03-20-2023, 10:36 PM
AND THEY'RE OFF! CHALLENGE CUP DIVISION I RESULTS
Challenge Cup of Africa, Division I
(Ogbomosho, Yorubaland)
Group A
Gabon 43 Seychelles 0
Adamawa 8 Tigray 4
Nilotica 9 Mauritius 8 (OT)
Notes:
Yorubaland 36 Comoros 1
Namibia 15 Mbundu 0
Somalia 7 Hausa Nation 5
Notes:
(Constanza, Hispaniola)
Group A
Bolivia 29 Bahamas 1
Argentina 14 Dutch Antilles 1
Colombia 5 Cuba 4 (OT)
Notes:
Paraguay 10 Uruguay 0
Panama 8 Venezuela 1
Mayan Republic 4 Costa Rica 3 (OT)
(Kuwait City, Kuwait)
Group A
Pashmenish 6 Papua 5 (OT)
Kuwait 23 Sri Lanka 1
Group B
Saudi Kingdom 6 Micronesia 1
Bharat 4 Bahrain 3 (OT)
Group C
Hawaii 22 Bangladesh 0
Melanesia 6 Hijaz 0
Group D
Kashmir 10 Sana'a 1
Dravidia 14 Tibet 2
Notes:
Challenge Cup of Europe Division I
(Nicosia, Cyprus)
Kosovo 5 North Macedonia 3
Cyprus 5 Malta 1
Abkhazia 10 Gibraltar 1
Tomorrow's games:
Africa
Group A
Adamawa vs. Seychelles
Mauritius vs. Tigray
Nilotica vs. Gabon
Group B
Mbundu vs. Comoros
Somalia vs. Namibia
Yorubaland vs. Hausa Nation
Americas
Group A
Argentina vs. Bolivia
Colombia vs. Dutch Antilles
Cuba vs. Bahamas
Group B
Paraguay vs. Venezuela
Mayan Republic vs. Uruguay
Costa Rica vs. Panama
AsPac
Group A
Papua vs. Sri Lanka
Kuwait vs. Pashmenish
Group B
Bharat vs. Saudi Kingdom
Micronesia vs. Bahrain
Group C
Bangladesh vs. Hijaz
Melanesia vs. Hawaii
Group D
Kashmir vs. Tibet
Dravidia vs. Sana'a
Europe
Kosovo vs. Cyprus
Gibraltar vs. North Macedonia
Abkhazia vs. Malta
Challenge Cup of Africa, Division I
(Ogbomosho, Yorubaland)
Group A
Gabon 43 Seychelles 0
Adamawa 8 Tigray 4
Nilotica 9 Mauritius 8 (OT)
Notes:
- Not only was Gabon's lopsided win over the lowly Seychelles an African record for a tournament, but it saw two world records set, as Maurice Kassa scored 29 goals and Ghislain Mbeng managed 32 assists, both men's records for a tournament game.
- Thought to be the rawest team of the lot, humble Nilotica stunned Mauritius, coming back from 8-5 down to eventually win in overtime. The hero of the game was forward Michael Obuya (who is based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia), who scored four of Nilotica's goals.
- In spite of expat help, Tigray just did not have the depth necessary to withstand Adamawa, and late penalty trouble dashed any chances of a comeback as Cameroon's official successor state (who also shares a small boundary with hosts Yorubaland) scored two goals in the space of as many minutes to end the match 8-4.
Yorubaland 36 Comoros 1
Namibia 15 Mbundu 0
Somalia 7 Hausa Nation 5
Notes:
- As opposed to the Gabon match, where scoring was heavily concentrated in the first line, Yorubaland achieved the rare feat of having every player that skated register at least one point, including starting goalie John Ademola Olatunji, who had three assists in the lopsided victory.
- In a nice touch of sportsmanship, Yorubalander defenceman Opeyemi Adetokunbo got the puck and gave it to Comorian centre Razak Attoumani after he scored the Comoros' first official IIHF tournament goal, saying to him, "may it be the first of many!"
- In spite of the gap of talent between the two, many pundits are praising Namibia's victory over Mbundu as "absolutely clinical" as their defence was so perfect that they only allowed six shots on goal against a surprisingly talented debuting Mbundu team.
- Somalian team captain Gabriel Jammeh was "pleasantly surprised" by the skill of debuting Hausa Nation and has predicted that they will "surprise people" in this tournament. It took a late empty-netter for the Sky-Blues to keep it in regulation, and this in spite of a late push by the gritty team led by Zaria-born coach Rumun Ndur, a former NHL tough guy.
(Constanza, Hispaniola)
Group A
Bolivia 29 Bahamas 1
Argentina 14 Dutch Antilles 1
Colombia 5 Cuba 4 (OT)
Notes:
- When asked for positives from their humiliating defeat to Bolivia (which was worse than even the most skeptical pundits were predicting), Bahamian head coach André Deveaux quipped, "At least Alexander [Brightman] scored!"
- When asked if they're afraid of regular double-digits losses after getting blitzed by Argentina in the opening game, Dutch Antilles captain Geert de Bruijn, Jr., was not particularly happy with the question-asker and rudely responded, "Are you paid to ask stupid questions?"
