Writing Uralica!

[Jarkko]

TODAY'S GAMES - IIHF HOCKEY

Division XI (Sölzha-Ghala, Nokhchynya)

Abkhazia 5 Inca Republic 4 (OT; ABX Sokrat Kvitsinia 2G 1A; ABX Gozar Lakrba 1G 2A, GWG; INC Stanislao Valenzuela 2G; INC Rolando Quispe 1G 1A)
Azerbaijan 8 Kuwait 0 (AZE Rəşid İsmaylov 3G 1A; AZE Bəxtiyar Məmmədov 2G 1A; AZE Turan Efendiyev 3A)
Nokhchynya 5 Uzbekistan 4 (OT; NXC Abukhan Ramazanov 2G 1A, GWG; NXC Magomedbek Taymaskhanov 1G 3A; UZB Ibodullo Abdurashidov 1G 2A)

Division X (Yerevan, Armenia)

Greece 3 Montenegro 1 (MNE G Jovica Čoban 34 saves; GRE Tristan Vlahos 2G 1A)
Malay Federation 4 Alania 1 (MYF Justin Xiao 2G; MYF Steve Füglister 1G 2A GWG; MYF Saifuddin M. Reza 1G 1G)
Armenia 6 Xhosa Republic 2 (ARM Stas Petrosyan 2G 1A; ARM Minas Tenkerian 3A; ARM Tigran Manukyan 1G 1A; XHO Khanyiso Ndungane 1G 1A)

Division IX (Porto, Portugal)

Buryatia 4 Chile 2 (BUR Baldan Sambuyev 1G 1A; BUR Sergey Dashiyev 1G 1A)
Thailand 5 Portugal 3 (THA Samenem Vidura 3G, ENG; THA Khamkaeo Suriphon 1G 2A; POR Mikey Pereira 1G 1A)
KwaZulu 2 Taiwan 1 (KWZ G Josiah Hintsa 39 saves; KWZ Martin Thamsanqa Ledwaba GWG)

Other notes:

• In spite of its big win over the Incas, Abkhazia will likely play the next couple of games without top defensive defenceman Mamsər Abgin, who took a slapshot off the left leg. 
  
• Canadian pundit Bob McKenzie has said that Uzbekistan surprised him by taking Nokhchynya to overtime in spite of not having Abdul Yasirov, who is club-tied to the AHL's Laval Rocket. He had particular praise for stay-at-home defenceman Islom Nuriddinov and left-winger Ibodullo Abdurashidov.
  
• Nikita Alexeyev has singled out Xhosa right-winger Khanyiso Ndungane as a "sleeper star of sorts," being very impressed with his play in spite of Armenia's 6-2 win over the same.
  
• Gage Gonçalves didn't get his IIHF paperwork finished in time to play for Portugal, but Mikey Pereira and Justin Bourque both did.
  • On a related note, Bourque felt quite shell-shocked after having experienced Vidura Samenem for the first time!
    
• Buryatia's team game was once again its X-factor today, as it got its four goals from four different goalscorers. 
  

Tomorrow's Games

Division XII

Argentina vs. Jamaica
Libnan vs. Crimea
Oman vs. Chukotka
Asturias vs. Botswana

[Jarkko]

TODAY'S GAMES - IIHF

Division XII

Jamaica 6 Argentina 0 (JAM G Malcolm Subban 15 saves, SO; JAM Josh Ho-Sang 1G 3A; JAM Chris Stewart 3G 1A; JAM Jordan Subban 1G 2A, GWG)
Libnan 6 Crimea 2 (LIB G Reza Moustapha 28 saves; LIB Youssouf Darwiche 2G 1A; LIB Moussa al-Kadin 2G; LIB Aboud al-Ghazzawi 3A; KRM Serhiy Tkachenko 1G 1A)
Chukotka 7 Oman 1 (CHK Sergey Kosygin 2G 3A; CHK Vyacheslav Aksyonov 2G; CHK Yevgeny Koryakov 1G 2A; OMN Fakih al-Dosari 1G; CHK G Aron Aladyryev, 8 saves)
Botswana 2 Asturias 0 (BOT G Jakob K. Machemko 24 saves, SO; AST G Conráu Xosepe Cinfuegos 32 saves; BOT Sethunya Tshireletso 1G 1A; BOT Paul Thangane 1G 1A; BOT Thabo Molefi 2A)

