Germany and Poland win EIHC tournaments

At least for two teams the international break this February was extremely painful as it reminded them of a huge disappointment from last year. Belarus and Germany both had hoped to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi just as they always qualified for the last editions of the Winter Games - but not this time. While Belarus lost the opener of the Olympic qualification tournament in Denmark last February against Slovenia (2-4) and thus finishing the tournament only as 2nd in the group, the Germans were one point short during their tournament on home ice when they failed to beat Austria in regulation (3-2 OT) and thus ending the tournament behind them. Other teams who made it to the last qualfication round as well and now played EIHC were Kazakhstan, France and Italy.

On home ice the Polish national team was able to win against Italy (2-1), and Belarus (4-2) but they lost the second group game against Hungary (1-2). This should have no consequences for them as they won the direct duel with Italy for the group win. The Italians went on to beat Belarus (2-1) and Hungary (4-2) while Hungary also lost against Belarus (1-2) in the tournament opener.

While the tournament underlined the Polish ambitions to play in the top division again in the future, Belarus disappointed three months before the World Championship in Minsk. Italy's Vincent Rocco 4 points (1G, 3A) in 3 games was the top scorer in Gdansk followed by Grzegorz Pasiut and Aron Chmielewski (both Poland) and Belarus' Geoff Platt with 3 points each.

A German team that lost several key players due to injuries, played well-organized in defense which also was the key for the tournament win in Briancon. They beat Denmark (2-1), hosts France (2-0) and Kazakhstan (4-1) for a perfect 3-0-0 record with 8-2 goals. Kazakhstan took the second spot after beating France (4-2) and Denmark (4-3) in their other two games. France disappointed by only beating Denmark (4-1) in the very last game of the three-day tournament. For Denmark there is still a lot to do if they want to stay in the top division at the World Championship in Minsk in May.

An interesting side fact: due to the heavy competition in the German net, the Central Europeans started with three different goalies and all of them were able to fully convince their head coach, especially Dennis Endras who earned a 30 save shutout against France. The other two goalies were Danny aus den Birken and Jochen Reimer.

Roman Starchenko was the tournament's top scorer with 5 points, three of which he earned during the win against Denmark (1G, 2A).

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