- Colombia vs. Cuba was highly praised by ubiquitous lower-level pundit Nikita Alexeyev for how exciting and well-played it was. "One of these days, Cuba's going to beat Colombia," he said, "but Colombia had just enough fight today to ward them off. It was great back and forth hockey, lots of shots, decent number of goals, great crowd... great way to set the tone for the day!"
Paraguay 10 Uruguay 0
Panama 8 Venezuela 1
Mayan Republic 4 Costa Rica 3 (OT)
- "Revenge is sweet, isn't it?" was Francisco Canul's quotable quote after scoring two goals, including the winner, in the Mayans' payback victory over Costa Rica by the same score that they lost to the same last year.
- Luís Ronaldo Éricson scoffed at suggestions that getting the shutout against Uruguay was easy, saying "nobody who actually watched the game would say that." Éricson made 25 saves, some of them quite impressive ones, as the home team beat Uruguay comfortably.
(Kuwait City, Kuwait)
Group A
Pashmenish 6 Papua 5 (OT)
Kuwait 23 Sri Lanka 1
Group B
Saudi Kingdom 6 Micronesia 1
Bharat 4 Bahrain 3 (OT)
Group C
Hawaii 22 Bangladesh 0
Melanesia 6 Hijaz 0
Group D
Kashmir 10 Sana'a 1
Dravidia 14 Tibet 2
Notes:
- Although Papua lost in overtime, their offensive play in particular got noticed by a few of the pundits, not just because of the missionary expats that play for the time but also from homegrowns like Nikodemo Olam, who scored two goals and had an assist in the losing effort.
- Kuwait's win was the largest in team history (OOC: Since neither Kuwait nor India existed in the Robertian Era IRL Kuwait beat India 39-2 in 2011) but has been written off as "padding stats off a newbie team with one of the smallest talent pools in Asia right now" by a couple of pundits.
- Defenceman Sherwin Kaneko, the Marshallese defenceman whose missed flight led to Micronesia almost missing the tournament opening, "made up for" the mishap (which turned out to be beyond his control) by scoring Micronesia's only goal, putting on a solid defensive show, and winning Micronesia's Player of the Game in spite of the somewhat lopsided loss to the Saudis. Said Nikita Alexeyev, "I was actually quite impressed by him, and he looked at times like he was playing tired but he still did a lot better a job than I thought he was going to given how this was Micronesia's first-ever game of proper tournament hockey."
- Bharat won a fair bit of respect by downing Bahrain, but it wasn't without its controversy, as returning defenceman Apurva Nagarkar, who missed the last AsPac tourney with a suspension, is back in hot water with IIHF Disciplinary, and now with head coach Dimp Chakravarti, after a late game misconduct for attempting to injure Bahrain's Mehdi al-Bashir with a knee-on-knee hit. Al-Bashir has been assessed and is good to go for their next match, against Micronesia. Chakravarti has denounced the hit as "clearly dirty" and "unnecessary" but has stopped short of sending him home.
- Pavel Datsyuk praised the Melanesian national team for a "much tighter" defence, drawing particular attention to starting d-man Vijay Shawshank and increased defensive capability from even their top scoring line of Morris Tamate, Moses Weibur, and Apenisa Vinidi.
- Tibetan forward Namgyal Raldri has said his knee is "100% better" after spending most of 2022 recovering from reconstructive surgery after a freak injury in last year's tournament, and it showed as he scored both of Tibet's goals even as his team got run over by a much-improved Dravidian side.
Challenge Cup of Europe Division I
(Nicosia, Cyprus)
Kosovo 5 North Macedonia 3
Cyprus 5 Malta 1
Abkhazia 10 Gibraltar 1
- In spite of not having NHLer Arbër Xhekaj, who is club-tied, Kosovo looked quite solid in its opening match.
- Cyprus hockey pioneer Yiannis Andreas Kazakis scored a hat trick against Malta, but the same also said that Malta "is improving" overall.
- Sokrat Kvitsinia was merciless, with four goals and two assists, in Abkhazia's 10-1 bulldozing of Gibraltar.
Spoiler
Tomorrow's games:
Africa
Group A
Adamawa vs. Seychelles
Mauritius vs. Tigray
Nilotica vs. Gabon
Group B
Mbundu vs. Comoros
Somalia vs. Namibia
Yorubaland vs. Hausa Nation
Americas
Group A
Argentina vs. Bolivia
Colombia vs. Dutch Antilles
Cuba vs. Bahamas
Group B
Paraguay vs. Venezuela
Mayan Republic vs. Uruguay
Costa Rica vs. Panama
AsPac
Group A
Papua vs. Sri Lanka
Kuwait vs. Pashmenish
Group B
Bharat vs. Saudi Kingdom
Micronesia vs. Bahrain
Group C
Bangladesh vs. Hijaz
Melanesia vs. Hawaii
Group D
Kashmir vs. Tibet
Dravidia vs. Sana'a
Europe
Kosovo vs. Cyprus
Gibraltar vs. North Macedonia
Abkhazia vs. Malta
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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