The inaugural Ultimate Hockey 3x3 Breaking the Ice Tour is in the books and Hungary has won it, defeating Great Britain 9-4 in the final.
The game concluded an exciting three-day weekend of outdoor 3-on-3 hockey at the Olympiaworld in Innsbruck, Austria, with the majestic Alps providing a spectacular backdrop.
Just before the final, Estonia won the bronze medal by edging the Netherlands 6-5. The final day began with Germany defeating host Austria 7-1 to take fifth place. (Scroll down for details on Sunday’s games.)
Despite their fifth-place finish, the Germans had the tournament’s top two scorers and had three players in the top six. Sebastian Streu won the scoring title with 14 points, followed by Moritz Wirth with 13. Great Britain’s John Curran had 12 and then three players – the Netherlands’ Guus van Nes, GB’s Logan Neilson and Germany’s Louis Brune had 11 each. Hungary’s Natan Vertes scored a tournament-leading 10 goals but had no assists.
Germany’s Rihards Babulis led all goalies with an 89.66 save percentage by stopping 92 of 104 shots in 72 minutes. He was followed by Hungary’s Levente Hegendus at 87.63. The busiest goalie was the Netherlands’ Martin Oosterwijk, who made 105 saves in 96 minutes of work.
Germany 7 – Austria 1 (5-0, 2-1) – Game for 5th/6th places
The day started with the game to decide fifth and sixth places between Germany and host Austria – the two teams that finished third in their respective groups. The Germans jumped out of the gate and took firm control with five goals in the first 10 minutes, then cruised to victory.
The Germans got three points each from Justin Volek and Noah Dunham but their real star in the game was Babulis, who stopped 33 of 34 shots. The only Austrian to beat him was Aron Summer at the 16-minute mark.
Hungary 11 – Netherlands 2 (2-1, 9-1) – Semi-final
Hungary grabbed the first spot in the final with an 11-2 drubbing of the Netherlands in the first semi-final. It took a while for their offence to get going, however, as it was just 2-1 at halftime. However, the Hungarians were relentless in the second half.
Bence Paterka led the offensive parade with three goals and an assist, while Csongor Ambrus and Vertes scored twice each. Bartek Bison and Mike Collard scored the Dutch goals.
Great Britain 4 – Estonia 3 (1-0, 3-3) – Semi-final
Great Britain’s Jonathan McBean scored the only goal of the first half and Marek Postinok tied it for Estonia early in the second. GB then scored twice to go up 3-1 but Estonia battled back again to tie it, setting up a dramatic finish. Kell Beattie scored the game-winning goal with exactly one minute remaining, sending the British team into the final.
McBean, Beattie and Cameron Briere all had two points for GB, while Stepanov did likewise for Estonia.
Estonia 6 – Netherlands 5 (4-4, 2-1) – Game for 3rd/4th places
This looked like the Netherlands’ game for a while, leading 3-1 and then 4-2 in the game’s first eight minutes. Then the Estonian offence came alive and they dominated the rest of the game. Estonia outshot the Netherlands 46-25 in the game and scored four straight goals to take a 6-4 lead early in the second half. Floris Vooren got one back for the Dutch, but they weren’t able to get the equalizer.
Six different players scored for Estonia, with Maksim Lovkov netting the game-winner with 9:48 remaining. Lovkov, Nikita Puzakov and Robert Arrak all had two points for Estonia, while Jay Huisman had two for the Netherlands.
Great Britain 4 – Hungary 9 (3-3, 1-6) – Final
Great Britain had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 and the score was tied 3-3 at halftime. Neilson’s second goal of the game and sixth of the tournament gave GB a 4-3 lead early in the second half, but that was the last goal the team scored. The Hungarians scored the tournament’s last six goals in a row to win going away, despite GB holding a 39-31 shots advantage.
Zsombor Doczi scored three goals for Hungary in the final and Ambrus had a goal and two assists.
Final standings:
1. Hungary
2. Great Britain
3. Estonia
4. Netherlands
5. Germany
6. Austria
Results and stats
Game schedule and results: https://www.iihf.com/en/static/72583/game_schedule
Standings: https://www.iihf.com/en/static/72584/standings
Team stats: https://www.iihf.com/en/static/72585/team_statistics
Player stats: https://www.iihf.com/en/static/72586/player_statistics
Click here for the official website.
Photos: Sebastian Marko