2017 World Para ice hockey Championships | Norway v Italy | Gangnueng
- 7 years ago
The final day of the preliminary round concluded on Wednesday (19 April) with Norway defeating Italy to earn a spot in the bronze-medal game for the second straight edition of the event.
Both teams finished with eight points in the standings, but Norway won the tiebreaker because of its victory from a game-winning goal from Jan Roger Klakegg.
“It was a very important game, and very important to get that first goal to get the game into our hands,” said Klakegg, who is competing in his fourth World Championships. “It was a very difficult start for us to the tournament, so we had to stick to our plan and work during the week to get the better results that we wanted.”
Although Norway had seven shots on goal during the opening period against Italy, neither team found the net during those 15 minutes of play.
In a rough second period that featured penalties from both sides, it was Klakegg who gave Norway the go-ahead score with 6:23 remaining off a pass from former Paralympic alpine skier Knut Andre Nordstoga.
Italy was hindered by four more penalties in the final frame and was unable to score, as forward Florian Planker led the effort with three shots on goal.
Norway’s Christian Kjell Hamar was the game-winning goaltender with seven saves, while Italy’s Gabriele Araudo fended off 13 of the 14 pucks that came his way.
The 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships are taking place from 11-20 April in Gangneung, South Korea, which is the ice sports venue city for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. The tournament also serves as the Paralympic Test Event, with the top five finishers automatically qualifying for the PyeongChang 2018 Games.
All games from the 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships are being streamed live at www.Gangneung2017.com, and live statistics and results are available at www.paralympic.org/gangneung-2107/schedule-results.
Photos will be made available for media to download throughout the tournament on the IPC’s Flickr account at www.Flickr.com/photos/paralympic.
Both teams finished with eight points in the standings, but Norway won the tiebreaker because of its victory from a game-winning goal from Jan Roger Klakegg.
“It was a very important game, and very important to get that first goal to get the game into our hands,” said Klakegg, who is competing in his fourth World Championships. “It was a very difficult start for us to the tournament, so we had to stick to our plan and work during the week to get the better results that we wanted.”
Although Norway had seven shots on goal during the opening period against Italy, neither team found the net during those 15 minutes of play.
In a rough second period that featured penalties from both sides, it was Klakegg who gave Norway the go-ahead score with 6:23 remaining off a pass from former Paralympic alpine skier Knut Andre Nordstoga.
Italy was hindered by four more penalties in the final frame and was unable to score, as forward Florian Planker led the effort with three shots on goal.
Norway’s Christian Kjell Hamar was the game-winning goaltender with seven saves, while Italy’s Gabriele Araudo fended off 13 of the 14 pucks that came his way.
The 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships are taking place from 11-20 April in Gangneung, South Korea, which is the ice sports venue city for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. The tournament also serves as the Paralympic Test Event, with the top five finishers automatically qualifying for the PyeongChang 2018 Games.
All games from the 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships are being streamed live at www.Gangneung2017.com, and live statistics and results are available at www.paralympic.org/gangneung-2107/schedule-results.
Photos will be made available for media to download throughout the tournament on the IPC’s Flickr account at www.Flickr.com/photos/paralympic.