TORUN – 2009 IIHF World Championship Division 1B favourite Ukraine overcame Great Britain 4-2 top seeded Italy blasted past Romania; 11-0. Host Poland defeated the Netherlands 3-1.
Netherlands – Poland 1-3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1)
After a warm sunny day in Torun, Polish hockey fans might have been looking for some refreshment in the ice rink. They came to the wrong place as hosts Poland and the Netherlands treated the crowd to a spicy physical game.
The game was dominated by power plays. The Dutch team took two minor penalties in the first two minutes of the game.
It didn’t take long for Poland to put on the pressure and get the crowd going. At 3:07, Maciej Urbanowicz slid a backhander behind Phil Groeneveld to give Poland the lead. It remained one-way traffic for the first six minutes until the Netherlands answered the Poles and crawled back into the game, helped by four power plays.
Eventually the game was tied when the Netherlands converted on one of its power plays. Goaltender Rafal Radziszewski stopped Bjorn Willemse’s initial shot but Akim Ramoul tipped home the rebound to silence the crowd.
Thirteen minutes into the second period the hosts thought they had regained the lead when Grezegorz Piekarski had a wide open net to shoot at. The defenceman was stunned to see Groeneveld come up with a diving monster save to keep the game tied.
Eventually the deadlock was broken late in the period on a clever play behind the net by Laszkiewicz earned Tomasz Malasinsky a free shooting opportunity he did not waste.
Morally boosted by the late goal, Poland came out fast and furious in the third. They opened up a two-goal lead when Mikolaj Lopuski outpaced his defenceman before slotting home at 42:28. The goal sucked the life out of the Dutch team which was unable to overcome the blow.
With the win, Poland has the start it was hoping for. They outshot the Dutch team 41-23 and will be looking to build on the result when they face Romania on Monday. The Dutch will have to lick their wounds and prepare for their encounter with Ukraine.
Romania – Italy 0-11 (0-5, 0-4, 0-2)
Last season Italy was relegated after finishing in 16th place at the 2008 IIHF World Championship. This year, they want to return to the elite group as soon as possible.
On the opening day, the Azzurri mission for Germany 2010 started against Romania, which hasn't beaten Italy since 1975 and the team was decimated after a conflict between the Romanian Federation and top team HC Csikszereda. The nineteen remaining skaters were no match for the Italians, who ran out to a convincing 11-0 victory.
John Parco drew first blood when he beat Romanian netminder Szabolcs Molnar just over two minutes into the game. It took Italy seven minutes to score again. Three minutes later the score was already 5-0.
Romania coach Tom Skinner pulled Molnar after the flurry of goals but it didn't stop the Italians from scoring. Four second-period goals made it 9-0 after 40 minutes.
It was Parco again, who put double digits on the board early in the third period. Michael Souza made it 11-0 shortly after. Italy then slowed down a little and could afford some gallery play. Romania was just happy to limit the Italian offence in the final period.
Thomas Tragust was credited with a shutout while Italy outshot Romania 47-20 to set a new record score in the mutual games against the team in an IIHF event. The previous records (8-1; 7-0) were set back in 2004 and 2005.
Italy will likely be battling with Ukraine and Poland for the gold medals. Romania's focus is on the other end of the table. In their bid to avoid relegation they will hope to get a result again the Netherlands and Great Britain.
Before the game a minute of silence was held in memory of the victims of the earthquakes that struck Italy last week.
Luca Ansoldi led the Italians with a goal and three assists. Roland Ramoser, Stefan Zisser and John Parco each had a pair of goals.
Great Britain – Ukraine 2-4 (0-0, 1-1, 1-3)
Ukraine entered the tournament as a favourite, but were given a run for their money on the opening day. Only Sergi Varlamov’s goal at 56:33 ensured the win. Varlamov took a pass from behind the net and buried it in the top corner to give Ukraine the go-ahead goal.
In a scoreless first period Ukraine had trouble finding their rhythm against an energetic Great Britain team. On the few occasions they did threaten, Jody Lehman came up big in net. The Canada-born netminder made his debut at the World Championship after recently becoming eligible to play for Great Britain.
After 28:43 it was Great Britain which surprisingly, but not undeservedly, took the lead. David Clarke wasted no time when he received a feed by Greg Chambers from the corner. His quickly released wrist shot in the bottom right corner, leaving Ukraine goaltender Kostiantyn Simchuk helpless.
Ukraine regained its momentum on a 5-on-3 situation for over 90 seconds. Lehman frustrated opposition with a large number of remarkable saves. In total he finished with 53 saves in his debut.
With just over a minute left to play in the second period, Ukraine finally solved the goaltender. Oleg Shafarenko was given a wide open net after Lehman offered him a juicy rebound; 1-1. It offered the first opportunity for the Ukrainian fans to blow their trade-mark horns.
The fans were treated to an entertaining final period. Great Britain seemed to take the lead when Simchuk mis-timed a cross-ice pass. David Clarke had a golden opportunity to tap home his second goal of the game but didn't anticipate on the goalie miss. On the counter-attack Ukraine executed a 3-on-1 situation to perfection. Vitali Lytvynenko was credited with a short-handed goal.
There was more agony for the Brits when Lehman was forced to the bench by the referee. Backup Steve Lyle replaced Great Britain's best player in the game. Less than thirty seconds after his arrival he saw Danny Meyers rocket home from the blue line leaving Lyle's role limited to just a witness.
With time running out after Varlamov's goal, Great Britain was forced to play an all-or-nothing game. It became nothing as Lytvynenko scored his second of the tournament with just over two minutes and sealed the deal for Ukraine, which will face the Netherlands on Monday.
Great Britain earned just the applause for a well played and hard fought game and will be looking to upset Italy next.
GB netminder Jody Lehman had 53 saves but could not prevent a loss. Photo: Wojtek Szabelski/freepress.pl
JOERI LOONEN
