Mexico – CanucksBanter

Several venues for the upcoming IIHF championships and dates have changed. The IIHF Council also discussed the situation regarding the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

The Group A games and two quarter-final games of the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be played in the traditional Helsinki Ice Hall.

“The Helsinki Ice Hall, opened in 1966, will host its 4th IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships were played there for the first time in 1974 and the most recent one was in 1991. Also, a group in the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship was played at the Helsinki Ice Hall,” said 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Organizing Committee General Secretary Heikki Hietanen.

The Helsinki Ice Hall has an audience capacity for 8,200 spectators. The IIHF will work with the Organizing Committee to have further infrastructure and facilities added to the Helsinki Ice Hall to prepare it for the teams that will compete there.

Information about the changes to ticket sales will be announced in the beginning of next week. Ticket holders will also be informed via e-mail.

2022 IIHF World Junior Championship

The 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Canada, which had to be cancelled in December, is planned from 9 to 20 August 2022. Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta is foreseen as venue for all games.

With the Council approval, further discussions will soon be held with the participating teams on the staging of the World Juniors on details surrounding the organization and logistics.

Defending champion USA, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Austria are seeded in Group A of the preliminary round; Group B consists of host Canada, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia and Latvia.

The tournament with a schedule to be established together with all stakeholders will start from the beginning and results from December 2021 will not count towards the standings. The same age group (players born 2002 or later) will be eligible. There will be no relegated team and the setup of the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship will be discussed at a later stage.

Fans who purchased tickets for the 2021 and 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship will be provided front-of-the-line access for the 2022 event in August with ticket sales expected to launch in April.

2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship

Following the reduction to eight teams a new game schedule will be established for the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship in Landshut and Kaufbeuren, Germany.

The new tournament dates are 23 April to 1 May 2022.

Canada, the United States, Czechia and host Germany will start the preliminary round in Group A; Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Latvia will play in Group B.

2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship

The IIHF Council approved the move of the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship from Sweden to the United States in June 2022. Further details on the dates and venues are expected to be announced soon.

The event was originally scheduled in January in Linkoping and Mjolby, Sweden but same as other events in January could not take place due to Covid-19. Same as for the originally planned tournament, players born in 2004 or later will be eligible.

Slovakia will compete as the eighth team in the tournament. This year’s Division I Group A will thus be played with five teams. The relegation/promotion format will stay the same with one team relegated and one team promoted.

Also the planning for the lower divisions of the U18 women’s category, which could also not be played in January, is progressing together with the hosts and participating teams. The Division I Group A will be a five team tournament taking place in Gyor, Hungary with dates to be confirmed soon, while the Division I Group B in Radenthein, Austria is planned from 5-11 September. The Division II is planned in Istanbul, Turkey in summer. Dates on this division with currently eight teams entered are to be determined.

2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B

At the request of the Polish Ice Hockey Association the IIHF Council approved to relocate the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B within Poland from Katowice to Tychy. The venue will be the Winter Stadium (Stadion Zimowy) that has hosted IIHF events previously.

The tournament includes Poland, Japan, Estonia, Ukraine and Serbia.

The tournament is planned for late April with the new game schedule and dates to be announced soon. Fans who purchased tickets for the event at the previous location in Katowice on the official platform eBilet.pl will be contacted by e-mail and may return tickets free of charge or choose new seats in Tychy.

Update on Ukraine

Due to the situation of Ukraine and the safety or players, ice hockey has come to a halt in the country, which also makes international participation impossible.

For the next IIHF event with Ukrainian participation, the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division III Group A, the Ukrainian team had to be withdrawn. The tournament in Bulgaria, Sofia will be organized with four teams from 4 to 7 April 2022.

For their events in late April, the Ukrainian men’s senior and men’s U18 national teams remain entered.

Further event updates for 2022

The 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division I Group A in Slovakia will be moved to Piestany. The tournament dates remain the same, 11 to 17 April 2022, and the tournament includes Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Denmark, Norway, France and Japan.

New dates have been found for the U20 tournaments that had to be cancelled in January due to Covid-19. The 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division II Group B in Belgrade, Serbia will take place from 12 to 18 September and the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III in Queretaro, Mexico will be organized from 22 to 31 July 2022.

Due to withdrawals the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division III Group B in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina will be played with only three teams. The teams have agreed to play a double round robin. The new event dates are 17 to 22 April 2022.

