Showing Some International Love: 2018 Olympic Qualification Round 1 - Group L Review

It was a tight group, as it came down to the last game to decided a winner. Serbia, in the end, found a way to comeback against Spain and hold on for the win. Serbia managed to go undefeated in this group, and move on to Round 2 of Olympic Qualifying. The last day loss ended Spain's Olympic bid, as they now go from hosting this tournament to the World Championship Division II Group A one in April. Iceland played close games against Serbia and Spain, but could not get a crucial win against either of them. Iceland did managed to go out on a high note, beating China. As for China, they were a non-threat from the start. The Chinese lost all three games by a combined score of 26-5.

Note: Most information from the IIHF website.

Standings

Team	Win	OT/SO Win	OT/SO Loss	Loss	Points	Goal Diff.
Serbia	2	1	0	0	8	+7
Spain	2	0	0	1	6	+9
Iceland	1	0	1	1	4	+5
China	0	0	0	3	0	-21

Results

November 6
Iceland 4 - Serbia 5 (OT)
Spain 10 - China 1

November 7
Serbia 5 - China 1
Spain 5 - Iceland 3

November 8
China 3 - Iceland 11
Serbia 5 - Spain 3

Notes

• Goals Leader: Robin Hedstrom (Iceland) - 5
• Points Leader: Johann Leifsson (Iceland) - 9
• GAA Leader: Arsenije Rankovic (Serbia) - 2.62
• Save % Leader: Arsenije Rankovic (Serbia) - 0.927
• The "No Surprise" Game: Any team facing China
• The "Upset" Game: Serbia beats Spain 5-2 (two reasons: Spain was the host, and had a 2-0 lead after the first period)

What Now?

Serbia: After a surprising comeback in the last game, Serbia will only have to wait until February 2016 to play again. They will face Italy, Great Britain, and the Netherlands in Round 2 of Olympic Qualifying. While Serbia is not expected to be competitive against those three teams, the victory in this round does give hope for the future of Serbian hockey.

Spain: Spain saw victory slip from them in this tournament, and it won't get much better in April when they host the Division II Group A tournament. While they will have the chance to get revenge on Serbia (and play Iceland and China again), the top of that group will be hard to crack. While a first place finish might not be reasonable, a top three finish would be for the Spaniards.

Iceland: Despite having the goals and points leaders, Iceland could not get higher than third. The next time they play will be in April, when they travel back to Spain for the World Championships. Iceland is in the mixed with Serbia in Spain, in that they'll finish in any spot that isn't first or last.

China: China will reconvene back in Spain in April for the World Championships. The bright side of this tournament for China is that they got to face the level of competition they will be expecting in April. The bad news is that they fared badly in this tournament (they were the only team with a negative goal differential). China will have a difficult time again in Spain, as relegation looks likely for them.