United Arab Emirates and Greece advance

17 Oct 2012 | Henrik Lundqvist

October 14-17 the qualification to the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III was played in Abu Dhabi. The home team United Arab Emirates advanced undefeated. Greece beat Mongolia 5-2 today to earn the second spot.

The qualification to the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division III was a big success for the host United Arab Emirates. They won all three games in Abu Dhabi Arena to win promotion along with Greece.

On the first day UAE faced Greece and got a 2-0 win. The most famous home player, Juma Al Dhaheri, scored 1-0 and Mubarak Al Mazrouei made it 2-0. The goalie Khaled Al Suwaidi made 25 saves to earn the shut-out.

In the second game UAE out-shot Mongolia 55-14 but only got away with a 3-2 win. Munkhbold Bayarsaikhan in the Mongolian net made 52 saves. Juma Al Dhaheri and Mubarak Al Mazrouei scored also in this game. So did also Mohammed Al Shamisi.

The last game against Georgia was no problem for the home team. The game ended 9-1. Suhail Al Mehairi and Ali Al Haddad scored two goals each.

Greece beat Mongolia 5-2 on the last day in the game that decided who would join UAE to the next stage. Greece took the lead 1-0 and 2-1 but both times Mongolia tied it. Big game winner was the Greek veteran Ioannis Koufis who scored twice in the third period, and also finished the tournament as its top scorer. He only played two games but still managed to collect six goals and one assist.

Georgia played for the first time in the IIHF World Championship program and lost all games. After the games against Mongolia and Greece they were still scoreless but against United Arab Emirates Gocha Jeiranashvili managed to score Georgia's only goal of the tournament.