Greece national ice hockey team

Greece
Association Hellenic Ice Sports Federation
Head coach Igor Apostolidis
Assistants Panagiotis Efkarpidis
Captain Dimitrios Kalyvas
Most games Orestis Tilios (30)
Top scorer Dimitrios Kalyvas (26)
Most points Dimitrios Kalyvas (49)
IIHF code GRE
IIHF ranking 49 Decrease3
Highest IIHF ranking 44 (first in 2011)
Lowest IIHF ranking 49 (2015)
Team colors          
First international
 Greece 15–3 Turkey 
(Johannesburg, South Africa; March 21, 1992)
Biggest win
 Greece 13–0 Georgia 
(Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; October 15, 2012)
Biggest defeat
 Israel 26–2 Greece 
(Cape Town, South Africa; April 15, 2011)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances 7 (first in 1992)
Best result 29th (1992)
International record (W–L–T)
16–30–1

The Greek National Ice Hockey Team (Greek: Εθνική Ελλάδος Χόκεϊ επί πάγου) is the national ice hockey team of Greece, and as a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation competed in the third division of the Ice Hockey World Championships. Currently Greece is unable to compete in IIHF championships because they cannot fulfill the minimum standard of having one operational indoor rink.

History

Ice Hockey started in Greece in 1984 by players that returned to Greece from abroad. The first official Greek Championship was held in 1989 in the Peace and Friendship Stadium with five teams taking place. It was the first time hockey games were held in a normal size rink. In 1990 the first Junior National Team was formed and took part in the World Junior Championship Pool C, held in Yugoslavia. In 1991 the Junior National Team took part in the World Junior Championship, held in Italy. In 1992 the first ever Men's Greek National Team was formed and took place in the World Championships Pool C2 held in South Africa. With only two weeks of serious training abroad and the support of the Greeks of South Africa, the National Team finished ahead of three other new hockey nations, winning the Bronze medal, placing them 29th overall.

Despite the great achievement, the start of the decline of the sport came in 1993. Economic help was discontinued by the Greek Undersecretary of State for Sports and all expenses to keep ice hockey alive were passed over to the players. Practices stopped and many players quit.

2013 IIHF World Championship Division III Qualification. Greece won the match 13-0.

Since May 2003 the last ice rink in Greece closed and the national team was left without an ice rink. In the next 4 years, players of the national team traveled at their own expense in the Czech Republic in order to train themselves. Unfortunately the IIHF determined in 2013 that the team will not be able to participate in World Championship programs until an Olympic sized ice rink is constructed in Greece.[1]

Ice hockey was slowly dying until Dimitris Kalyvas (currently the captain of Team Greece) tried to convince the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that the National Team is still active and that development of the sport is continuing in Greece despite not having a rink. He later got the support of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation. After many emails, the IIHF decided to send 2 delegates to Athens to investigate. After a review done by the IIHF in 2008, Greece retained its status within the IIHF, and took part in a qualification tournament against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo prior to the 2008 Division III championship in Luxembourg. They defeated both teams, beating Armenia 8 – 5 (although Armenia was forced to Forfeit each game 5 – 0), and Bosnia-Herzegovina 10 – 1. They took part in Division III from 2008 until 2013, highlighted by a second-place finish in their group (third overall) in 2010.

