Showing Some International Love: 2014 World Junior Championship - Division II Group B Review

The Asian teams had the best and worst tournament, the host came close to moving up, and Australia won the battle of the islands. This is the U20 Division II Group B recap.

Note: most information from the IIHF website.

Standings

Team	Wins	OT/SOW	OT/SOL	Losses	Points	Goal Diff.
South Korea	5	0	0	0	15	+29
Spain	4	0	0	1	12	+8
Serbia	3	0	0	2	9	0
Australia	1	1	0	3	5	-7
Iceland	1	0	1	3	4	+1
China	0	0	0	5	0	-31

Results

January 11
South Korea 6 - Iceland 4
China 3 - Australia 5
Serbia 1 - Spain 2

January 12
Iceland 8 - China 1
South Korea 6 - Serbia 2
Spain 4 - Australia 1

January 14
Serbia 3 - Australia 2
South Korea 17 - China 2
Spain 6 - Iceland 4

January 15
Australia 2 - South Korea 8
Iceland 3 - Serbia 4
China 1 - Spain 5

January 17
Serbia 5 - China 2
Australia 2 - Iceland 1 (SO)
Spain 2 - South Korea 4

Team Recap

South Korea: South Korea blew out the competition for most of the tournament. They started off slow against Iceland, getting matched goal-for-goal early in the second. South Korea's special teams took over later in the second, scoring three goals in the last two minutes (one shorthanded, two on the powerplay). South Korea would win the game 6-4. Against Serbia, South Korea didn't pour it on until the third period, were they (once again) needed just over two minutes to score four times. They would beat Serbia 6-2. South Korea would get all the goals against China, winning 17-2 in a penalty-filled game. South Korea kept it going against Australia, scoring five times in the first in the 8-2 win. South Korea would finish the tournament beating Spain 4-2 in the eventual promotion game. South Korea finished the tournament in first, and will be playing in Group A next year.

Spain: The host began the tournament with a 2-1 win against Serbia. Against Australia, Spain doubled up from last game, winning 4-1. Spain started off good against Iceland, scoring four goals in the first. Iceland did make it close in the second, but Spain was able to keep the lead and win the game 6-4. The host fell behind China early on, but they didn't take long to got a lead of their own. Spain added a few more insurance goals in the second and third to win 5-1. Spain's last game was against South Korea. Both teams swapped powerplay goals in the first, but it was South Korea who were able to score in the other two periods. Spain lost their last game 4-2. With loss, Spain finished in second.

Serbia: Serbia started off falling behind two goals to Spain. They did get one back, but still lost the game 2-1. It wasn't better against South Korea, as Serbia was scored on four times in the third to lose 6-2. Serbia finally got a win, beating Australia 3-2. Serbia fell behind against Iceland, but were able to end the second period ahead. After Iceland tied it up, Serbia responded two minutes later, winning the game 4-3. Serbia finished the tournament against China, needing a 5-goal third period to win the game 5-2. Serbia ended up in third place.

Australia: Australia started the tournament with a win against China, winning 5-3. Things started going south for the Aussies afterwards, as they lost to Spain 4-1, scoring their lone goal in the last minute of the game. Against Serbia, Australia ended the first period tied at one-all, but gave up two in the second and failed to come back. Australia lost 3-2 to Serbia. Australia could have packed it in half through the first against South Korea. They couldn't come back from a 5-goal first period by South Korea, eventually losing the game 8-2. Australia ended the tournament with a 2-1 shootout win against Iceland. Australia finished the tournament in fourth place.

Iceland: Iceland started off with a loss against South Korea, losing 6-4 after failing to pull off the comeback. They did get in the win column against China, as two 3-goal periods propelled them to an 8-1 win. Iceland fell behind against Spain, getting outscored 4-1 in the first period. They did come back in the second, getting to with one of Spain. Iceland couldn't complete the comeback, falling 6-4 to the host. Iceland scored first against Serbia, but fell behind in the second period. Iceland did end up tying the game in the third, but gave up the winner minutes later. Iceland lost 4-3 to Serbia. Against Australia, Iceland opened the scoring in the first before Australia tied it up in the second. This game needed a shootout, were Iceland couldn't find the back of the net. Iceland would lose 2-1. Iceland ended up in fifth, and surprisingly finishes with a plus goal differential.

China: China didn't have a good tournament. They started off fine against Australia, coming back from two goals down in the second period, but Australia proved to be too much. China would lose their opening game 5-3. China were outmatched against Iceland, giving up 55 shots in the 8-1 loss. It got worst for China, as South Korea put up double-digits on their Asian counterpart. China would lose the game 17-2, scoring both their goals in the third. China kind of bounced back against Spain, opening the scoring three minutes into the game. The lead didn't last long, as Spain would score minutes later. China would go on to lose the game 5-1. It looked like China would finally get a win against Serbia, as they scored three minutes into the first and third periods. That 2-goal lead ended up not being enough as China would eventually lose 5-2. China goes winless in the tournament, finishing sixth and getting relegated to Division III.