Morocco Earns First Gold Medal at Development Cup

For the first time in the country's history, Morocco has won a gold medal in ice hockey thanks to a tournament clincher against Ireland at the Development Cup in Andorra.

It didn't start off that well for the champions, who surrendered a 1-0 lead early at the hands of Thomas Carpenter on a breakaway. Mehdi Ghazi, however, was able to get Morocco on the board shortly after, tying the game up at one apiece.

Damien Bourguignon then would make his presence known for Morocco, scoring a natural hat-trick following Morocco's second goal from Hakim Bouchaoui, giving the champions the 5-1 lead after a period of play.

Youssef Chadli, Charles-Hichem Balha and Yassin Ahrazem would all add goals for Morocco in the second, with Ian Courtney adding one for Ireland to make it 8-2. David Sally would score another one for Ireland to make it 8-3, but Bourguignon would add his second goal of the game to finish off the 9-3 victory and secure the victory.

Morocco has made it clear in the past they hope to play in the IIHF some day, but without proper funding and an official-sized rink, the team has had to play small tournaments in the past few years instead. For Ireland, while the loss was tough, it marked a successful return to the ice after losing their rink four years ago.

Earlier in the day, Portugal won their very first international hockey medal after beating Andorra by a score of 5-3. Portugal finished the tournament with two wins, with both of them coming against Andorra to start and end the tournament.

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