ICE HOCKEY

Loss to UK relegates Israel.

By LIONEL GAFFEN
hockey israel 88 (photo credit: )
hockey israel 88
(photo credit: )
Israel was relegated to Division II after a 12-0 loss to Great Britain in an International Ice Hockey Federation match Sunday in Amiens, France. Head coach Jean Perron told The Jerusalem Post after the game that his team "just ran out of gas." The Brits managed to score twice in the opening period, first at 6:52 and again at 14:48, with Israel still managing to keep the game close. But it soon became obvious that Israel was not about to mount any challenge when Great Britain took two quick penalties and then managed to deny Israel a goal while playing shorthanded by two men at the beginning of the second period. Great Britain then scored at 25:04 and continued to open up the margin with an additional three tallies in the second frame to head into the third period with a 6-0 lead. Evgeny Gussin had to handle 28 shots fired at him during the first two periods. "We were playing catch-up hockey every game against professional teams that are used to playing a 60-70 game schedule on a regular basis, Perron continued," while our guys, almost all of them amateurs, may get to play about 20 games a season. Our physical conditioning just isn't at the same level as theirs. So now, when we played a tournament at this very high level for us, where we played five games in a week, it was just too much." Boris Amromin was between the pipes in the final period and had to handle an additional 18 shots on goal, with virtually no defense left in front of him, allowing six to get past him. Israel managed just 13 shots on goal. "There's no shame in losing at this level," said Israel Ice Hockey Federation chairman Alan Maislin. "There is a tremendous amount of credit to be given to Sergei Matin [federation president] Boris Mindel [head coach at the Canada Center in Metulla] and the guys on the team for getting us to this level in the first place. The fact that we're here at this level at all says a lot about the development of hockey in Israel and how far we've progressed in such a short time."