Other notes

• A couple suspensions are likely, but neither of them involves infamously sloppy hitter Yuri Roshchin!
  • Argentinian defenceman Rodrigo Ferrado is facing a suspension for leaving his feet before a hit on Jamaican forward Wallace Burton. It was also a head shot. Since he is a first-time offender, he faces up to a ten-game tournament suspension, which would mean he would not only miss the rest of this tournament but would be inelligible to play until the playoff round of next year's Challenge Cup of the Americas. 
    
  • Chukotkan winger Sevastyan Volkov was assessed a match penalty for a high cross-check on Oman D Arif Maghoub, who has gotten the unfortunate nickname "Dirt Magnet" for his tendency to be the victim of dirty hits!
    
  • There is also investigation into a racial slur that was supposedly used against Botswana captain Nkosilathi Kgasa by an unidentified Asturian player, which prompted a fight that got the former ejected along with a second Asturian player and gleaned Botswana a five-minute power play. (Because of the sensitivity of the situation, the player's name was excised from the penalty record.)
    
• The attendance hasn't been great in Division XII this year, leading the IIHF to reconsider hosting non-Challenge Cup events in South America or the Caribbean (except in Jamaica and possibly in the Inca Republic), but also to get the organizers to allow the release of more tickets for visitors, especially with how well-represented Jamaican fans have been!
  
• While he didn't get suspended for the hit, Crimean defenceman Yuri Roshchin still ended up in a fight, against Lebanese tough-guy defenceman Boulos Jinan, after a sloppy hit in a terrible position caused Abid Haidar to go into the boards awkwardly. (He would later return to the game, mercifully.)
  
• A furious Nkosilathi Kgasa went off on the Asturian national team post-match for racial taunts directed at multiple players from one specific Asturian player, who was actually overheard by head coach Marco Solís. Observing him when it happens, you can see the eyeroll followed by him shouting at the player in question from the bench. Solís himself was fined for excessive profanity directed at the player in question and it resulted in a bench minor on top of the five-minute unsportsmanlike conduct major combined as part of the match penalty for racism.
  • Nikita Alexeyev criticised the extra penalty against Solís. "If I had caught my players saying such vile things, I would've flipped my lid too!"
    
  • Solís himself has apologized for the player's behaviour and his own, even though the IIHF has let him off with a warning due to the context. (Under normal circumstances he would probably have been fined.)
    
• Omani captain Fakih al-Dosari has called on his team - especially those with a greater propensity for toughness - to rally around seemingly-targeted defenceman Omar Maghoub. "Look," he said, "how many times are people going to run Omar before someone really hurts him? He has done due dilligence by trying to beef up more, but we need to help him out too! It's ridiculous!"
  

Tomorrow's games

Division XII

Crimea vs. Argentina
Jamaica vs. Chukotka
Libnan vs. Botswana
Oman vs. Asturias

Division XI

Kuwait vs. Abkhazia
Inca Republic vs. Nokhchynya
Azerbaijan vs. Uzbekistan

Division X

Alania vs. Greece
Montenegro vs. Xhosa Republic
Malay Federation vs. Armenia

Division IX

Portugal vs. Buryatia
Chile vs. KwaZulu
Thailand vs. Taiwan

[Jarkko]

