WC: IIHF Division IV world championship

[MeHateHe]

The Division IV senior IIHF tournament started Thursday in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, with Kuwait, Indonesia, Philippines and the host Mongolia facing off. Not a lot of star power in the tournament rosters as you might expect this far down the hockey food chain, although Kuwait is being coached by former Czech Olympian Leo Gudas, father of Radko Gudas. Mongolia and Indonesia have a bunch of young guys on their respective rosters: Indonesia has two who haven't hit their 16th birthday yet, and Mongolia has three players whose club is named the "Mergen Hockey Academy." I'm sure it's a coincidence that the head coach for Mongolia is a fellow named Mergen Arslan.

Anyway, the tournament started Thursday with a couple of blowouts, with host Mongolia hammering Kuwait 8-0 after Philippines thumped Indonesia 14-0. Looks like a nice crowd watched the hosts win the late game. The game summary says it was 3,075.

Two more games Saturday and the tournament wraps up on Sunday. Likely the tournament will be decided in the game Saturday between Mongolia and Philippines. There are live streams! Hockey from non-traditional hockey countries. Fun to watch!

It's all here: IIHF - Schedule and Results 2023 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division IV

Click to read more...

 

[tyhee]

Thanks for this. It was enough of a surprise that these four countries had national hockey programs that I went to iihf.com to confirm it.

Are you able to estimate the approximate level of play, relative to, say, a Canadian midget team (AAA, AA, A, house)?

 

[MeHateHe]

Thanks for this. It was enough of a surprise that these four countries had national hockey programs that I went to iihf.com to confirm it.

Are you able to estimate the approximate level of play, relative to, say, a Canadian midget team (AAA, AA, A, house)?

I won't compare it to minor hockey. I suspect any of the senior teams in the Chinook league, or even the North Peace league in Alberta would fairly comfortably win against these teams.

 

[Albatros]

I'm sure it's a coincidence that the head coach for Mongolia is a fellow named Mergen Arslan.

Also coaches youth and women's teams as well as acts as the hockey federation's vice president, the aim being to create organized structures in Mongolia where hockey has traditionally been just a recreational sport for the winter months. I wouldn't be surprised if they'll now move a few divisions up in the next several years despite not really having much prior competitive history.

 

[MeHateHe]

Also coaches youth and women's teams as well as acts as the hockey federation's vice president, the aim being to create organized structures in Mongolia where hockey has traditionally been just a recreational sport for the winter months. I wouldn't be surprised if they'll now move a few divisions up in the next several years despite not really having much prior competitive history.

Sounds like the fellow (is it Joaquin de la Garma) who has been coach of nearly every Mexican team for the past 15 years?

 

[PanniniClaus]

The Division IV senior IIHF tournament started Thursday in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, with Kuwait, Indonesia, Philippines and the host Mongolia facing off. Not a lot of star power in the tournament rosters as you might expect this far down the hockey food chain, although Kuwait is being coached by former Czech Olympian Leo Gudas, father of Radko Gudas. Mongolia and Indonesia have a bunch of young guys on their respective rosters: Indonesia has two who haven't hit their 16th birthday yet, and Mongolia has three players whose club is named the "Mergen Hockey Academy." I'm sure it's a coincidence that the head coach for Mongolia is a fellow named Mergen Arslan.

Anyway, the tournament started Thursday with a couple of blowouts, with host Mongolia hammering Kuwait 8-0 after Philippines thumped Indonesia 14-0. Looks like a nice crowd watched the hosts win the late game. The game summary says it was 3,075.

Two more games Saturday and the tournament wraps up on Sunday. Likely the tournament will be decided in the game Saturday between Mongolia and Philippines. There are live streams! Hockey from non-traditional hockey countries. Fun to watch!

It's all here: IIHF - Schedule and Results 2023 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division IV

Philippines led by:

Steven Füglister - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Steven Füglister, 1986-01-25 Zürich, SUI Phillipines. Most recently in the PHIHL with Manila Chiefs. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Junohockeyfan]

I would love to see Team Canada's A team take on Mongolia. The catch? Canada is only allowed 4 players on the ice at all times.

 

[MeHateHe]

I would love to see Team Canada's A team take on Mongolia. The catch? Canada is only allowed 4 players on the ice at all times.

Sure sure. Right after Canada (ranked about #160) plays Germany in Handball. Of course, the Germans could probably play with three players on crutches.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Sure sure. Right after Canada (ranked about #160) plays Germany in Handball. Of course, the Germans could probably play with three players on crutches.

The other catch, Canada can't line change. They have a roster of 4 players.

 

[Albatros]

Mongolian hockey is an interesting case study in that even the top players in the country could only very recently move to play indoors, until now they depended on the often extreme winters in the country when you could play outdoors but in very low temperatures (currently it's -21°C or -5°F in Ulaanbaatar) it was almost a different sport.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Sure sure. Right after Canada (ranked about #160) plays Germany in Handball. Of course, the Germans could probably play with three players on crutches.

Germany is not a top 5 nation in Handball. France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Croatia is stronger in Handball than Germany.

