TORUN - On the second day of the 2009 IIHF World Championship Division IB in Poland the three top seeded teams remained unbeaten.

Poland - Romania 7-0 (2-0, 4-0, 1-0)

Host Poland won its second game at the Division I, Group B Championship beating Romania, 7-0. Forward Marcin Kolusz was instrumental in the victory, scoring three goals.

From the start it was clear it would be a cat and mouse game. Strengthened by the vocal home fans Poland immediately surged to the net of Szabolcs Molnar. After just two minutes, Mikolaj Lopuski reacted to a loose puck in front of net to make it 1-0 for the host.

Poland had extended its lead to 3-0 midway thorugh the game, thanks to two power play markers from Marcin Kolusz. The hard working Romanians were thankful for their goaltender Szablocs Molnar who thwarted Poland on numerous occasions.

A penalty riddled second period didn’t make the game more attractive. Nevertheless Poland got the fans on their feet, scoring three more goals in just over three minutes to carry the game to 6-0.

Romania switched goaltenders for the final period. Istvan Cergo did a good job in limiting Poland to run up the score. He conceded just one goal scored by Tomasz Malasinski who rounded off a nice short handed breakaway.

Ukraine - Netherlands 5-1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1)

Ukraine made it two wins in two games with a comfortable 5-1 victory over the Netherlands. Three second-period goals opened up a gap the Dutch team could not overcome.

First blood was drawn at 5:52 when Oleg Tymchenko’s shot between two defensemen found its way to the top corner. Although holding a 19-8 shot advantage, Ukrainian goaltender Igor Karpenko was called into action on a couple of occasions. The 32-year old veteran made stretching saves on Bob Teunissen and Jamie Schaafsma to keep his team in the lead.

In the second period the Ukraine made its dominance known. Goals by Sergi Klymentiev on the power play, Oleg Shafarenko and Andri Sriubko while short handed gave the Ukraine a commanding 4-0 lead.

After Oleg Shafarenko scored his second of the game, the Netherlands finally got on the scoreboard when on a five-minute power play. Sergi Varlamov received 5+20 game misconduct and with the man advantage Jamie Schaafsma scored his first goal of the tournament.

Ukraine's win never came in jeopardy though. For nealr the entire 60 minutes it was one way traffic toward the net of Dutch goaltender Phil Groeneveld. In total he stopped 52 shots as the Dutch were outshot 57-19.

Roman Salnikov winds up for one of Ukraine's 57 shots on Phil Groeneveld. Photo: Wojtek Szabelski/freepress.pl

Italy - Great Britain 5-2 (3-0, 2-1, 0-1)

In its second game of the tournament Italy made its ambitions clear. A 5-2 victory over Great Britain sent a signal that the Italians are the team to beat.

Where Ukraine failed to convert its chances against the Brits on the opening day of the tournament, the Azzurri got the job done.

Two goals within 90 seconds halfway through the first period broke the British resistance. At 9:37 Trevor Johnson picked up a loose puck and released a slapshot from the blueline. His slapper flew through traffic behind a screened Jody Lehman.

The Great Britain netminder came up big in his team’s first game but could not repeat. At 10:52 he fumbled a long range Stefano Marchetti slapshot to see Italy double its lead.

Italy used its supremacy to warm-up for the big games against Ukraine and Poland. Diego Irori made it 3-0 before the end of the first period.

Things went from bad to worse in the second. Stevie Lyle replaced Lehman in net but it didn’t bother Italy which ran up the score with goals from Stefano Margoni and Patrick Iannone. At 18:55 Colin Shields grabbed the consolation goal beating Italian netminder Adam Russo up high from a short angle.

In the final period, the Italians let Great Britain have the majority of play. But Russo only had to concede a Robert Dowd goal. He made 34 stops while Great Britain outshot Italy 36-26.

Colin Shields scored for Great Britain who outshot Italy but ended up losing 5-2. Photo: Wojtek Szabelski/freepress.pl

JOERI LOONEN