[MakkabI]
April 11th, 2005, 04:56 AM
Israel's national ice hockey team capped its best tournament ever on Sunday with a 4-2 victory over Iceland to win the gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Division II Group B World Championships in Belgrade.
Israel finished the five-game round-robin series with a record of four wins and one tie.
After its surprising showing, Israel's recreational, college, and minor league players can now look forward to facing Division I teams made up largely of full-time professional players. Division I is one tier below the highest level of international ice hockey competition.
Under the leadership of coach Jean Perron, coach of the 1986 Stanley Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens – and who led Israel's under-18 team to a bronze medal in the Division III world championships just two weeks ago – the team managed to overcome a number of obstacles during the week-long competition.
In its first game Israel managed to snatch a 4-4 tie from the jaws of victory against a persistent team from South Korea. With less than eight minutes to go, and the Israelis holding a 4-3 lead, a South Korean player was penalized. However, seconds later, while shorthanded, S. Korea scored the tying goal.
While this result could have been a serious letdown, Israel bounced back in its next game and drubbed the home team, Serbia and Montenegro, 5-1.
In its matchup against highly-favored Belgium, which dropped from Division I last year, Israel skated away with a well-earned 7-4 victory.
Following the victory over Belgium, Szymon Szemberg, media spokesman for the IIHF, said that the possibility that Israel might win the gold "could turn out to be one of the biggest sensations in international hockey history."
Israel did win a gold medal in Pool D in 2000, but the structure of the competition was different then. The present structure was introduced in 2001. The top sixteen teams in the world compete at the highest level, with the next twelve squads split into two Division I groups, another twelve teams split into two Division II groups, and the remaining five teams competing in Division III.
Since the restructuring, Israel has had some successes in Division II, with a silver medal in 2001, and a bronze medal in 2002. In 2003, Israel narrowly missed out on another bronze. However, in 2004, the nadir was reached and Israel barely escaped relegation to Division III by virtue of a 2-2 tie with Luxembourg in its last game and a better goal differential.
This year, however, with the gold in sight, Israel faced Spain, a team coming off a narrow 2-1 loss to Belgium and a 5-2 win over Iceland. The hard-fought match was only decided in the 56th minute when Oren Eisenman gave the blue-and-white its slim 1-0 victory.
With pressure coming from a revitalized Serbia and Montenegro team, Israel faced a must-win situation to seal the gold medal. The team came through with the 4-2 victory over Iceland.
After the victory, Sergei Matin, president of the Israel Ice Hockey Federation, told 'The Jerusalem Post' that "the entire team played exceptionally well."
Matin singled out goalie Evgeny Gussin, who was "magnificent between the pipes." Gussin allowed a total of 11 goals in the five games including the shutout against Spain.
Matin also praised the excellent play of Oren Eisenman, Sergei Belo, Alon Eisenman and Sergei Frenkel. Oren Eisenman had nine goals – three of them game-winners – making him the most likely candidate for the series' MVP.
Israel had been ranked 36 out of the 45 nations in the IIHF world rankings, but with the gold-medal win, Israel will now jump up to at least No. 28, pending the results of the Division I World Championships taking place next week.
It may be difficult for Israel to remain in Division I as the majority of the teams consist of full-time professional players. The Israeli team, by contrast, is made up mostly of local senior league players and several who are either in college or who are on minor league teams.
Israel finished the five-game round-robin series with a record of four wins and one tie.
After its surprising showing, Israel's recreational, college, and minor league players can now look forward to facing Division I teams made up largely of full-time professional players. Division I is one tier below the highest level of international ice hockey competition.
Under the leadership of coach Jean Perron, coach of the 1986 Stanley Cup-winning Montreal Canadiens – and who led Israel's under-18 team to a bronze medal in the Division III world championships just two weeks ago – the team managed to overcome a number of obstacles during the week-long competition.
In its first game Israel managed to snatch a 4-4 tie from the jaws of victory against a persistent team from South Korea. With less than eight minutes to go, and the Israelis holding a 4-3 lead, a South Korean player was penalized. However, seconds later, while shorthanded, S. Korea scored the tying goal.
While this result could have been a serious letdown, Israel bounced back in its next game and drubbed the home team, Serbia and Montenegro, 5-1.
In its matchup against highly-favored Belgium, which dropped from Division I last year, Israel skated away with a well-earned 7-4 victory.
Following the victory over Belgium, Szymon Szemberg, media spokesman for the IIHF, said that the possibility that Israel might win the gold "could turn out to be one of the biggest sensations in international hockey history."
Israel did win a gold medal in Pool D in 2000, but the structure of the competition was different then. The present structure was introduced in 2001. The top sixteen teams in the world compete at the highest level, with the next twelve squads split into two Division I groups, another twelve teams split into two Division II groups, and the remaining five teams competing in Division III.
Since the restructuring, Israel has had some successes in Division II, with a silver medal in 2001, and a bronze medal in 2002. In 2003, Israel narrowly missed out on another bronze. However, in 2004, the nadir was reached and Israel barely escaped relegation to Division III by virtue of a 2-2 tie with Luxembourg in its last game and a better goal differential.
This year, however, with the gold in sight, Israel faced Spain, a team coming off a narrow 2-1 loss to Belgium and a 5-2 win over Iceland. The hard-fought match was only decided in the 56th minute when Oren Eisenman gave the blue-and-white its slim 1-0 victory.
With pressure coming from a revitalized Serbia and Montenegro team, Israel faced a must-win situation to seal the gold medal. The team came through with the 4-2 victory over Iceland.
After the victory, Sergei Matin, president of the Israel Ice Hockey Federation, told 'The Jerusalem Post' that "the entire team played exceptionally well."
Matin singled out goalie Evgeny Gussin, who was "magnificent between the pipes." Gussin allowed a total of 11 goals in the five games including the shutout against Spain.
Matin also praised the excellent play of Oren Eisenman, Sergei Belo, Alon Eisenman and Sergei Frenkel. Oren Eisenman had nine goals – three of them game-winners – making him the most likely candidate for the series' MVP.
Israel had been ranked 36 out of the 45 nations in the IIHF world rankings, but with the gold-medal win, Israel will now jump up to at least No. 28, pending the results of the Division I World Championships taking place next week.
It may be difficult for Israel to remain in Division I as the majority of the teams consist of full-time professional players. The Israeli team, by contrast, is made up mostly of local senior league players and several who are either in college or who are on minor league teams.