City to host ice hockey world championships
LOCAL ice hockey fans don’t have to switch on their television screens for overseas highlights or watch a re-run of the movie Mighty Ducks to watch their beloved sport.
Instead they can head to the Grandwest Ice Station for the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B tournament starting on Monday to witness South Africa “fully charge for gold” against New Zealand, Bulgaria, China, Israel and Mexico.
In 2013, SA won promotion to Group B after clinching gold at the IIHF Division III World Championships held in the city. They remained in Division II B after finishing fifth at last year’s championships event held in Jaca. Hosts Spain topped the group and were promoted to Division II A.
“We did well in Spain by playing and maintaining our level and ability,” said SA coach Bob Mancini, who is based in the US.
“Experience counts for a lot, so we just want to continue to move up (this) division, win medals, make strides and take one game at a time.”
Joburg’s Andre Marais, tipped to be named captain, said: “We have a leadership group and a good balance of experienced players and youngsters. It’s all about teamwork so we are going to give it our all because there is no excuse for us not to do well.
“Our defence is great in the form of goalkeeper Marcello Strydom and it will be good to see how a player like Reelan Malgas does after proving himself at under-20 level.”
When Mancini is not in the country, he relies on Marais and Marc Giot to manage the Gauteng and Western Cape camps respectively. Giot added: “This is the world champs, so we can never underestimate any team. We just have look at each team and take it one game at a time.”
The first match on Monday is at 1pm, with the opening ceremony at 6.30pm and SA’s opener against Mexico at 8pm. – Alison Johannisen