Estonia, led by team captain Robert Rooba, got the best possible start to the tournament.
photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / Jana Pipar
The favorites won their games on the first game day of the IIHF men’s Division 1B tournament in Tallinn, Estonia – at least if you go by the IIHF Men’s Ranking.
Lithuania (25) beat China (26), 1-0
Estonia (28) rolled over Spain (30), 6-1 and
Korea (22) won over Croatia (32), 5-2
Spain – Estonia 1-6 (0-1, 0-0, 1-5)
The hosts had scheduled their opening game of the tournament for late afternoon hoping a lot of fans would show up to support the home team that’s trying to earn a promotion to Division 1A.
The 2135 supporters got what they wanted. Spain hung on for two periods, but the Estonian powerplay was too much, and the hosts could bag a comfortable 6-1 win.
Robert Arrak scored twice for Estonia; Robert Rooba picked up three assists. Maksim Burkov and David Timofejev also collected three points. Oriol Rubio scored for Spain and Raul Barbo made 25 saves.
“We’ll take it one game at a time,” said Team Estonia coach Petri Skriko, visibly pleased with his team’s play. “We created a lot of chances, and if our powerplay clicks like this, we’ll be fine.”
The home team came out flying in the first period, outshooting Spain 6-0 in the first nine minutes. They opened scoring on powerplay when team captain Robert Rooba sent a saucer pass through the Spanish box and Maksim Burkov fired a backhander at the Spanish net. Barbo made the save, but Burkov jammed the rebound behind the Spanish netminder to give the hosts a lead. David Timofejev was also credited with an assist.
Scoring goals is not easy in today’s hockey. Even though Estonia’s first powerplay unit created a half a dozen good chances, Barbo managed to keep the score at 1-0 after two periods.
But Estonia had their power play, and they had Rooba. A minute into the third period Rooba, once again, quarterbacked the powerplay from the hash marks to Barbo’s left, and his hard pass found Timofejev alone at the doorstep where he had an easy job to redirect it in, and double Estonia’s lead at 1.48.
Spain hung on, though. With 5.23 into the period, Oriol Rubio redirected Pablo Fernandez’s shot and beat Molder through the five-hole to make it a one-goal game.
At 12.06, Estonia gave the supporters the release they needed as they completed a 3-1 attack, in which Mark Viitanen found Robert Arrak in the slot, and he fired a laser that beat Barbo. Only fifteen seconds later, Marek Potšinok made it 4-1 with a slap shot from up close, off his twin brother Erik’s rebound. Saveli Novikov also picked up an assist.
With 7.32 remaining, the Estonian powerplay struck again. They cycled the puck all around the Spanish zone and set Arrak up for a one-time, and he didn’t miss, scoring his second of the night.
And the game got a fitting finish when the same player who started the scoring also scored the game’s last goal. With less than a minute remaining, Burkov drove to the net and lifted the puck top shelf to seal the final score, 6-1.
China – Lithuania 0-1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)
Lithuania took an important win in the opening game of the IIHF men’s Division 1B tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, when they downed China, 1-0.
Mark Kaleinikovas scored the game’s only goal in the second period and Lithuania’s Laurynas Lubys made 18 saves en route to a shutout. China’s Shifeng Chen stopped the puck 35 times.
It was a game between teams with completely different styles. While Lithuania came in determined to use their size advantage and finish every check, China relied on passing and their mobility to get out of their own zone.
In the first period, it was the Lithuanian style that worked better. China managed to get only four shots on goal, never really threatening Lubys. His colleague 60 meters away, Chen, was much busier and had to turn away 14 shots and make several key saves in the period.
However, the period was scoreless.
Zhihao Li’s tripping penalty early in the second period gave Lithuania the opportunity they had been waiting for. After a broken play in the Chinese zone, Kaleinikovas made a crafty move to get by a Chinese defender. Chen made the initial save, but Kaleinikovas picked up his own rebound and lifted a backhander into an empty net at 2.24.
After that, Lithuania got into penalty trouble, drawing three minor penalties in less than ten minutes, but even though China had several high-quality chances, they couldn’t capitalize on them.
