Sport Centre
13-12-2009

The winners: Great Britain, South-Korea, Hungary

The World U20 Division II Championship has started with the victory of Great Britain, South-Korea and Hungary in the Phoenix Hall in Debrecen.

The first game on the opening day on Sunday was the encounter between Great Britain and China. The battle - as it was anticipated - went on with the British as favorites, however the Chinese persistence was palpable. The British Team took the lead after the fourth minute scoring 2-0 after the first and 5-0 after the second period winning by 8-0 with Robert Farmer scoring four of their eight goals. 

“We are after a very good match, we ruled the game but actually our team is in the preparation period at the moment. Our aim is to win all games till Saturday and then maybe we can outdo the Hungarians as well,” Peter Russell, coach of the British Team said. “Our play was not perfect yet,” said the four goal scorer Ryan Gardner however for him the opening day came off well.

South-Korea made a raw deal on the ardent Mexicans as they got into the lead at 00:17 and they even scored a 3-on-five goal! The Asians led by 6-0 after the first period and finally won 12-0. “We didn’t play bad but made many mistakes in the defense. We have a very young team so our primary goal is not to earn the promotion,” said Diego Canton the Mexican goalkeeper who lives in Canada.

The evening program brought life to the Phoenix Hall: After the show - performed by talented young skaters - Ferenc Studniczky the president of the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation, Lajos Kósa the Mayor of Debrecen and Christer Englund IIHF-chairman from Sweden opened the games then the Hungarian Team faced off Team Spain for the first time in front of the crowd.

This game was not much closer then the previous ones. Team Hungary took the lead with Németh’s short handed goal then Somogyi scoring again at 06:23. The first period brought three other goals scored by Szilágyi, Bartalis (best Hungarian player of the game) and Nemes. The second period started with 5-0 and the Hungarians dominance in front of one thousand ice hockey fans. Quevedo’s goal was answered by Tóth and Somogyi. The Spanish Team scored first in the third period that ended with Pavuk scoring the final goal. The Hungarian Team won 8-2, Captain J.P. MacCallum was contended. “This game was a good start, the outcome was evident in the first period. I am happy that we could end the game with a score. We have a good team that considers the match being played at that moment the most important game”. 

Monday’s matches: from 13:00 Great Britain vs. South-Korea, from 16:30 Spain vs. China, from 20:00 Hungary vs. Mexico.

Entrance free of charge!