2013 World Championship Division III

Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Club
2 Pavlos Kasampoulis F L Jul. 21, 1988 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
3 Polykarpos Amanatidis F L Aug. 23, 1979 Aris Thessaloniki
6 Georgios Kouleles F R Oct. 2, 1983 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
7 Eleftherios Fournogerakis F R Oct. 19, 1979 Mad Cows Athens
8 Iason Pachos F R Aug. 3, 1985 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
10 Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis F R Oct. 1, 1984 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
12 Dimitrios Malamas F R May 12, 1973 Aris Thessaloniki
13 Ioannis Koufis F R Jun. 28, 1965 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
17 Panagiotis Koulouris LW L Sep. 2, 1983 Aris Thessaloniki
19 Georgios Kalyvas F L Dec. 6, 1978 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
21 Dimitrios Kalyvas F L Dec. 11, 1973 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
22 Kyriakos Adamidis F L Dec. 03, 1990 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
Defencemen
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Club
5 Nikolaos Chatzigiannis D L Jan. 30, 1978 Aris Thessaloniki
9 Ioannis Ziakas D L Jul. 31, 1972 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
11 Orestis Tilios D L Nov. 7, 1974 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
14 Diogenis Souras D R Sep. 8, 1986 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
15 Antonis Kanellis D L May 29, 1991 Warriors Athens
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos D R Dec. 22, 1987 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
16 Marios Libertos D R Jun. 14, 1970 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Goaltenders
# Player Position Catches Date of birth Club
1 Georgios Fiotakis G L Jan. 25, 1971 Albatros Athens
25 Dalibor Ploutsis G L Nov. 15, 1976 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Staff
Title Staff Member
Head Coach Igor Apostolidis
Assistant Coach Panagiotis Efkarpidis
Team Leader Nikos Bliagos
Staff Georgia Proimou

World Championship record

Year Location Result
1992 Johannesburg, South Africa Bronze in Pool C2 (29th)
1993 Ankara, Turkey 2nd in Pool C qualifying Group 4 (NR)
1995 Johannesburg, South Africa 9th place in Pool C2 (38th)
1996 Metulla, Israel 3rd in Pool D qualifying Group 2 (NR)
1998 Krugersdorp / Pretoria, South Africa 8th place in Pool D (40th)
1999 Krugersdorp, South Africa 8th place in Pool D (39th)
2008 Luxembourg, Luxembourg 5th place in Div III (45th)
2009 Dunedin, New Zealand 4th place in Div III (44th)
2010 Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg Silver in Group B of Division III (43rd)
2011 Cape Town, South Africa 5th place in Division III (45th)
2012 Erzurum, Turkey 5th place in Division III (45th)
2013 Cape Town, South Africa 5th place in Division III (45th)

All-time Record against other nations

As of May 25, 2009

Team GP W T L GF GA
 Turkey 6 3 0 3 35 28
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 1 0 0 10 1
 Mongolia 1 1 0 0 10 4
 Ireland 2 1 0 1 8 6
 Iceland 1 1 0 0 8 6
 Luxembourg 4 2 0 2 15 16
 Israel 3 1 0 2 11 28
 New Zealand 4 1 0 3 16 22
 Belgium 2 0 1 1 7 19
 North Korea 1 0 0 1 3 7
 Australia 1 0 0 1 2 10
 Lithuania 1 0 0 1 1 20
 South Africa 2 0 0 2 6 20
 Spain 4 0 0 4 3 42
 United Arab Emirates 1 1 0 0 7 1

2010 World Championship

The Greece national ice hockey team competed in the 2010 IIHF World Championship Division III which was held in Luxembourg, from April 14- April 17. The Team was successful in winning the Silver Medal, Gold went to Ireland and the host country Luxembourg won Bronze

April 14
16:30		 Greece  7–1
(2–1, 1–0, 4–0)		  United Arab Emirates Patinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 131
April 15
16:30		 Greece  1–3
(1–0, 0–3, 0–0)		  Ireland Patinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 102
April 17
20:00		 Luxembourg  1–2
(0–0, 0–1, 1–1)		  Greece Patinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 1,150

1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships Group C2

Here are the Results of Team Greece's first medal winning championship in 1992.

March 21, 1992 Turkey  3:15
  Greece Johannesburg, South Africa
March 23, 1992 Luxembourg  5:9
  Greece Johannesburg, South Africa
March 24, 1992 Greece  1:10
  Spain Johannesburg, South Africa
March 26, 1992 South Africa  9:4
  Greece Johannesburg, South Africa
March 27, 1992 Greece  7:4
  Israel Johannesburg, South Africa

Qualification-

December 6, 1992 Greece  10:2
  Turkey Turkey
December 7, 1992 Israel  8:1
  Greece Turkey

References

  1. ↑ Game over for National Team

External links

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