In the last two minutes of the period, China created two dangerous chances when first, Yuyang Hou was all by himself in front of the net, but couldn’t beat Lubys, and then defender Hanming Zong drove hard to the net, but the Lithuanian netminder could get enough pad on the shot to keep the puck out of the net.
Penalties spoiled China’s push in the third period, and Lithuania grabbed three points with the Kaleinikovas goal.
Croatia – Korea 2-5 (1-0, 0-2, 1-3)
Even though Korea is ranked ten positions higher than Croatia, they had to work the full 60 minutes for their 5-2 win.
Korea’s Geonwoo Kim scored the game-winner with 3.59 remaining in the game. Team captain Sangwook Kim collected three points in the game. Vilim Rosandic made 50 saves in Croatia’s goal.
Croatia shocked the Korean team before the first period was halfway through when Karlo Marinkovic followed up Vito Idzan’s shot from the slot and slammed a rebound into the Korean net from the doorstep and gave his team the lead in the game.
The shot attempts may have been 32-9 to Korea after the first period, but the goals were 1-0 in Croatia’s favor. With the ice tilted that much, though, it was only a matter of time before Korea would find a way to score.
Just 2.29 into the second period Yunsuk Lee simply skated around the Croatian defense, waited for Rosandic to hit the ice, and then lifted the puck to the back of the net to tie the game.
With 5.42 remaining, Heedoo Nam’s redirection on Jin Hui Ahn’s shot from the blueline gave Korea the lead in the game for the first time. Sangwook Kim also picked up an assist.
Croatia used a neutral zone trap and made sure to keep Koreans out of the dangerous scoring areas in their own zone. When they got a chance, they transitioned quickly. With a little more than eight minutes remaining in the third period, they got one of those opportunities when Fran Zavrski fooled a Korean defender and sent a saucer pass across the zone where Patrick Dobric one-timed it in to tie the game at 11.43.
But Korea came back one more time. With 3.59 remaining in the third period, Sangyeob Kim fired a wrister from the corner, and Rosandic left a rebound by the side of the net. Even from behind the goal line, Geonwoo Kim could slam the puck into the net to make it 3.-2.
In the net shift, Minjae Lee fired a wrister from the point and it found its way through a lot of traffic to make it 4-2 and give Korea some breathing room for the remaining 2.34 in the game.
Sangwook Kim made it 5-2 with an empty-netter.
Lithuania (25) beat China (26), 1-0
Estonia (28) rolled over Spain (30), 6-1 and
Korea (22) won over Croatia (32), 5-2
Spain – Estonia 1-6 (0-1, 0-0, 1-5)
The hosts had scheduled their opening game of the tournament for late afternoon hoping a lot of fans would show up to support the home team that’s trying to earn a promotion to Division 1A.
The 2135 supporters got what they wanted. Spain hung on for two periods, but the Estonian powerplay was too much, and the hosts could bag a comfortable 6-1 win.
Robert Arrak scored twice for Estonia; Robert Rooba picked up three assists. Maksim Burkov and David Timofejev also collected three points. Oriol Rubio scored for Spain and Raul Barbo made 25 saves.
“We’ll take it one game at a time,” said Team Estonia coach Petri Skriko, visibly pleased with his team’s play. “We created a lot of chances, and if our powerplay clicks like this, we’ll be fine.”
The home team came out flying in the first period, outshooting Spain 6-0 in the first nine minutes. They opened scoring on powerplay when team captain Robert Rooba sent a saucer pass through the Spanish box and Maksim Burkov fired a backhander at the Spanish net. Barbo made the save, but Burkov jammed the rebound behind the Spanish netminder to give the hosts a lead. David Timofejev was also credited with an assist.
Scoring goals is not easy in today’s hockey. Even though Estonia’s first powerplay unit created a half a dozen good chances, Barbo managed to keep the score at 1-0 after two periods.
But Estonia had their power play, and they had Rooba. A minute into the third period Rooba, once again, quarterbacked the powerplay from the hash marks to Barbo’s left, and his hard pass found Timofejev alone at the doorstep where he had an easy job to redirect it in, and double Estonia’s lead at 1.48.
Spain hung on, though. With 5.23 into the period, Oriol Rubio redirected Pablo Fernandez’s shot and beat Molder through the five-hole to make it a one-goal game.
