For the past week, I have been engulfed in all things Ice Hockey. With the development of the Medibank Icehouse here in Docklands, Melbourne has come by some wonderful opportunities with traditional winter sports. Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) games are played throughout the season April - Sept, with the 2010 Finals being hosted right here in Melbourne, and the future development and growth of Ice Hockey has never looked better.
Another great opportunity was to host the World Championships Div II Grade A, with Australia (the host country) and who narrowly missed out on Gold in 2010 in Mexico favourites to go one better in 2011. I was lucky enough to volunteer and be part of a new and exciting chapter in the sporting landscape that is Melbourne.
Unfortunately, DPR Korea pulled out at the last minute and the competition was reduced to 5 teams (Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium and Mexico), however the organisers handled this exceptionally well and the World Champs were under way. . Watching the 5 countries competing for Gold and with it, a move up to Division I was exciting and to be a smaill part of it a great honour.
The competition, played in a Round Robin format, saw the results come right down to the last game, with NZ, Serbia and Australia's medal chances all relying on the results of the last game of the tournament; Sunday night between Australia and Serbia (relegated from Div I )
Australia took out the last game 4-2 and won their way to a Gold Medal and Division I.Medals:
Gold - Australia
Silver - New Zealand
Bronze - SerbiaAs a proud Australian, it was a priviledge to watch the boys fight with everything they had and to be the only team undefeated in the tournament.
As an Ice Hockey fan, it was exciting to watch some of the best duke it out and show us what Ice Hockey is all about.
Congratulations to the Aussie boys.....
Below are the End of Competition Standing
IHF Div II Grade A Statistics
IHF Div II Grade A Statistics