TODAY'S GAMES - IIHF


Division XII

Crimea 4 Argentina 2 (KRM Mambet Khaybullayev 2G, KRM Serhiy Tkachenko 1G 2A)
Jamaica 3 Chukotka 2 (OT; JAM G Malcolm Subban 37 saves; CHK G Maxim Mogilny 28 saves; JAM Chris Stewart 2G, GWG; CHK Sergey Kosygin 1G 1A)
Botswana 4 Libnan 2 (BOT Sethunya Tshireletso 2G 1A, 5 hits)
Asturias 5 Oman 0 (AST Inaciu Laviada 15 saves, SO; AST Canor Llongoria 2G 1A; AST Ponç Cisneros 2G 1A)

Division XI

Abkhazia 6 Kuwait 1 (SOG 49-15 ABX; ABX Sokrat Kvitsinia 3G 2A; ABX Gozar Lakrba 2G)
Inca Republic 5 Nokhchynya 2 (INC Stanislao Valenzuela 3G; INC Rolando Quispe 1G 2A; INC Moreno Enriquez 3A; NXC Abukhan Ramazanov 2G; NXC Magomedbek Taymaskhanov 2A)
Azerbaijan 5 Uzbekistan 3 (AZE Rəşid İsmaylov 2G; AZE Kəmil Hüseynov 1G 2A, GWG; UZB Ibodullo Abdurashidov 2G)

Division X

Greece 4 Alania 2 (GRE Tristan Vlahos 2G 1A)
Montenegro 3 Xhosa Republic 0 (MNE G Jovica Čoban 22 saves, SO; MNE Dalibor Aćimović 2G)
Armenia 5 Malay Federation 2 (ARM Markos Asaduryan 2G; ARM Stas Petrosyan 1G 2A; MYF Saifuddin M. Reza 1G 1A)

Division IX

Portugal 5 Buryatia 4 (POR Mikey Pereira 2G 1A; POR Rui Martins 1G 2A, GWG; BUR Sergey Dashiyev 2G 1A; BUR Yuröölte Dorzhov 1G 1A; BUR Baldan Sambuyev 2A)
KwaZulu 2 Chile 0 (KWZ G Josiah Hintsa 32 saves, SO; KWZ Stefan Lukhona Madlala 2G)
Thailand 4 Taiwan 2 (THA Samenem Vidura 2G 1A)

Other Notes

• Jamaica head coach Tony McKegney was thoroughly impressed by Chukotka's play, especially the play of Sergey Kosygin, whom he named "the best individual offensive talent amongst skaters in the entire Challenge Cup system." When asked for his other faves, he did of course have to plug several of his own players, but also mentioned Botswana's Sethunya Tshireletso as being the best defensive forward and the most complete skater, and Botswana's Nkosilathi Kgasa and Chukotka's Yevgeny Koryakov among the best stay-at-home defenders. When asked for the best goalie besides Subban in the group, he responded laughing, "Come on, man! Ask me a different question! That's too hard! Seriously, there are many good goalies in this group besides Malcolm - maybe not as good, but you think of [Maxim] Mogilny, [Jakob K.] Machemko, [Conráu Xosepe] Cinfuegos, [Reza] Moustapha, and even [Martyn] Kirilenko... yeah, that question's practically impossible."
  
• 20-year-old Inaciu Laviada came in against Oman to give Cinfuegos a break, and was surprisingly good against al-Dosari as he kept Oman off the board in a 5-0 shutout win - both his first career international win as a starter and his first career international shutout.
  
• Sethunya Tshireletso continues to impress at the lower levels with his uncanny two-way game; Argentinian head coach Rafaél Lopez Schurmann has  likened him to an "African Lindros," which is high praise, because the 6'4" 229-pounder models his game partially after the 1991 NHL 1st-overall pick. Libnan head coach Alain Nasreddine declared of the 25-year-old, "He's not done in the NHL. Not by a long shot. Once he maxes out his game he's gonna be a regular on the grind lines. He's the kind of guy you hate to play against, like I certainly did today, but you love having him on your team!"
  
