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+---- Thread: S65 IIHF Tournament Recap and Awards (/showthread.php?tid=125627)
S65 IIHF Tournament Recap and Awards - Canadice - 07-25-2022
This post has been a long time coming due to vacation time in Sweden, but it's better late than never! The S65 tournament saw some much needed IIHF revitalization with a new logo, the restart of IIHF Fantasy, and double media and graphic periods. The double media period saw 10 posts and 2 graphics highlighting aspects of the IIHF which is a great way to spread the word about the tournament and the international play on the forum. 88 users took part of the IIHF Fantasy and I am "proud" to say that I came second last, which reflects most of the fantasy seasons I have been participating in.
The Round Robin
The twelve games of the round robin saw some surprises compared to past seasons. Ireland managed to get into the knockout stages beating out Japan and Germany by one point in Group A while Sweden who is usually taking part in the battle for the medals fell to 6th in Group B. Czechia was the only team to advance with a negative goal differential of -13 and were, with Finland, the only two teams to go unbeaten while wearing the home jersey.
IIHF Awards
As is custom with the IIHF, each Federation votes for their goaltender, defender and forward of the round robin. After tallying all the votes the following players have been selected as the top players at their position:
Forward: Ethan Duncan @mastersheep
Duncan led in points at 18, 11 of those from assists. Between Duncan and Lord Raiden, USA was in good hands and made each scoring opportunity count. Duncan had a shooting % of 20.6, and walked away from the round robin tournament with 0 minutes in the penalty box. With incredible stats and a great showing offensively, it's no question why Duncan was voted the best forward.
Defense: Luc Blouin @DrunkenTeddy
Another points leader of the round robin, Blouin led all defense in points at 13, also strong in assists with 8A. Blouin spent 1:28 on the PK, and managed 1 SH assist during that time. Overall, Blouin managed 30 blocks and 16 hits, making a fantastic showing both offensively and defensively. Blouin was a very important piece to Team Canada, and with those numbers definitely earned best defense of this season's round robin.
Goalie: Strom Chamberlain @Chevy
Back with Team USA - NA swept these awards - Chamberlain was voted best goalie. Chamberlain played in 9 of the 12 round robin games, and finished the tournament with a 0.941 SV%, 322 shots against and 303 saves. With a game record of 7-1-1 and 1 shutout, Chamberlain was a goalie Team USA could count on and did a fantastic job in the net. No question that Chamberlain was an excellent goalie for USA, and this season's best goalie.
Vote results:
Forward
Ethan Duncan - 12
Thomas Lind - 7
Sarah Burke - 6
Defense
Luc Blouin - 10
Ruggs McOooh - 8
Ole Olson - 6
Goalie
Strom Chamberlain - 11
Luca Del Vecchio - 9
Elizabeth Doyle - 6
Knockout Rounds and Medals
Now to the part of the tournament where teams are fighting for their chance at acquiring some hardware. The quarter final matchups saw last seasons gold medalists
taking on their neighbors 
, a replay of the S63 Gold medal game with 
facing 
, the battle of the British Isles with 
battling it out against 
, and the last matchup a repeat of last seasons quarter final 
versus 
. The results of these matchups saw none of the top seeded teams advancing to the semi finals. Norway beat out Finland 4-2, Switzerland took revenge on USA with a game-tying goal 11 seconds left in the third period and an overtime winner, Ireland also won over Great Britain in overtime after a great game by Elizabeth Doyle in net and finally Czechia beat Canada 3-2. In the semi finals
took care of winning 4-1 and shut out 2-0. The bronze medal game went to Norway against Czechia by one goal. Nicolae Antonescu in the Swiss net had a great game in the semis and went and performed even better in the final, shutting out Ireland for the gold medal! Gold Medal Winner: Team Switzerland! Silver Medal Winner: Team Ireland! Bronze Medal Winner: Team Norway! The tournament saw some movement in the IIHF Rankings with Switzerland and Czechia moving up three spots to 3rd and 9th respectively while Sweden dropped three places to 5th. Canada still is the highest ranked Federation tightly followed by Finland only 5 points behind (14305 against 14300 points).
Code:
@mer - 304 words
@canadice - 500 wordsRE: S65 IIHF Tournament Recap and Awards - PremierBromanov - 07-25-2022
Ireland may have won a medal but we will steal it soon enough
RE: S65 IIHF Tournament Recap and Awards - charlieconway - 07-25-2022
disappointing showing in the medal round but LETS GO LUC
RE: S65 IIHF Tournament Recap and Awards - Chevy - 07-25-2022
SHL needs to recognize the tournament and allow us to have tournament medals awarded at minumum