Updates for 2023

On 28 February the IIHF Council decided to withdraw the hosting rights of the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship from Russia and initiated discussions to find a new host for the event. The tournament is planned from 26 December 2022 to 5 January 2023.

Taking into consideration the ongoing situation and the far-reaching implications of the war in Ukraine, the IIHF Council considers it difficult to hold the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia. While all necessary analyses are currently underway, the IIHF Council will take a final decision regarding the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Russia at its next scheduled Council meeting.

Source: iihf.com

Mexico’s Maria Chavez (17) scores hat trick, assist in win. Photo: Michal Chwieduk.

By Derek O’Brien | 10 OCT 2021 IIHF

It was the last game of the Pre-Qualification Round 2, Group H in Bytom, Poland and both teams involved knew they wouldn’t be advancing, but both teams had something to play for nonetheless.

Both wanted to get a win in the tournament, and for the Mexicans it was mission accomplished, getting a 6-1 victory thanks to three goals and one assist from Maria Chavez.

And despite getting handed their third straight loss, the Turks had a chance for most of the game – the score was 1-1 after two periods – and managed to break through with their first goal of the tournament.

“We’ve played Mexico before and we knew what kind of game it would be,” said Turkish head coach Yucel Citak. “We worked hard the whole game and the first two periods went pretty well for us.”

“It feels good (to get the hat trick), but the important thing is we were able to win the game,” Chavez said afterwards. “We all worked hard and weren’t really focused on who got the goals.”

The Mexicans struck early. Just over a minute in, Chavez crossed the blueline, made a move to avoid a defender and sent a high wrister on net that found its way under Merve Karatas’ arm and into the net.

Karatas, who was great in Turkey’s opening game against Poland but was then injured in warmup before the team’s second game, wasn’t 100 per cent in this game but after the early goal, turned in a heroic performance and was unbeatable for the next 40 minutes. She made 43 saves in the game.

“Turkey played really structured so it was a little complicated,” said Mexican head coach Diego de la Garma. “We couldn’t score. Their goalie was great. It was tough at the beginning but we kept working and being patient, and in the end it paid off.”

A couple of minutes later came a Turkish 2-on-1 that failed to generate a shot on goal but did draw a penalty. On the ensuing power play, Turkey generated two shots and some of their best offensive chances to the tournament to this point.

Otherwise, the first period and most of the second was dominated by Mexcio in terms of puck possession, but Turkey continued to play a tenacious defensive style that gave up very little in the way of quality scoring chances.

With less than seven minutes to go in the middle frame, Ayse Kocak circled out of the corner and her initial shot attempt was blocked, but the puck came back to her in the high slot and this time she sent a shot into the crowd in front that went through everybody and into the back of the net.

The goal drew a big cheer from the Turkish bench and their group of supporters in the stands behind, as the players on the ice, led by Kocak, excitedly gave their high-fives.

“Every shift, with my linemates we work hard and try to play well. Finally, we got a chance and we scored,” said Kocak. “I think we could have won this game but I’m not sad because we worked hard, so in the future we’ll just have to work even harder so we can improve.”

Late in the middle frame, the Mexicans started to turn on the pressure and generated some good chances but lacked finish around the net, with a couple of loose pucks in the slot swept wide.

With about a minute to go, Chavez was looking for her second goal of the game and tried to pick the top corner but Karatas got her left shoulder on it.

“We were outplaying them but we just had to stay calm,” said de la Garma. “I said, ‘You know what, girls? We’ve just gotta keep working, keep pressuring.’ We talked a little bit about having more net-front presence, keep getting shots on net and being patient and it’s gotta go in eventually.”

The Mexicans came out with a purpose to start period three and Chavez scored her second of the night – and eventual game-winner – in the second minute, as her centring pass from below the goal line went off Karatas’ stick and in.

“We were just trying to put pucks on net as much as we could, and in that case I shot from near the boards and the goalie made a bit of a mistake,” Chavez described.” To be honest, I didn’t see what happened but my linemate told me.”

Four minutes later, she completed the hat trick when she put in the rebound from Thelma Escobedo’s point shot.

Captain Claudia Tellez then got into the action with a couple of goals, and Joanna Rojas rounded out the scoring in the last minute.

“After the second goal, my players got a bit down,” said Citak.

“We worked hard after that but it’s a fast game and it got away from us a bit. But I’m proud of my players and we’ll take this experience and look ahead next to the World Championship.”