The 2017 IIHF World Championship Division II was an international ice hockey tournament run by the Zurich, Switzerland-based International Ice Hockey Federation. Group A was contested in Galati, Romania from 3 to 9 April 2017 and Group B in Auckland, New Zealand from 4 to 10 April 2017.
Bids There were three official bids to host Group A Championships.
Reykjavík Iceland had previously hosted these championships in 2015, in Reykjavík.
Galați Romania had previously hosted these championships twice, the 2001 edition in Bucharest, and again in 2008, in Miercurea Ciuc. The proposed arena was the Galați Skating Rink.
Belgrade or Novi Sad Serbia has hosted the championships a number of times. Belgrade hosted twice, in 2005 and 2014, whilst Novi Sad hosted in 2009. In addition, Novi Sad also played host to the competition in 2002 whilst known as Serbia and Montenegro.
The decision on hosts was made on May 21, 2016. The bid from Romania gained a majority vote and as a result Galati will host the competition.
There were also two official bids to host Group B Championships.
Auckland New Zealand had previously hosted these championships in 2006. The proposed arena was Paradice Botany Downs.
Ankara Turkey had previously hosted these championships in 2013, in İzmit.
The decision on hosts was made on May 21, 2016. The bid from New Zealand received the majority of the votes, and as a result Auckland will host the competition.
Venues Group A Group BGalațiAucklandGalați Skating RinkCapacity: 5,000Paradice Botany DownsCapacity: 400
Group A tournament
Participants Team QualificationHost, placed 6th in Division I B last year and were relegated.Placed 2nd in Division II A last year.Placed 3rd in Division II A last year.Placed 4th in Division II A last year.Placed 5th in Division II A last year.Placed 1st in Division II B last year and were promoted.
Match officials 4 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.IIA Assignsments
Referees Aaro Brännare Andrea Moschen Andrei Shrubok Ramon Sterkens
Linesmen Lodewyk Beelen Markus Eberl Benas Jakšys Stian Løsnesløkken István Máthé Levente-Szilard Siko Vladimir Yefremov
Standings
Results All times are local (UTC+3).
Awards and statistics Awards Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goalkeeper: Anthony Kimlin Best Defenseman: Dominik Crnogorac Best Forward: Csanád Fodor Source: IIHF.com
Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM POS Ede Mihály 5 8 1 9 +6 4 F Marko Sretović 5 3 6 9 +9 0 F Mitch Morgan 5 2 7 9 −2 2 F Nemanja Vučurević 5 5 3 8 +5 12 F Mátyás Bíró 5 2 6 8 +5 0 F Roberto Gliga 5 0 8 8 +5 0 F Vincent Morgan 5 3 4 7 −2 4 F Mihail Georgescu 5 2 5 7 +5 4 F Dominik Crnogorac 5 0 7 7 +3 2 D Lliam Webster 5 0 7 7 +2 14 D GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com
Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
Player TOI GA GAA SA Sv% SO Zoltán Tőke 288:21 5 1.04 90 94.44 1 Anthony Kimlin 301:17 13 2.59 160 91.88 1 Arsenije Ranković 304:21 15 2.96 156 90.38 1 Dennis Hedström 274:38 17 3.71 158 89.24 1 Ignacio García 286:00 21 4.41 138 84.78 0 TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF.com
Group B tournament
Participants Team QualificationPlaced 6th in Division II A last year and were relegated.Placed 2nd in Division II B last year.Placed 3rd in Division II B last year.Host, placed 4th in Division II B last year.Placed 5th in Division II B last year. Placed 1st in Division III last year and were promoted.
Match officials 4 referees and 7 linesmen were selected for the tournament.IIB Assignsments
Referees Chris Deweerdt Scott Ferguson Kenji Kosaka Gints Zviedrītis
Linesmen Chae Young-jin Justin Cornell Tyler Haslemore Edward Howard Nicholas Lee Frederic Monnaie Sotaro Yamaguchi
Standings
Results All times are local (UTC+12).
Awards and statistics Awards Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goalkeeper: Rick Parry Best Defenseman: Michael Kozevnikov Best Forward: Zhang Hao Source: IIHF.com
Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM POS Elie Klein 5 4 7 11 +3 4 F Jacob Ratcliffe 5 6 4 10 +4 4 F Ilya Spektor 5 6 3 9 +2 4 F Daniel Mazour 5 5 2 7 0 6 F Zhang Cheng 5 4 3 7 +3 12 F Ri Chol-min 5 3 4 7 −4 2 F Carlos Gómez 5 2 5 7 +3 4 F Evgeni Kozhevnikov 5 2 5 7 0 6 F Jordan Challis 5 4 2 6 +3 0 F Ryan Ruddle 5 4 2 6 +1 4 F Xia Tianxiang 5 4 2 6 +7 6 F Zhang Hao 5 4 2 6 +1 4 F GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalties in minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com
Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
Player TOI GA GAA SA Sv% SO Rick Parry 239:45 9 2.25 134 93.28 0 Sun Zehao 300:00 12 2.40 148 91.89 0 Maxim Gokhberg 289:28 12 2.49 142 91.55 1 Alfonso de Alba 218:39 13 3.57 133 90.23 0 Tolga Bozacı 190:30 13 4.09 115 88.70 1 TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts Source: IIHF.com
References