 

[MeHateHe]

Also coaches youth and women's teams as well as acts as the hockey federation's vice president, the aim being to create organized structures in Mongolia where hockey has traditionally been just a recreational sport for the winter months. I wouldn't be surprised if they'll now move a few divisions up in the next several years despite not really having much prior competitive history.

Maybe but Mongolia will likely need to wait another year to get out of Division IV. Philippines beat the hosts 7-6 in overtime in front of a packed house in Ulan Bataar Saturday to take a stranglehold in the tournament. A Philippines win over Kuwait - which lost 8-0 to Mongolia - would seal the deal.

Germany is not a top 5 nation in Handball. France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Croatia is stronger in Handball than Germany.

I’ll take your word for it. I only know what I read on the internet.

IHF | Member Federation

www.ihf.info

 

[S E P H]

I would love to see Team Canada's A team take on Mongolia. The catch? Canada is only allowed 4 players on the ice at all times.

What an idiotic post, every country has different levels and times in terms of development. Mongolia is one of the least populated, most wilderness places on Earth with a very small population. Wanting Canada to play them for the laughs is just pathetic.

 

[Albatros]

Maybe but Mongolia will likely need to wait another year to get out of Division IV. Philippines beat the hosts 7-6 in overtime in front of a packed house in Ulan Bataar Saturday to take a stranglehold in the tournament. A Philippines win over Kuwait - which lost 8-0 to Mongolia - would seal the deal.

Also otherwise it has been the best-attended bottom-tier group in years, even Div II & III tournaments have often been wives and girlfriends affairs as was the one in Bosnia this year.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Maybe but Mongolia will likely need to wait another year to get out of Division IV. Philippines beat the hosts 7-6 in overtime in front of a packed house in Ulan Bataar Saturday to take a stranglehold in the tournament. A Philippines win over Kuwait - which lost 8-0 to Mongolia - would seal the deal.


I’ll take your word for it. I only know what I read on the internet.

IHF | Member Federation

www.ihf.info

The german Bundesliga is the strongest league, but the german NT is far from it.

 

[SoundAndFury]

What an idiotic post, every country has different levels and times in terms of development. Mongolia is one of the least populated, most wilderness places on Earth with a very small population. Wanting Canada to play them for the laughs is just pathetic.

Don't think the comment was mean-spirited, people have really gotten far too sensitive here. Your remarks are not exactly correct either since Mongolia itself would rank around the middle in population in Europe and while it is huge, more than half of the population actually lives within 400 km by road from each other. In many ways, it's similar to Latvia, for example, demographically.

 

[MeHateHe]

ANYWAY if we can get off the topic of handball and maybe insensitive maybe not insensitive comments about developing hockey nations, Philippines completed a nearly perfect tournament with a 14-0 thumping of Kuwait Sunday. The host Mongolia earned the silver medal by beating Indonesia 5-1. Kuwait, having beaten Indonesia Saturday finished third.

The hockey is, as you can expect, pretty rudimentary. If a country was looking for the fast track to progressing to higher divisions, they would put their key development into goaltending - which is a nut everyone is forever trying to crack, but when you have such a limited skill range, goals don’t come from quality scoring chances so much as shots on net.

In any event none of this should be seen as criticism. These countries still have limited hockey infrastructure - although that rink in Ulan Bataar looks gorgeous - and are making the best of what they’ve got, playing in shopping malls and such. While the top 6/7 (depending on how @Czechboy sees things this week ) will always be the same it’s always fascinating to see what happens when a country finds a sport and puts some time and resources into it. I can’t imagine it’s any of these countries, but it will be interesting to see which country breaks into the top 16 to stay they way Switzerland did, or Denmark, for example, when not long ago they were nowhere. I still think Australia is not that far off, given they have a fairly credible national league, (relatively speaking) a sports-mad population and a country rich enough to sustain another sport.

 

[Czechboy]

ANYWAY if we can get off the topic of handball and maybe insensitive maybe not insensitive comments about developing hockey nations, Philippines completed a nearly perfect tournament with a 14-0 thumping of Kuwait Sunday. The host Mongolia earned the silver medal by beating Indonesia 5-1. Kuwait, having beaten Indonesia Saturday finished third.

The hockey is, as you can expect, pretty rudimentary. If a country was looking for the fast track to progressing to higher divisions, they would put their key development into goaltending - which is a nut everyone is forever trying to crack, but when you have such a limited skill range, goals don’t come from quality scoring chances so much as shots on net.

In any event none of this should be seen as criticism. These countries still have limited hockey infrastructure - although that rink in Ulan Bataar looks gorgeous - and are making the best of what they’ve got, playing in shopping malls and such. While the top 6/7 (depending on how @Czechboy sees things this week ) will always be the same it’s always fascinating to see what happens when a country finds a sport and puts some time and resources into it. I can’t imagine it’s any of these countries, but it will be interesting to see which country breaks into the top 16 to stay they way Switzerland did, or Denmark, for example, when not long ago they were nowhere. I still think Australia is not that far off, given they have a fairly credible national league, (relatively speaking) a sports-mad population and a country rich enough to sustain another sport.

