The Ice Blacks rounded out their division 2, group B world championships with a bronze medal performance in their final game on home ice on Saturday.
While they lost their final game 5-1 to Iceland, in front of a sold-out crowd at the Dunedin Ice Stadium, they put out some fine performances throughout a week to remember.
After a week of testing games, both teams were always going to be challenged to back it up.
But Iceland were punishing from the moment the puck hit the ice, and they buried four goals in the opening period.
Unnar Runarsson scored the first just shy of the 4min mark, and 30 seconds later, Hilmar Sverrisson doubled Iceland’s advantage off an assist from Baltasar Hjalmarsson.
The visitors were not done yet and Hallador Skulason banged in another.
Ice Blacks defender Justin Daigle — who was named defender of the tournament — was pinged for a 5min penalty for boarding and Iceland capitalised in the power play through Johann Leifsson.
All of a sudden, Iceland were comfortably up 4-0 at the end of the first period.
The Ice Blacks tightened up through the second period and finally found the back of the goal through Jacob Carey to end the period 4-1.
Searching for more, both teams threw everything into the final period, but it was Runarsson who scored his second, from a Gunnar Arason assist, to seal a 5-1 win.
The victory secured the silver medal for Iceland, who were relegated from division 2, group A last season, and New Zealand grabbed the bronze.
Georgia went through the tournament unbeaten to be crowned champions and secure promotion.
They had some big wins throughout the week and capped it off with a massive 15-1 victory over Thailand on the final day.
Bulgaria survived a scare from Chinese Taipei to finish with a 5-4 overtime win, the teams finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Bulgaria forward Daniel Dilkov had a tournament to remember, leading the scoring with 14 points. He only scored one goal but had 13 assists, to lead that category as well.
Nothing could separate Georgia’s Makar Nikishanin and Iceland’s Runarsson, who finished the tournament as the top goal scorers with six each.
Ice Blacks Jacob Carey and Colin McIntosh were 12th, finishing with three goals each.
McIntosh also had five assists (ninth overall) and topped the overall scoring for New Zealand with eight points (13th overall).
Ice Black Csaba Kercso-Magos was the leading goaltender with a save mark of 94.92% in his two games.
Georgia’s Ivan Starostin was second with 93.94% from his five games.
Thailand, who went through the tournament winless, will be relegated to division 3, group A, while Kyrgyzstan — who won the lower division — will be promoted in their place.
The Ice Fernz won silver in the women’s world tournament in Dunedin last month.