• Kuwait forward Rashad Muhammad Abdurrahim saw a small silver lining in the 6-1 dicing they caught at the hands of the Abkhazis. "At least I scored!"
  
• Stan Valenzuela was fired right up today! Even the best of Nokhchynya's defenders weren't ready for his big game today, and even the Puno native himself has no idea what brought it on, but he "isn't complaining." The ECHLer came up big with a hat trick, and Nokhchynyan captain Isma'il Abubakarov frustratedly admitted just how good he is. "If you don't get to him early enough, you won't get to him at all. He is too fast, too agile, and strong enough to slip late checks too. He's a star player as far as this group is concerned.
  
• The now-suspended Asturian player involved in the incidence of racism directed against three Botswanan players has been identified as left-winger Baltesar Noriega; for his own safety he was kept anonymous until he left Argentina to go back home to Asturias. He has been issued the maximum allowable suspension for a first-time offender not counting "severely dirty or dangerous hits," which is ten games; this will render him ineligible for next year's Challenge Cup of Europe more or less wholesale. Most pundits think it is doubtful he will play another game under head coach Marco Solís. There has been no official statement released by Noriega, but several Botswanan players, even including superstar Tshireletso, have asked for or demanded an apology. Xinio Cuadro has been called up from the taxi squad to replace him.
  
• An example of a player being injured by a clean hit, Armenian defenceman Minas Tenkerian blitzed Malay forward Justin Xiao, who left the game with a separated left shoulder and is not expected to play again this international season. "Think about it for a second," said Malay captain Steve Füglister. "You have one guy who's 5'9", 180-ish, and another who's 6'7", 240-ish. You know full well who's gonna win a collision between the two. Justin got a little carried away with his speed up and ran right into Tenkerian. It was shoulder-to-shoulder at relatively high speed and he wasn't paying enough attention. I think everyone on the ice knew that was not going to end well when that collision happened. You could hear Justin's F-bomb from the nosebleed seats. Good on Minas for icing the puck and calling for a team doctor."
  
• In spite of not having Gage Gonçalves, Portugal has gotten some positive press for its play so far, after gutting out a 5-4 win over a tough Buryatia team.
  
• After scoring both goals for KwaZulu in an otherwise deadlocked match against Chile, right-winger Stefan Lukhona Madlala realizes that he now has a lot of eyes on him. The 19-year-old plays for Pietermaritzburg of the SAIHL, and he was among the team's leading scorers this season.
  

Tomorrow's games:

Division XI

Abkhazia vs. Nokhchynya
Kuwait vs. Uzbekistan
Inca Republic vs. Azerbaijan

Division X

Greece vs. Xhosa Republic
Alania vs. Armenia
Montenegro vs. Malay Federation

Division XI

Buryatia vs. KwaZulu
Portugal vs. Taiwan
Chile vs. Thailand

[Jarkko]

TODAY'S GAMES - IIHF

Division XI

Abkhazia 5 Nokhchynya 2 (ABX Sokrat Kvitsinia 2G 1A; NXC Magomedbek Taymaskhanov 1G 1A)
Uzbekistan 5 Kuwait 0 (UZB G Förkhat Djurayev 10 saves; UZB Ibodullo Abdurashidov 3G; UZB Dostonbek Mahmudov 2A)
Azerbaijan 5 Inca Republic 3 (INC Stanislao Valenzuela 3G; AZE Yashar Efendiyev 1G 2A; AZE Rəşid İsmaylov 1G 1A; AZE Turan Efendiyev 3A; AZE Bəxtiyar Məmmədov 1G 1A; AZE G Yunis Ələddinov 30 saves)