At 12.06, Estonia gave the supporters the release they needed as they completed a 3-1 attack, in which Mark Viitanen found Robert Arrak in the slot, and he fired a laser that beat Barbo. Only fifteen seconds later, Marek Potšinok made it 4-1 with a slap shot from up close, off his twin brother Erik’s rebound. Saveli Novikov also picked up an assist.
With 7.32 remaining, the Estonian powerplay struck again. They cycled the puck all around the Spanish zone and set Arrak up for a one-time, and he didn’t miss, scoring his second of the night.
And the game got a fitting finish when the same player who started the scoring also scored the game’s last goal. With less than a minute remaining, Burkov drove to the net and lifted the puck top shelf to seal the final score, 6-1.
China – Lithuania 0-1 (0-0, 0-1, 0-0)
Lithuania took an important win in the opening game of the IIHF men’s Division 1B tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, when they downed China, 1-0.
Mark Kaleinikovas scored the game’s only goal in the second period and Lithuania’s Laurynas Lubys made 18 saves en route to a shutout. China’s Shifeng Chen stopped the puck 35 times.
It was a game between teams with completely different styles. While Lithuania came in determined to use their size advantage and finish every check, China relied on passing and their mobility to get out of their own zone.
In the first period, it was the Lithuanian style that worked better. China managed to get only four shots on goal, never really threatening Lubys. His colleague 60 meters away, Chen, was much busier and had to turn away 14 shots and make several key saves in the period.
However, the period was scoreless.
Zhihao Li’s tripping penalty early in the second period gave Lithuania the opportunity they had been waiting for. After a broken play in the Chinese zone, Kaleinikovas made a crafty move to get by a Chinese defender. Chen made the initial save, but Kaleinikovas picked up his own rebound and lifted a backhander into an empty net at 2.24.
After that, Lithuania got into penalty trouble, drawing three minor penalties in less than ten minutes, but even though China had several high-quality chances, they couldn’t capitalize on them.
In the last two minutes of the period, China created two dangerous chances when first, Yuyang Hou was all by himself in front of the net, but couldn’t beat Lubys, and then defender Hanming Zong drove hard to the net, but the Lithuanian netminder could get enough pad on the shot to keep the puck out of the net.
Penalties spoiled China’s push in the third period, and Lithuania grabbed three points with the Kaleinikovas goal.
Croatia – Korea 2-5 (1-0, 0-2, 1-3)
Even though Korea is ranked ten positions higher than Croatia, they had to work the full 60 minutes for their 5-2 win.
Korea’s Geonwoo Kim scored the game-winner with 3.59 remaining in the game. Team captain Sangwook Kim collected three points in the game. Vilim Rosandic made 50 saves in Croatia’s goal.
Croatia shocked the Korean team before the first period was halfway through when Karlo Marinkovic followed up Vito Idzan’s shot from the slot and slammed a rebound into the Korean net from the doorstep and gave his team the lead in the game.
The shot attempts may have been 32-9 to Korea after the first period, but the goals were 1-0 in Croatia’s favor. With the ice tilted that much, though, it was only a matter of time before Korea would find a way to score.
Just 2.29 into the second period Yunsuk Lee simply skated around the Croatian defense, waited for Rosandic to hit the ice, and then lifted the puck to the back of the net to tie the game.
With 5.42 remaining, Heedoo Nam’s redirection on Jin Hui Ahn’s shot from the blueline gave Korea the lead in the game for the first time. Sangwook Kim also picked up an assist.
Croatia used a neutral zone trap and made sure to keep Koreans out of the dangerous scoring areas in their own zone. When they got a chance, they transitioned quickly. With a little more than eight minutes remaining in the third period, they got one of those opportunities when Fran Zavrski fooled a Korean defender and sent a saucer pass across the zone where Patrick Dobric one-timed it in to tie the game at 11.43.
But Korea came back one more time. With 3.59 remaining in the third period, Sangyeob Kim fired a wrister from the corner, and Rosandic left a rebound by the side of the net. Even from behind the goal line, Geonwoo Kim could slam the puck into the net to make it 3.-2.
In the net shift, Minjae Lee fired a wrister from the point and it found its way through a lot of traffic to make it 4-2 and give Korea some breathing room for the remaining 2.34 in the game.
Sangwook Kim made it 5-2 with an empty-netter.