Schedule and Results 2023 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division III, Group B

IIHF - Schedule and Results 2023 IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division III, Group B

www.iihf.com

Click to read more...

 

[MeHateHe]

No really, these tournaments are where the drama lies.

First, mea culpa. I misread one of the game scores in the Division IIIA tournament. Mexico beat Israel on the second day of the tournament, so Iceland went into today's action alone on top with nine points on three games, while Israel had six points. Israel thumped Bosnia and Herzegovina 11-0 in the early game today. Assuming Iceland beats Luxembourg today - pretty likely - then the game between Israel and Iceland Sunday will be for all the marbles.

Over at the Division IIIB tournament, Hong Kong could have secured promotion with a win over Thailand today. After battling back from 4-1 down late in the second period, Hong Kong gave up the game winner with 2:08 to go in the third. Hong Kong then pulled their goalie: had Thailand scored an empty-net goal then Thailand and New Zealand would have potentially been tied in GF/GA.

As it stands now, a win by New Zealand over thus-far-winless South Africa would net them the tournament.

The hockey remains not very good,

 

[kaiser matias]

To update:

Israel defeated host Iceland to win Division IIIA, which must have been tough for the host Icelandic team, who was going into the game with an undefeated record and a 35-7 goal record, but they couldn't handle the Israelis, who won convincingly 5-1. Luxembourg finishes last with only 3 goals scored in 5 games (and 67 against).

New Zealand won the Division IIIB as expected, facing no issue against South Africa. They'll place in Division IIIA next year, along with Iceland, Turkey, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and whoever is relegated from Division IIB (which runs March 27 to April 2).

 

[MeHateHe]

To update:

Israel defeated host Iceland to win Division IIIA, which must have been tough for the host Icelandic team, who was going into the game with an undefeated record and a 35-7 goal record, but they couldn't handle the Israelis, who won convincingly 5-1. Luxembourg finishes last with only 3 goals scored in 5 games (and 67 against).

New Zealand won the Division IIIB as expected, facing no issue against South Africa. They'll place in Division IIIA next year, along with Iceland, Turkey, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and whoever is relegated from Division IIB (which runs March 27 to April 2).

Just coming back to say a similar thing. I watched a bunch of the Israel/Iceland game and Israel was certainly the better team. Iceland were not as good at generating scoring chances.

Next up on the U18 calendar is division IIB, with Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), China and host Bulgaria. The tournament starts Monday (March 27) and runs through to Sunday. Here's hoping for more streams!

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Couple things i'd like to note about this tournament.

#1: Even though Ymir Haflidason played for the U20 team where he played a 3rd line centre role for that team, he also played a 3rd line role for this u18 team also.

#2: Israel's third-leading scorer was 2008 born by name of Vasily Lissov who has already made his mens debut in Israel. Impressive stat line for a kid that young.