The 2017 IIHF World Championship Division III was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was contested in Sofia, Bulgaria from 10 to 16 April 2017. Seven teams participated in the tournament, divided into two groups. Bosnia and Herzegovina was originally scheduled to participate, but withdrew before the tournament began; all their games were recorded as 5–0 forfeits for the opposing team. Luxembourg won the tournament, defeating Bulgaria 10–4 in the final, and played in Division IIB in 2018. Chinese Taipei debuted in Division III and, apart from defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina in a forfeit, recorded their first official win, beating the UAE 4–0 in the 5th place playoff.2017 IIHF ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Division III
Venues Division IIISofiaWinter Sports PalaceCapacity: 4,600
The Bulgarian bid was the only contender for the 2017 IIHF World Championship Division III competition. It will mark the first time that this competition has been held in Bulgaria. In September 2016 the format of the division was realigned into one tournament with two preliminary divisions.
Participants Team QualificationHost, placed 6th in Division II B last year and were relegated.Placed 2nd in Division III last year.Placed 3rd in Division III last year.Placed 4th in Division III last year. (withdrew from tournament)Placed 5th in Division III last year.Placed 6th in Division III last year.Withdrew from tournament last year. Last played in 2015.First time participating in tournament.
Match officials 5 referees and 9 linesmen were selected for the tournament.
Referees Michał Baca Miha Bajt Ivan Fateyev Cemal Ersin Kaya Kim No-su
Linesmen Ferhat Aygün Christian Cristeli Illya Khokhlov Aleh Kliashcheunikau Jonas Merten Jakob Schauer Luchezar Stoyanov Gil Haim Tichon Wiktor Zień
Preliminary round All times are local (UTC+3).
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage Bracket
5th place bracket
5th–7th place semifinal
Semifinals
Fifth place game
Third place game
Final
Final ranking Promoted to 2018 IIHF Division II B Relegation to 2018 IIHF Division III Qualification Rank Team1 (P)2 (H)34567 (R) (H) Host; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.Source: IIHF.com
Awards and statistics Awards
Best players selected by the directorate: Best Goaltender: Liao Yu-cheng Best Defenceman: Artem Kurbatov Best Forward: Robert Beran Source: IIHF.com
Scoring leaders Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM POS Artem Kozyulin 5 13 12 25 +13 6 F Ivan Shvetsov 5 11 9 20 +9 2 F Artem Kurbatov 5 6 14 20 +16 8 D Robert Beran 5 6 13 19 +14 8 F Colm Cannon 5 11 6 17 +14 6 F Vitali Dumbadze 5 6 9 15 +13 26 F Grigory Filimonov 5 3 9 12 +6 8 F Alexei Yotov 4 3 8 11 +5 0 F Benny Welter 5 6 3 9 +15 0 F Stanislav Muhachev 4 3 6 9 +4 2 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 Philippe Lepage 240:00 9 2.25 107 91.59 1 Liao Yu-cheng 169:59 9 3.18 103 91.26 1 Andrei Ilienko 287:28 21 4.38 169 87.57 1 King Ho 168:16 23 8.20 150 84.67 0 Ahmed Al-Dhaheri 120:00 12 6.00 73 83.56 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
References