Division X

Greece 5 Xhosa Republic 2 (GRE Tristan Vlahos 2G 1A; GRE Sam Edwards 1G 1A; XHO Khanyiso Ndungane 2G)
Armenia 5 Alania 1 (ARM G Petros Alakhverdyan 28 saves; ARM Tigran Manukyan 2G 1A; ARM Stas Petrosyan 1G 1A)
Montenegro 4 Malay Federation 2 (MNE G Jovica Čoban 25 saves; MNE Dejan Stojanović 1G 2A; MNE Dalibor Aćimović 1G 1A; MNE Alen Jakšić 1G 1A; MYF Stephen Füglister 1G 1A)

Division XI

Buryatia 2 KwaZulu 0 (KWZ G Josiah Hintsa 36 saves; BUR G Zhargal Khermenov 24 saves, SO; BUR Baldan Sambuyev GWG)
Portugal 4 Taiwan 2 (POR Mikey Pereira 1G 1A; POR Ronaldo Figo 1G 1A; TWN Weng To 1G 1A)
Thailand 4 Chile 1 (THA Samenem Vidura 2G 1A)

Other notes:

• Chukotka's Sevastyan Volkov and Argentina's Rodrigo Ferrado have been "sent home" by their respective teams; Volkov received a five-game suspension for a high cross-check on Oman's Arif Maghoub, while Ferrado got the maximum ten-game suspension for a blatant headshot on Jamaica's Wallace Burton, which renders him ineligible for most of next year's Challenge Cup of the Americas if not all. Volkov has already apologised for the hit, calling it "an exercise in stupidity with emotions running high."
  
• Nokhchynyan head coach Oleg Petrov expressed a degree of surprise at how much Abkhazia has improved even since last year. "They're showing that when there's true passion for the game, improvement can come quickly!" He did admit that he already knew about how good Sokrat Kvitsinia was, though.
  
• Stanislao Valenzuela admitted to being annoyed in spite of his hat trick today. "It's kind of a hollow feeling when it doesn't help your team win," he said. "But they [Azerbaijan] are good enough at both ends to beat us, so respect to them for that."
  

Tomorrow's Games

Division XII

Argentina vs. Chukotka
Crimea vs. Botswana
Jamaica vs. Asturias
Libnan vs. Oman

[Jarkko]

TODAY'S GAMES - IIHF

Division XII

Chukotka 7 Argentina 2 (CHK Sergey Kosygin 2G 3A; CHK Vyacheslav Aksyonov 2G 1A; ARG Ramiro Pedraz 1G 1A)
Botswana 5 Crimea 1 (BOT Sethunya Tshireletso 2G 2A, 5 hits; BOT Paul Thangane 1G 2A; BOT Thabo Molefi 2A; BOT G Jakob K. Machemko 24 saves)
Jamaica 2 Asturias 0 (JAM G Malcolm Subban 20 saves, SO; AST G Conráu Xosepe Cinfuegos 38 saves; JAM Chris Stewart 1G 1A, GWG)
Libnan 6 Oman 1 (LIB Youssef Darwiche 2G 2A; LIB Moussa al-Kadin 1G 2A)

Other notes:

• Chukotka opted to start second-stringer G Aron Aladyryev today, and even though he got more shots than he bargained for, he still made a respectable 23 saves as Chukotka faced more pressure from Argentina than they did Oman.
  
• Yuri Roshchin was not happy with Thabo Molefi after the match, calling him an "arrogant [jerk]" for remarks he made to the Crimean defender after he got flattened by Sethunya Tshireletso with a hit that made the Botswanan fans go crazy, also leading to a goal by linemate Paul Thangane via a one-timed slap pass from Nkosilathi Kgasa. What did he say? "Take notes - that's how you're supposed to hit a guy!" When told about the Crimean being upset, Molefi said, "I'm sorry, but after all the people he's hurt with his sloppy hits, he could use a little constructive criticism."
  

