The Class I/A Ice Hockey World Championships held in Great Britain came to an end on Friday night, as the up-and-coming Polish team snubbed one of the promotion spots: the only setback was the overtime loss for the hosts. The identity of another promotion was determined in the last match: in the last match between the two national teams still in the elite, the British beat the Italians in a massive fight, thus winning the group. The Lithuanians came back without a point, one division short.
| One Polish goal out of six in the Romanian goal (Photo: pzhl.pl) |
The Polish national team covered the sheets, because they lost in extra time to the elite hosts in their second match, but apart from that, they won their other matches in regular time, and in their last match on Friday, they defeated Romania. 6-2 and back to best after 2002 – where he was later revealed to be a runner-up.
Another promotion was decided in the last match of the championship between the British and the Italians, who also fell from the top: the latter needed to win in regular time, and the hosts also had to lose in overtime. The Brits led three times, and the Italians equalized all three times before half-time, but there was no reply to Brett Perlini’s second goal of the day – the final result that sealed a 5-3 home win and promotion. As the tournament winners were decided by Cady Nelson just two minutes after the end of the first half, he scored the empty Italian goal before the end.
The issue of relegation was also interesting. After the last round, Lithuania’s victory over South Korea in regular time meant that the national teams remained in the tournament and Romania bid farewell, but the Asians scored the winning goal with a man 33 seconds ahead. before the end of 60 minutes – thus Lithuania was relegated to Division 1/B.
Section 1/A-VB, Great Britain
Round 1
Poland– Lithuania 7-0
Romania-Italy 2-6
South Korea-Great Britain 0-4
Round 2
LithuaniaRomania 2-3
Great Britain-Poland 5-4 – In overtime
Italy-South Korea 6-1
Round 3
Romania-South Korea 2-5
Italy-Poland 2-4
Great Britain– Lithuania 3-0
Round 4
South Korea-Poland 0-7
LithuaniaItaly 4-6
Great Britain-Romania 7-0
Round 5
Poland-Romania 6-2
LithuaniaSouth Korea 1-2
Italy-Great Britain 3-5
The final result: 1. Great Britain 14 points, 2. Poland 13, 3. Italy 9, South Korea 6, 4. Romania 3, 5. Lithuania 0
Great Britain and Poland advanced, and Lithuania fell.
From Division 1/B, Japan, which won all five matches, advanced to Lithuania’s place, as Serbia was eliminated.
