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WC: 2015 — Divisions I-II-III

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Exarz said:
So Japan is most likely not getting promoted this season. I hope they at least avoid relegation..

Japan would have played in the top division this year if they just won the shootout against Hungary last season.
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The fact that the tournament was hosted in South Korea probably helped them as they faced the jet lagged Slovenia in their first match.
 
Urbanskog said:
The fact that the tournament was hosted in South Korea probably helped them as they faced the jet lagged Slovenia in their first match.
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True. Despite they would most likely get whooped in the the top division, it would be fun with more geographically widespread nations. Let's hope for South Korea and Japan in the future instead!
 
Slycer said:
Because national teams should be made out of players BORN AND RAISED in the country that they play for. It takes time and PATIENCE to build something from scratch from what you are given. Not just buy whatever you can. It devalues the competition. This crap korea team is worthless without their imports. Same goes for Cronada. And now even the Hungarians have started doing this, why I don't know. They have a proper development program. And people think that korea is good enough to compete in the Olympics. By adding imports. Yeah, great.

National teams are not hockey clubs.
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I don't think Korea is buying players. It's more the case that the foreigners want a chance to play in the Olympics against NHLers, and playing for an automatically-qualified Korea is the easiest way to do that.

I'd prefer to see the Korean team made up of those born and raised in Korea, or Canadians and Americans of Korean descent, but it doesn't bother me too much either way.
 
Hungary defeats Italy for the first time since 1978, and suddenly looks like they might join Kazakhstan in the top division next year. All they need to do is defeat Poland and Ukraine, which should be no problem for the Hungarians. Italy not looking to good, but considering this is the first year they went for a primarily Italian-trained roster, it can be expected.

Also credit to the Hungarian fans in Krakow. Only about 2000 of them there, but they sounded like a lot more, and never stopped their chanting and singing. Really made for a good atmosphere to watch the game.
 
A very strong Hungarian victory today against Italy. Would be nice to se the Hungarians join Kasakhstan to get promoted.
 
EbencoyE said:
But the fact of the matter is that we live in a globalized world where people move from place to place. Humans are not stagnant objects, their homes and identities can change.
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[Mod]

First of all, you are pulling this out of your ***. It's got nothing to do with what's actually going on. The naturalization of foreign players has nothing to do with them becoming a part of the local culture AND THEN deciding "hey, I'd love to represent my new country in the World Champs or Olympics".

Almost every single player has been bought with money and/or other goodies. It has nothing to do with their identities changing or them starting a new life in a new country. The overwhelming majority of these players are effectively foreign mercenaries. Only a minority of the players were signed without the intent of making them a part of the national team over the next few years. Maybe there are a couple of exceptions in the entire global hockey community, where a player has married someone in a foreign country and started a family there, etc., but if we're discussing Croatia, Korea and all of these other countries, it's an absolute non-factor.

The underlying principle of national teams is based on the fact that there are no 'foreign mercenaries' available to any of the teams. All of these teams are abusing IIHF rules and using loopholes to improve their teams with foreign talent. It goes completely against the spirit of international competition and it has absolutely nothing to do with globalization.
 
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Poland is still in the race!

Added: Despite the upcoming results, the race is most likely between Hungary and Poland as they face each other in the last round. Poland will most likely lose against Kazakhstan tomorrow, Italy will probably beat Japan and Hungary should beat Ukraine.

Italy might have the second place after the fourth round, but they will have to at least get one point while Poland beats Hungary, or two points to secure the spot completely (as long as they get their 3 points versus Japan)
 
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After JPN beat ITA it's clear that we'll have a new team at the IHWC next year, Hungary or Poland. It's been a long time since Poland was at the highest level, Hungary payed a visit a few years ago.
 
jonas2244 said:
After JPN beat ITA it's clear that we'll have a new team at the IHWC next year, Hungary or Poland. It's been a long time since Poland was at the highest level, Hungary payed a visit a few years ago.
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Italy can still go up if they end up tied at 8 with Poland. Not likely but still possible.
 
I'm bit relieved about Japans win against Italy and I hope they get some more points to save relegation. It will be nice to see Asian rivalry next year.
 
OscarsCards said:
I'm bit relieved about Japans win against Italy and I hope they get some more points to save relegation. It will be nice to see Asian rivalry next year.
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Regardless of how today's Ukraine vs. Hungary game ends, the game on Saturday between Japan and Ukraine will determine which of those two teams avoids relegation.
 
Old Norse Hockey said:
What happend to his Italian team? New loss today agianst Japan 2-3
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They started a new policy this year of mainly only using players trained in Italy, rather than imported players from North America playing there. It was expected they would not fair as good as in previous years, but it is hoped that in the long run it will improve the state of Italian hockey. Either way, with the imports they were an elevator team that couldn't stay up in the top division, so it doesn't make that much of a difference.


That said, this upset win is huge. It likely means that either Hungary or Poland will go up to the top division. The game on Saturday between the two will decide it, and while Hungary has struggled against Poland at times, and I'm partial to the Poles, I got to give the advantage to the Hungarians. Will be nice to have a different team in the top division again, hasn't happened since Hungary was there in 2009.
 
I would love to see Latvia play against Poland next year, as long as it happens in the Elite division, of course. :)

It would be quite the trip for the Polish team, considering they played in the 3rd tier a year ago, IIRC.

It's starting to look even more likely, considering Hungary is trailing vs. Ukraine at the moment.
 
2-2 hungarians tie the game :handclap:
now 2-3 :) it seems it will all come for a final match poland - hungary for promotion .
 
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Wow, what a nail-biter. I thought Ukraine equalized for sure, but their goal gets disallowed and the Hungarians score shorthanded to make it 4-2.
 
Urbanskog said:
Why is Ukraine missing so many of their top players?
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According to the Polish media some of them rejected to train in the Ukraine before WC due to safety reasons and thus were not included in the team.

But that comes from a title comparable to Ilta-Sanomat so don't consider it as 100% true.
 
A surprisingly close game between Poland and Kazakhstan. Poles were in it the entire game, and probably were the best opposition the Kazakhs have faced so far. Really liking the Poles chances on Saturday against Hungary based on how they performed here, and how Hungary did against Ukraine earlier. Would be huge for a team to go from Division IB to the Elite within two years. And even if Poland doesn't get promoted, they definitely exceeded expectations for the team in this tournament.
 
Hungary in pole position before the last game on Saturday. Poland needs a win against Hungary in regular time to get promoted. All presure on Poland before this game, Hungary can get defeated in overtime and still be promoted.
 
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