Summary of the 2011 World Championship DivIII

by National Greek Ice Hockey Team on Monday, April 18, 2011 at 8:24am

Τhe appearance of the Men's National Ice Hockey Team at the 2011 World Championships divIII that was held in South Africa, only one year after the huge success of the silver medal, RESULTED IN ABSOLUTE FAILURE. 

It's the first time that the Men's National Team did not win a single game at the World Championship, had only 2 goals for and 79 goals against in 4 games, the most of any other participation of the Men's National Team. It's also the first time that the scores of all games have such large differences, and these loses become the biggest defeats in Men's National Team hockey history against these specific Nations but also 26-2 becomes the worst defeat in Men's National Ice Hockey history. It's also the first time that no athlete from the Greek Team appears in the statistics table, when in previous years the stats were filled with Greek athletes. Usually in the first spots, like the top scorer and top defenseman of the World Championships in 2 different years. It's also the first time in recent years that the National Team is in the last spot in the Team's statistics of all categories, when last year the team was first in almost all categories. It's also the first time that our goalies are also in the last position of goalie statistics, when usually our net minders are always in the top spot, and specifically being named MVP in the 2009 World Championship. 

Apart from numbers and statistics, this year is the first time in Men's National Ice hockey team history THAT THE GREEK NATIONAL ANTHEM WAS NOT HEARD ONCE IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, something that doesn't make anyone happy. 

Because numbers never lie, the 2011 IIHF World Championships is by far the worst appearance in the history of the Greek Men's National Ice Hockey Team. The players are not to blame for this of course since their abilities are limited and everyone was aware of this, but also the fact that the dream of each athlete of any sport is to represent the National Team of their country, so therefore no one is accusing the players. The ones to blame is the federation and in particular the president, that despite the desperate appeals of many to reconsider his decision to throw out the players of last year's National team that won a silver medal and almost promoted twice without basically having a regular ice rink in Greece, but also the fact that many people, as well as players from Greek clubs, were telling the president over and over again that the team he is getting ready to send to the World Championship will not be able to compete against these nations and might get humiliated, he did not change his mind and insisted on the ban of the National Team players and therefore HE IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE ONLY ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS YEAR'S ABSOLUTE FIASCO! 

When the hockey community reads about the economic issues in Greece, let them all remember this hockey 2011 world championship as a microcosm of all that is wrong with the economic and moral compass of our country. Greece economic woes did not happen by accident and the alleged actions of this Ice Sports Federation and President are a perfect example of how Greece, as a country, ended up in their overall economic predicament.

The 2011 National Ice Hockey Team: 

ADAMIDIS Georgios (C), ADAMIDIS Kyriakos , GIATAGANTZIDIS Ioannis (A), ANASTASIOU Anastasios, GLERIDIS Christos, CHASIOTIS Christos, CHATZIGIANNIS Loukas, DAVIOS Panagiotis, DRAGATSIS Andreas, FOURNOGERAKIS Eleftherios (Α), GRIGORIADIS Vasileios, IOANNOU Ioannis, KANELLIS Antonios, MAGKLARAS Pantelis, MOIRASGETIS Alexandros, PAPADOPOULOS Nikolaos, POLITIDIS Avraam, TILIOS Vasileios, TOISKIN Alexei and ZOURIDIS Dimitrios 

Head Coach: DUMITRACHE Mirel, Assistant Coach: TILIOS Ioannis, Equipment Manager: EFKARPIDIS Klimis, Team Leader: CHATZIATHANASSIOU Christos, General Manager: CHRISTODOULIA Charikleia, Team Staff: ANAGNOSTOPOULOU Souzana