The IIHF Group 1 A and B World Championships began in Tychy Poland yesterday and will begin in Fussen Germany today.
Tychy has been a great venue thus far, and the hosts have been gracious and well prepared for the event. Scouts from the Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs and Central Scouting Services were all on hand to watch three very competitive games.
The game of the day cam between host country Poland and their cross border rival Ukraine.
The Ukraine team has 8 players on its roster currently playing in North America. 6 from the USPHL, 1 from the QMJHL, and 1 from the WSHL.
Poland, the winning side today, played very strong and physical. Of note, every player on the Polish team is currently playing and rostered in Poland playing for their respective clubs.
Goaltender Sebastian Lipinski made the saves he needed to make and a few that he shouldn’t have made in order to preserve the win for Poland. Lipinski is also taking home Player of the Game honors.
With the 4 to 2 victory, it would appear that Poland would now be the favorite in this tournament. The strongest competition ahead would look to be Slovenia who beat Italy 3 to 0 yesterday, or Hugary who beat Japan 3 to 1 on three early goals.
Stay tuned for more U20 World Championship Updates from Germany and Poland as the tournament moves forward.