Tomorrow's Games

Division XII

Botswana vs. Argentina
Chukotka vs. Asturias
Crimea vs. Oman
Jamaica vs. Libnan

Division XI

Uzbekistan vs. Abkhazia
Nokhchynya vs. Azerbaijan
Kuwait vs. Inca Republic

Division X

Armenia vs. Greece
Xhosa Republic vs. Malay Federation
Alania vs. Montenegro

Division IX

Taiwan vs. Buryatia
KwaZulu vs. Thailand
Portugal vs. Chile

[Jarkko]

TODAY'S GAMES - IIHF

Division XII

Botswana 6 Argentina 0 (BOT G Jakob K. Machemko 19 saves, SO; BOT Sethunya Tshireletso 3G 1A; BOT Paul Thangane 1G 2A; BOT Thabo Molefi 2A)
Chukotka 2 Asturias 0 (CHK G Maxim Mogilny 23 saves, SO; AST G Conráu Xosepe Cinfuegos 39 saves; CHK Sergey Kosygin 1G 1A)
Crimea 5 Oman 1 (KRM Serhiy Tkachenko 1G 2A; KRM Mambet Khaybullayev 2G; KRM Filip Bogomolov 2A)
Jamaica 4 Libnan 1 (JAM G Malcolm Subban 26 saves; JAM Chris Stewart 2G; JAM Josh Ho-Sang 3A)

Division XI

Abkhazia 4 Uzbekistan 3 (OT; ABX Sokrat Kvitsinia 1G 2A; ABX Gozar Lakrba 2G, GWG; UZB Ibodullo Abdurashidov 2G)
Azerbaijan 5 Nokhchynya 1 (AZE Rəşid İsmaylov 1G 2A; AZE Kəmil Hüseynov 2G; AZE Turan Efendiyev 2A)
Inca Republic 7 Kuwait 1 (INC Stanislao Valenzuela 5G; INC Rolando Quispe 1G 3A; INC Moreno Váldez 2A)

Division X

Armenia 4 Greece 3 (ARM Stas Petrosyan 1G 1A; ARM Markos Asaduryan 1G 1A; ARM Minas Tenkerian 1G 2A, GWG; GRE Tristan Vlahos 2G)
Malay Federation 4 Xhosa Republic 1 (MYF Saifuddin M. Reza 1G 1A; MYF Steve Füglister 3A)
Montenegro 5 Alania 0 (MNE Jovica Čoban 22 saves, SO; MNE Dalibor Aćimović 1G 2A; MNE Alen Jakšić 2G; MNE Dejan Stojanović 3A)

Division IX

Buryatia 4 Taiwan 1 (BUR G Zhargal Khermenov 28 saves; BUR Baldan Sambuyev 1G 1A; BUR Yuröölte Dorzhov 1G 1A; BUR Nima Solbonov 1G 1A)
Thailand 3 KwaZulu 1 (THA Samenem Vidura 2G, GWG; KWZ G Josiah Hintsa 32 saves)
Portugal 5 Chile 2 (POR G Justin Bourque 33 saves; POR Mikey Pereira 2G 2A)

Promotion and Relegation Picture

Division XII

• Argentina and Oman both doomed to relegation to newly-forming Division XIII in 2023. Argentina can still finish ahead of Oman in the standings, especially given that Oman's last match is against Botswana, but that requires them to beat Asturias.
  
• With Botswana playing Oman and likely to win as a result, Jamaica must beat Crimea to clinch promotion. It can be in overtime, as Jamaica has already beaten Botswana (3-1 on opening day).
  

Division XI

• In spite of two overtime wins, Abkhazia can still finish first and earn promotion by beating Azerbaijan in regulation.
  
• Kuwait can theoretically catch Nokhchynya by beating them, but with how the two teams have been playing respectively, more or less all non-Arab hockey pundits are calling a Nokhchynyan win and Kuwaiti relegation.
  

