Medal race contenders step up

16 Apr 2012 | Joeri Loonen

Krynica, Poland - After just two days, three teams have separated themselves from the rest of the group. Poland, Korea and The Netherlands set themselves up as preliminary medal contenders in IIHF World Championships Division 1B.

Netherlands - Australia 6-2 (1-1; 3-1; 2-0)

Boxscore

Coming of a 4-8 defeat against Korea, Australia felt confident for their game against the Netherlands. A Nathan Walker goal 37 seconds into the game only fuelled that feeling.

Despite the early let down, the Dutch kept their calm and continued to play the power hockey they displayed against Romania.

"I told the guys in the bench that there is no better moment to get scored on than this one," coach Larry Suarez said afterwards. "After all we still had 59 minutes to restore the damage."

Two minutes before the end of the first period Kevin Bruijsten scored on his own rebound to tie the game and finally made the Netherlands' dominance count. The goal provided the spark the team needed. Three unanswered second period goals opened up a gap the Aussies could never close.

Lliam Webster cut the deficit to two late in the second period, but the Dutch win was never in doubt. Two more goals in the third period ensured the Netherlands could enjoy their best ever Division 1 tournament start since 1993 and set themselves up as medal contenders.

South Korea - Lithuania 3-0 (3-0; 0-0; 0-0)

Boxscore

South Korea needed just 20 minutes to claim their second victory of the tournament. Three first period goals by Geun Ho Kim, Won Jung Kim and Woo Sang Park gave Korea a cushion they could comfortably sit back on.

Lithuania was still short-handed playing with just three lines and did lack the depth and firepower to stand any chance against the slick skating Asians. It was somewhat suprising and disappointing for the 100 spectators that the game saw no further goals after the first period flurry. Goaltender Mantas Armalis saved his team from further damage stopping 37 out of 40 shots.

With two straight losses, Lithuania will get reinforcements in their battle to avoid relegation. Today Darius Pliskauskas and Mindaugas Kieras arrived in Poland while three more players are expected to join the team on short notice.

On Wednesday, Korea will try to stay perfect when facing pointless Romania.

Poland - Romania 10-0 (3-0; 3-0; 4-0)

Boxscore

After a 9-0 victory over Lithuania, hosts Poland once again opened up all cylinders. While double digits were not reached yesterday, Poland did manage to make it 10 today against Romania.

Outshooting their opponents 43-19, Poland scored no less than five power play goals. Defenseman Adam Borzecki tallied for five assists and four players scored twice resulting in Team Poland dominating the scoring charts this tournament.

With 19 goals scored and yet to concede a goal on home ice, Poland has come out as the team to beat this tournament. After the rest day tomorrow, the true strength of the team can be seen when they face the Netherlands which also has six points from two games so far.

For coach Tom Skinner's Romania another relegation battle looms. Skinner had hoped for at least 8 points this tournament but after losing to the Netherlands on Day 1 and the higher ranked Koreans still to play, Romania will need to come up with a result against Australia and/or Lithuania to secure their spot in Division 1B next year.

JOERI LOONEN