Romania´s Csanad Fodor shields the puck from Kuzma Terenyev of Kyrgyzstan during Romania´s second straight win at the Olympic Qualification in Brasov.
photo: Razvan Pasarica
Hosts Romania will lock horns with Iceland for top spot at the 2019 Men's Olympic Qualification Preliminary Round 2 Group K in Brasov. Both teams are undefeated after two rounds as they go face to face on Sunday evening.
"I am curious about Iceland, because in our last official game against them we lost," said Romania´s defenseman Attila Goga about a 2-0 loss against Iceland at the 2017 World Championships Division IIA in Galati, Romania.
"From there on, many things have changed and we have won promotion twice. I expect it not to be easy, but I expect from our team to score many goals and get our three wins and focus for the next group in February," he continued.
A win for Romania´s in their final game against Iceland would see them book a place at the 2019 Men's Olympic Qualification Preliminary Round 3 Group J in Nottingham, Great Britain. With Great Britain, Estonia and neighbours Hungary awaiting, it is a challenge that they eagerly would relish.
"Playing against Hungary would mean a lot. We are playing in the same league against Hungarian teams and I remember we played them six years ago and then we lost. Since then a lot has changed and we have a much better team. It will be interesting to see at what level we will be at as we are later facing Hungary at the World Championships this season" he said.
Romania rolled over Kyrgyzstan 18 - 2 in their second game in Group K. With 12 different scorers for Romania, Daniel Tranca tallied 2+4, closely followed by his Corona Brasov linemate Balasz Peter who scored a couple of and had three assists. Patrik Polc got a start for Romania and recorded 32 saves.
Romania, 27th at the most recent IIHF World Ranking against new entry Kyrgyzstan in 52th place was to begin with not as one-sided as one might have expected.
It took midway through the first period for Romania to convert. Playing on the shorthand, Eduard Casaneanu sailed through the Kyrgyz rearguard and slotted the puck through the pads of Alexander Petrov.
Otto Biro was serving a two minute minor for Romania, when Tranca moved towards the net to pick out Pavlo Borysenko at the far post for Romania´s second at 16:47. Vitaly Kirichenko added a third from the doorstep with 1:02 left of the frame.
Romania stepped up the tempo in a second frame where they scored seven straight goals. Peter converted from the top of the right face off circle for 4-0. Fourteen seconds later, Goga hit a pin-point pass from Romania´s defensive zone to Mircea Constantin who barged down the right to add a fifth.
6-0 arrived after Balazs Gajdo deked Ernazar Isamatov and coolly slotted the puck past Petrov at 14:38. It proved to be enough the for the time being for Petrov who was replaced in the backup goalie Kadyr Alymbekov. 1:40 later Peter picked out Tranca who deked the Kyrgyz netminder to backhand home Romania´s seventh.
Zsombor Molnar added number eight with 8:37 left of the middle frame. On the powerplay, Gyorfy one-timed from the point for 9-0 at 32:51. Kirichenko´s solo effort made it double figures at 34:01.
Kyrgyzstan got off the mark with a consolation goal with 15 seconds left of the middle frame. Oleg Kolodii´s pass found Vladimir Nichipurenko who raced clear from the Romanian defence and one-on-one with Polc slotted home Kyrgyzstan´s first goal of the evening.
A spirited Kyrgyz team had far from given up in their hunt for more goals. Petrov was back in their net and soon after at the other end Alexander Titov scored Kyrgyzstan´s second at 42:58.
From then on it was all Romania as they thundered on. The added another eight goals by eight different scorers before the evening was finally over with Hugo Gecse, Molnar, Kirichenko, Roberto Gliga, Mircea Constantin, Tranca, Csanad Fodor and Peter all converting.
Boosted by the number of goals scored in their first two games, Romania now gets ready for their showdown with Iceland on Sunday. Kyrgyzstan will also be entering their final game against Israel in confident mood after managing 32 shots on goal and scoring twice against Romania.
"I am curious about Iceland, because in our last official game against them we lost," said Romania´s defenseman Attila Goga about a 2-0 loss against Iceland at the 2017 World Championships Division IIA in Galati, Romania.
"From there on, many things have changed and we have won promotion twice. I expect it not to be easy, but I expect from our team to score many goals and get our three wins and focus for the next group in February," he continued.
A win for Romania´s in their final game against Iceland would see them book a place at the 2019 Men's Olympic Qualification Preliminary Round 3 Group J in Nottingham, Great Britain. With Great Britain, Estonia and neighbours Hungary awaiting, it is a challenge that they eagerly would relish.
"Playing against Hungary would mean a lot. We are playing in the same league against Hungarian teams and I remember we played them six years ago and then we lost. Since then a lot has changed and we have a much better team. It will be interesting to see at what level we will be at as we are later facing Hungary at the World Championships this season" he said.
Romania rolled over Kyrgyzstan 18 - 2 in their second game in Group K. With 12 different scorers for Romania, Daniel Tranca tallied 2+4, closely followed by his Corona Brasov linemate Balasz Peter who scored a couple of and had three assists. Patrik Polc got a start for Romania and recorded 32 saves.
Romania, 27th at the most recent IIHF World Ranking against new entry Kyrgyzstan in 52th place was to begin with not as one-sided as one might have expected.
It took midway through the first period for Romania to convert. Playing on the shorthand, Eduard Casaneanu sailed through the Kyrgyz rearguard and slotted the puck through the pads of Alexander Petrov.
Otto Biro was serving a two minute minor for Romania, when Tranca moved towards the net to pick out Pavlo Borysenko at the far post for Romania´s second at 16:47. Vitaly Kirichenko added a third from the doorstep with 1:02 left of the frame.
Romania stepped up the tempo in a second frame where they scored seven straight goals. Peter converted from the top of the right face off circle for 4-0. Fourteen seconds later, Goga hit a pin-point pass from Romania´s defensive zone to Mircea Constantin who barged down the right to add a fifth.
6-0 arrived after Balazs Gajdo deked Ernazar Isamatov and coolly slotted the puck past Petrov at 14:38. It proved to be enough the for the time being for Petrov who was replaced in the backup goalie Kadyr Alymbekov. 1:40 later Peter picked out Tranca who deked the Kyrgyz netminder to backhand home Romania´s seventh.
Zsombor Molnar added number eight with 8:37 left of the middle frame. On the powerplay, Gyorfy one-timed from the point for 9-0 at 32:51. Kirichenko´s solo effort made it double figures at 34:01.
Kyrgyzstan got off the mark with a consolation goal with 15 seconds left of the middle frame. Oleg Kolodii´s pass found Vladimir Nichipurenko who raced clear from the Romanian defence and one-on-one with Polc slotted home Kyrgyzstan´s first goal of the evening.
A spirited Kyrgyz team had far from given up in their hunt for more goals. Petrov was back in their net and soon after at the other end Alexander Titov scored Kyrgyzstan´s second at 42:58.
From then on it was all Romania as they thundered on. The added another eight goals by eight different scorers before the evening was finally over with Hugo Gecse, Molnar, Kirichenko, Roberto Gliga, Mircea Constantin, Tranca, Csanad Fodor and Peter all converting.
Boosted by the number of goals scored in their first two games, Romania now gets ready for their showdown with Iceland on Sunday. Kyrgyzstan will also be entering their final game against Israel in confident mood after managing 32 shots on goal and scoring twice against Romania.
Romania vs. Kyrgyzstan - 2019 OQM Gr. K
OF