Division X

• There is the possibility of a three-way deadlock in points should Montenegro beat Armenia and Greece beat the Malays, both in regulation. That would give all three teams 12 points and it would then go to three-way head-to-head, then goal differential, then head-to-head amongst goal differential-equal teams, then finally goals for as a tiebreak. (It is more or less impossible at this point for the last of these to be even between any two teams in this group! ) If the Armenia-Montenegro match goes to overtime, Armenia wins the group regardless of result.
  
• It is winner-stays-up between the Xhosa Republic and Alania.
  

Division IX

• Another possibility of three-way gridlock here. Buryatia must beat Thailand and Portugal must beat KwaZulu, both in regulation. If the Buryatia-Thailand match goes to overtime, Thailand wins the group regardless of result.
  
• Winner-stays-up match between Chile and Taiwan.
  

Other notes

• The teams playing in Divisions VIII, VII, and VI are starting to arrive in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Pamplona-Iruña, Euskadi, and Salt Lake City, Utah respectively!
  
• Omani defenceman Omar Maghoub said landing a big clean hit on someone as opposed to taking a dirty hit himself "felt good," as he dumped Crimean starting winger Filip Bogomolov with a perfectly-timed hip check in the second period, which got the typically docile Omani crowd fired right up!
  
• Crimea's Yuri Roshchin found his wallet a little lighter as he was fined €300 for his remarks about Thabo Molefi to an interviewer. He also saw limited game time against Oman. Apparently Crimean head coach Andriy Karpenko has had enough of him complaining to the press about being singled out.
  
• On the topic of head coaches, Abkhazia's head coach, the Estonian legend Toivo Suursoo, has said that Abkhazia's overtime game against Uzbekistan "had a few key errors that they cannot repeat" against Azerbaijan.
  
• Apparently Stan Valenzuela was tempted to score more than just the five he did against Kuwait, but he held back because he "didn't want to seem like a stat-padding <redacted>." Kuwait head coach Vadim Sharifijanov expressed a degree of gratitude for this, saying "Valenzuela could easily have scored ten, if not more."
  
• Greece will play its closer against the Malays without defenceman Nikolaos Xanthopoulos, who was double-checked by Minas Tenkerian and Eduard Malakyan and suffered a torn right rotor cuff. IIHF Disciplinary Chief Scott Stevens agreed with the call on the ice and stated that no further discipline was necessary - "It wasn't deliberately dirty, but it was a bit rough and a bit late by Malakyan, so the referee made the right decision to assess a roughing minor." Xanthopoulos bears the two no ill will, although he did admit that he was quite annoyed with Malakyan when it happened.
  
• Alanian head coach Vladimir Artyomov was not happy with his team's performance against Montenegro, calling it "half-hearted nonsense." In spite of getting 22 shots on goal, the quality of the shots was quite low.
  
• Buryatia third-liner Tsyrengalsan Dashidorzhov is likely to be suspended for at least three games for clipping Taiwanese star Weng To, who will now miss the latter's closer against Chile with a twisted ankle.
  

Wednesday's Games

Division XII

Argentina vs. Asturias
Botswana vs. Oman
Chukotka vs. Libnan
Crimea vs. Jamaica

Division XI

Abkhazia vs. Azerbaijan
Uzbekistan vs. Inca Republic
Nokhchynya vs. Kuwait

Division X

Greece vs. Malay Federation
Armenia vs. Montenegro
Xhosa Republic vs. Alania

Division IX

Buryatia vs. Thailand
Taiwan vs. Chile
KwaZulu vs. Portugal

Division VIII (Novi Sad, Vojvodina)

Luxembourg vs. Maghreb Union
Kyrgyzstan vs. Bosnia and Hercegovina
Mongolia vs. Vojvodina

Division VII (Pamplona-Iruña, Euskadi)

Dagestan vs. Turkmenistan
Ngunia vs. United Arab Emirates
Turkey vs. Euskadi

Division VI (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Bulgaria vs. Ireland
Utah vs. Castille
Mexico vs. Aragon