Showing Some International Love: 2018 Olympic Qualification Round 2 - Group H Review

It went down to the wire, as the last day saw Poland and Hungary battle it out for the top spot and the chance to move on to the next round. Poland managed to withstand Hungary during 65 minutes of play, and scored the lone goal in the shootout, as they get to advance. The host Hungarians finish second after their heartbreaking loss. Estonia provide to be better than their ranking, as they finish third. Lithuania leave the tournament in last place, finishing without a point.

Note: Most information from the IIHF website.

Standings

Team	Wins	OTW/SOW	OTL/SOL	Losses	Points	Goal Diff.
Poland	2	1	0	0	8	+13
Hungary	2	0	1	0	7	+9
Estonia	1	0	0	2	3	-7
Lithuania	0	0	0	3	0	-15

Results

February 11
Poland 6 - Estonia 2
Lithuania 0 - Hungary 4

February 12
Poland 9 - Lithuania 1
Hungary 7 - Estonia 1

February 14
Estonia 4 - Lithuania 1
Hungary 0 - Poland 1 (SO)

Notes

• Goals Leader: Krzysztof Zapala (Poland) - 3
• Points Leader: Andrew Sarauer (Hungary) - 5
• GAA Leader: Przemyslaw Odrobny (Poland), Miklos Rajna (Hungary) - 0.48
• Save % Leader: Przemyslaw Odrobny (Poland) - 98.70
• The "No Surprise" Game: What happened in the first two days.
• The "Upset" Game: Poland squeezing by Hungary 1-0 in a shootout.

What Now?

Poland: Poland gets to celebrate this victory for a few months, as they don't need to play again until April. When they regroup next time, they will play as host of the World Championship Division IA tournament. As for the Olympic qualifying, they will head to Minsk to face Belarus, Slovenia, and Denmark. The initial look is that Poland will need quite a bit of luck to make it out of that group.

Hungary: The bad news is that Hungary's Olympic hopes are over. The good news is that they can now focus on the World Championship, as they are back in the main tournament for the first time since 2009.

Estonia: Escaping with a win is a decent result for a team that needed to qualify for this tournament. Estonia will now wait until April, as they'll head to Croatia to play in the World Championship Division IB tournament.

Lithuania: It wasn't a good tournament for the Lithuanians, as they only managed to score two goals in three games. They will now focus on the World Championship Division IB tournament, where they can get revenge on Estonia.