Big win to Poland

Poland needed a lot of goals in the morning match against Japan as Poland is fighting with Hungary for the first place in group C. Before the morning match Hungary was leading the group with a better goal difference.

Poland started effectively and the first goal was scored by Cezary Ostrowski after only 39 seconds. Takumi Sawaguchi evened the score to 1-1, but after that the much bigger and stronger Polish team increased their lead steadily througout the match.

Poland won the match 21-2 and improved their goal difference and Hungary will now need to win Austria with 12 goals (or 11 and more scored goals) to take the first place in the group C.

Takumi Sawaguchi and Mateusz Furczoń were awarded as best players.

Tight match between Denmark and Latvia

Both countries had lost their previous matches against Switzerland and Sweden so they were looking for the first victory in the tournament. The tight match was decided in the last minutes and Latvia took the victory with result 5-3.

In the first period Denmark was able to create better scoring chances and with two goals scored by Nikolaj Parbo the Danish team had the lead 2-1 in the intermission. The second period was better play from the Latvians and with two power play goals they took the lead 3-2.

After Danish equalizer in the beginning of the third period it seemed in the end that the match will be a draw. However, this was not the case as Atis Stepãns was able to score 4-3 to Latvia only less than two minutes left of the match. He also scored the last goal to the empty Danish net and therefore the final score was 5-3 to Latvia.

The best players of the match were Danish goalie Mike Trolle and Atis Stepãns from Latvia

Estonia outplayed their opponets

Estonia that had already secured their first place in group D and were also strong in the match against Canada.

Especially the Tamme twins, Mats and Ats were effective in the start and Estonia was able to score 9 goals before Dennon Koziol scored the first for Canada.

The Canadian players looked a bit tired and started to show frustration when they were not able to score. There was also a big difference in the qaulity and accuracy of the shots, as the Estonian players could get the ball between the goal posts more often. In the third period Canada stayed away from the penalty box and could reduce the numbers to 13-6, which were the final numbers.

Reigo Adamson and Michael Woods were elected as best players. Estonia will play in the B-division semi-final tomorrow at 16.00 against Hungary or Poland (2nd in C).

Easy win for Czech Republic

Czech Republic took their second victory in the tournament by defeating Slovakia with result 13-3. This victory confirmed the semi-final place for Czech Republic.

The neighbour countries Czech Republic and Slovakia met in a slow tempo match in group B. Czech Republic dominated the ball most of the time and were able to build better places to score. The Slovakian team had problems getting to the best shooting sector and therefore they did not get that many dangerous shots to the Czech goal. Martin Tokoš scored a hattrick, but otherwise the 13 Czech goals were divided between ten different players. The final score of the match was 13-3 to Czech Republic.

Peter Dudovic (Slovakia) and Radek Gwuzdz (Czech Republic) were awarded as the best players of the teams.

Poland group winner after Hungary falls short

Hungary would have needed to score 12 goals more than Austria in order to take the first place in group C, but they did not quite reach their target and Poland is therefore the winner of group C. The 12 goal win seemed to be out of reach as the game was pretty tight in the first period. Zoltán Németh scored the first two goals for Hungary but then the quick Astrian Felix Moosburger utilized his speed and could even the score to 2-2. Philip Kapetz took Hungary to a 2-1 lead with a pretty wrist shot from long distance.

Michael Seiser evened the score once more for Austria, but then it was all Hungary and they scored goal after goal and almost reached their target as 13-3 to Hungary was the final score.

Hungary will play their semi-final versus Estonia tomorrow at 16.00. Michael Seiser and Philip Kapetz were elected as best players.

Third victory for Sweden

Two good periods was enough for Sweden to win Switzerland and take the 1st place in the group A. Switzerland won the second period 5-1, but that did help as the total score was 12-5 for Sweden.

The first period was strong performance from Sweden and they had the 7-0 lead in the first intermission. Many of the goals were beautifully executed and the hot players Henrik Stenberg and Henrik Stenberg continued their good performance in the tournament with two goals each.

In the second period the match turned totally around and Switzerland gave a lesson to Sweden. Switzerland won the loose balls and was stronger in the one against one situations.

They were able to score five goals and reduced the Swedish lead to 8-5 for the second intermission. However, in the last period, Sweden was able to take back the control and with four scored goals they won the match 12-5.

Effective power play took Germany to the semi-finals.

Russia took the lead against Germany and was leading the first period with 3-1 after two goals scored by Alexander Avtushenko. The match was very physical and intense, which led to penalties especally for the Russian players. After five 2 minutes penalties Germany had taken over the control of the match and was leading 6-3 after five power play goals.

Germay could hold on to their lead until the end and 8-6 was the final score for Germany. Matthias Siede with 2+3 and Thomas Händler with 2+2 were the most effective of their team.

Alexander Avtushenko and Händler were awarded as best players.

The Poland – Germany B-division semi-final will be played tomorrow at 13.00 (12.00 CET)

Finland without losses to the semi-finals

Casper Pfitzner scored the opening goal for Finland and just before the first intermission Onni Piiparinen increased the lead to 2-0. In the second perid Finland settled the match for good as they scored five goals within 10 minutes.

With the 13-0 victory Finland secured the group B victory and will play against Switzerland in the second A-division semi-final starting at 19.00 (18.00 CET).

Onni Piiparinen and Fredrik Ronglien were awarded as best players.