This week I see it as a Big 5... but Russia can't play so it's a big 4. Czechs are at 5.

But ask me next week!lol

To be honest, I remember the Slovaks going to the C pool and the well past retirements Stastny's dominating it. So it's not that tough to get competitive at the lower levels. But getting to Big 5... I think you need years of good drafts, lots of luck (eg. no busts or awful injuries) and good infrastructure (money!!!). Canada has that in Spades for instance. So does Finland, Sweden and US. It's why I get annoyed when a non Big 5 does well at World Juniors and everyone says they are 'coming'. They're not.. it's a blip. You need sustained drafting.

Eg. the last few years, the Czechs have had more guys drafted than the nations behind us combined. It's enough to keep us ahead of them (based on placements and NHL players, not that I think it's a big gap) but not enough to get us close enough to Finland/Sweden/US/Canada who almost always have more guys taken every year. In Canada's case, they usually have more first rounders taken then we have players taken.lol

 

[Albatros]

To be honest, I remember the Slovaks going to the C pool and the well past retirements Stastny's dominating it. So it's not that tough to get competitive at the lower levels.

Sorry to say but that's an example of the Mandela effect in hockey. None of the Šťastnýs played for Slovakia when they were in group C. Peter was prominent at the Olympics two months earlier which is probably why so many people have this misconception.

Instead the team was lead by young Miroslav Šatan and had quite a tough time against all the former Soviet republics despite eventually winning the group after a final-day 2:1 effort against Belarus. Top scorers in that tournament were solely Ukrainians and Kazakhs, with Šatan finishing 13th as the best Slovak with 8 points in 6 games. Kazakhstan's Yevgeni Koreshkov had 16 points and Ukraine's Ramil Yuldashev 12 goals in likewise 6 games. Even overall the competition at C1 was tougher than B that year.

 

[Czechboy]

I s

Sorry to say but that's an example of the Mandela effect in hockey. None of the Šťastnýs played for Slovakia when they were in group C. Peter was prominent at the Olympics two months earlier which is probably why so many people have this misconception.

Instead the team was lead by young Miroslav Šatan and had quite a tough time against all the former Soviet republics despite eventually winning the group after a final-day 2:1 effort against Belarus. Top scorers in that tournament were solely Ukrainians and Kazakhs, with Šatan finishing 13th as the best Slovak with 8 points in 6 games. Kazakhstan's Yevgeni Koreshkov had 16 points and Ukraine's Ramil Yuldashev 12 goals in likewise 6 games. Even overall the competition at C1 was tougher than B that year.

tand corrected... what was this tournament for Peter Stastny?

 

[Albatros]

I s

tand corrected... what was this tournament for Peter Stastny?

View attachment 676435

Yeah, in B it was ironically easier for them, with only Latvia to overcome which they did 4:3 after trailing twice. Slovakia of course acted as hosts back-to-back so one can always also speculate what might have been if that wasn't so given that they essentially won promotion by one goal each time.

 

[Mirinho]

You'd be surprised. It's probably better than you think. There are highlights on YouTube from this tournament. Players are slower, but they have some good hockey skills and all have very solid hockey equipment for example here you can see very nice arena and crowd https://youtube.com/@mongolianicehockeyfederation

 

[cjeagle]

Thanks for this. It was enough of a surprise that these four countries had national hockey programs that I went to iihf.com to confirm it.

Are you able to estimate the approximate level of play, relative to, say, a Canadian midget team (AAA, AA, A, house)?

You can get more information on the Philippines on this thread.

Philippine Ice Hockey

The journey of hockey in Philippines - Eurohockey.com Associate Member of IIHF since 2016, Philippines is one of the countries where ice hockey is growing faster in terms of visibility and popularity, mainly thanks to the untireless work of local Federation. The Philippines will be the host of...

forums.hfboards.com

They became a full member in 2021 but have been participating in IIHF sanctioned events as an associate member outside the World Championship since 2017. Most of their players have been developed locally(mostly by Fil Canadian and Fil Euro coaches) but they have few who have experience in North American junior or college leagues.

 

[cjeagle]

Also otherwise it has been the best-attended bottom-tier group in years, even Div II & III tournaments have often been wives and girlfriends affairs as was the one in Bosnia this year.

Ice Hockey is actually quite popular in Mongolia. Their problem was infrastructure. They mostly trained and played outdoors which limited their playing time in the winter time which can be very severe in Mongolia. The recently built stadium they are using to host the event is the first indoor stadium in their country that can house a substantial number of fans.

 

[cjeagle]

You'd be surprised. It's probably better than you think. There are highlights on YouTube from this tournament. Players are slower, but they have some good hockey skills and all have very solid hockey equipment for example here you can see very nice arena and crowd https://youtube.com/@mongolianicehockeyfederation

The margin of victory for the Philippines over Mongolia should have been bigger but the host team was getting an extraordinary amount of calls benefitting them so the Philippine players spent an excessive amount of time in the penalty box and on the PK.