Sunday, April 13, 2014

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

The Spaniards gave the home crowd something to cheer for, winning the tournament before it ended. But it was the bottom of the table that provided the most intrigue, with a tie for last and one team doing just well enough to avoid making it a three-way tie.

Note: most information from the IIHF website.

Standings

Team
Wins
OT/SOW
OT/SOL
Losses
Points
Goal Diff.
Spain
5
0
0
0
15
+24
Mexico
4
0
0
1
12
+12
New Zealand
2
1
0
2
8
-3
China
1
0
1
3
4
-7
South Africa
1
0
0
4
3
-11
China
1
0
0
4
3
-15

Schedule

April 5
New Zealand 6 - Turkey 3
South Africa 1 - China 4
Mexico 3 - Spain 5

April 6
Turkey 2 - South Africa 4
New Zealand 0 - Mexico 5
Spain 4 - China 0

April 8
Mexico 7 - China 4
New Zealand 4 - South Africa 2
Spain 8 - Turkey 0

April 9
China 2 - New Zealand 3 (OT)
Turkey 1 - Mexico 5
South Africa 0 - Spain 6

April 11
Mexico 3 - South Africa 1
China 4 - Turkey 6
Spain 6 - New Zealand 2

Team Recap

Spain: Spain had this wrapped up early. They started the tournament fending off Mexico's attempt at a comeback, winning 5-3. From there, the Spainards shutdown (and shut out) China (4-0), Turkey (8-0) and South Africa (6-0). Spain ended the tournament beating New Zealand 6-3, in a game were they put up 66 shots against the Kiwis. Spain had no problem finishing first in the group, and will compete in Group A next year.

Mexico: The Mexicans started off against Spain. Having given up 3 goals in the second, they managed to make a game of it in the third, climbing to within one goal. They ultimately fell short, losing to Spain 5-3. Mexico bounced back next game, shutting out New Zealand 5-0. Mexico kept rolling from there, beating China in a high scoring game (7-4). Mexico's end to the tournament included keeping Turkey and South Africa to a goal each while scoring 5 and 3 goals respectively. With only one loss, Mexico finishes the tournament in second place.

New Zealand: The Ice Blacks started the tournament with a 6-3 win over Turkey. New Zealand had trouble against Mexico, as all 31 shots they took were stopped in a 5-0 loss. After falling behind 2-0 against South Africa, New Zealand bounced back with 4 unanswered (with Andrew Cox  getting a natural hat trick), winning the game 4-2. They had trouble against China, but Cox was able to play hero - again - for the Kiwis. Cox scored a late powerplay goal in the third and the overtime winner to complete a hat trick, and give New Zealand the 3-2 win. Against Spain, New Zealand proved to be no match, losing 6-2 while getting pummeled in shots (66-23 in favour of Spain). New Zealand finished third in the group.

China: China was good enough to avoid relegation. They started off nicely with a 4-1 win over South Africa. It was down from there, as they were shutout by Spain 4-0. Against Mexico, China did manage to take the lead after the first, but gave it away in the second, ultimately losing 7-4. China dominated agianst New Zealand for the first two periods, but was only able to keep their lead at one before New Zealand came back to win 3-2 in overtime. China's last game was a 6-3 loss against Turkey. With the point from the overtime loss, China avoids a three-way tie for last and finish with sole possession of fourth place.

South Africa: South Africa started off with a 4-1 loss to China. They did bounce back with a 4-2 win against Turkey. South Africa looked to have continued their momentum against New Zealand, leading 2-0 after one, but they couldn't finish the deal, ultimately losing 4-2. South Africa finished the tournament losing 6-0 to Spain and 3-1 to Mexico. While South Africa tied for last, they managed to avoid being relegated, and will continue to play in this division.

Turkey: It was a tale of too-little too-late for Turkey. The Turks did manage to play pretty evenly against New Zealand and South Africa early on, but ended up losing 6-3 and 4-2 respectively. From battling hard, Turkey's play fell off soon after. They were shut out 8-0 by Spain and lost 5-1 to Mexico. the only bright spot for Turkey was their last game, were they beat China 6-4. Turkey did tie for last, but lost out on the tiebreaker and will be playing in Division III next year.

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