Israel reserves first place

Also World Championship Division III, hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, registered a walkover: Mongolia, a traditional presence at this level, had to waive due to economic difficulties. So just five teams: Greece, South Africa, Luxembourg, Turkey and Israel fight for two tickets for next year Division II. Israel and South Africa are the favourites, with Turkey as possible surprise, while Luxembourg tries to subvert forecasts and Greece passed for a tough crisis between the best players and the federation, so national team flied to South Africa with B or possibly C team.
And first game confirmed it: a "simple" Luxembourg seemed Russia or Czech Republic opposed to an embarrassing Greece: final 20-0 and the impression there's worse to come in next games.
Fortunately night game was very different: South Africa and Israel played a good and fast hockey with chances to win by both team. Host always lead the game with double advantage for three times but Israel managed to recover and end regular time on a crackling 5-5. In overtime the more experienced Israel roster made the difference: at 63.10 Baie-Comeau Drakkar Eliezer Sherbatov found the way to beat a positive Ashley Bock and record a victory possibly in the most important game

 

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