WJC: WJC 2025 Division 1B

[SoundAndFury]

I am obviously biased, but I believe Estonia has yet to play a game up to our level. If we eliminate the easy goals allowed then we are competitive. Powerplay and penalty kill is nonexistent, but in the friendlies it was there. Lets see what happens today, but I think it is too early to tell we are far behind.

Well, the very next game nipped my theories in the bud, so to speak. And we are back to square 1: Estonia, Poland, and South Korea will have to fight it out. Although I still think Poland looked pretty good in all of their games, losing points to Estonia has to be an unbreakable habit for them at this point.

 

[tornaado66]

Italy's powerplay is incredibly efficient: 9/16. This is what keeps them in contention even though they are heavily outshot

 

[SoundAndFury]

Japan with far and away their strongest performance in the tournament, absolutely crushing Italy.

 

[Namejs]

Has anyone crunched the numbers regarding all the tiebreaker scenarios between Estonia/Poland/Korea?

 

[Namejs]

Nevermind lol

Estonia with the GWG in the literal last second of regulation time and 2 goals in the last 45 seconds

 

[PanniniClaus]

So a gold medal match, bronze match and relegation match.

 

[MeHateHe]

So a gold medal match, bronze match and relegation match.

Yeah, sorta. Ukraine just needs to tie in regulation to win promotion, though.

 

[SoundAndFury]

While stylistically similar to their throw against Estonia in 2021, this has to be the new golden standard for the genre by the Poles. Holding 2-0 lead against in the third and 2-1 lead in the final minute and yet losing the game in regulation is truly a scenario for the books.

This makes the Polish all-time record against Estonia 1-1-1-2. That's the team that just played in the elite division at men's versus one that has never finished above third place in D1B.

Edit: in the interest of defending Poland just a little bit I will point out GB is never even in the same division to play Estonia at U18 or U20 levels despite pretending to be at roughly the same level as Poland in men's hockey.

 

[Albatros]

I don't know what's in the water, but every generation of Polish players reliably does inherit the skill of dropping the ball when it matters most. Oh well, they can still negate that against Korea.