For a homesick Canadian who’s been in Mexico for eight months and is ready to come home, the International Ice Hockey World Championship (Division II) is a godsend: a chilly bit of Canada amidst the sunny warmth of Mexico City. From April 11 to 17, Mexico City’s Pista de Hielo Lomas Verdes is hosting the third tier of the world’s hockey powers: Australia (ranked 34th in the world), Belgium (number 36), Bulgaria (31), Mexico (32) and Turkey (37). One hundred (about $9 Canadian) gets you three games a day.
The rink
The arena itself is an honest-to-goodness community hockey rink, right down to the homey stale sweat smell. The stands – general admission benches – can maybe hold a thousand people at most, but based on the first day, overcrowding is unlikely to be a problem: for the first two games, I seem to be the only person with no personal or familial connection with the players on the ice (the Mexican team games, however, are another story). The result is actually quite nice: the atmosphere seems to be a mixture of partisan passion mixed with subdued conviviality. After the noisy, mindless nationalism of the Olympics, it’s nice to see some sports where the volume is turned down a bit.
Other nice skating rink touches: the disco ball hanging from the centre-ice scoreboard, which itself sports a timer that seems to have trouble with the number two. As an expat, it was nice to see a Canadian flag decal on the zamboni and hear Victoria’s Hot Hot Heat on the PA (doing “Goodnight Goodnight”). A few folks were even sporting NHL jerseys, although judging by what I saw (an Islanders logo, the old Canucks hockey stick logo, a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey), their NHL loyalties were formed in the 1970s or 1980s (or, in the case of the Leafs fan, pre-1967).
So far, the hockey itself has been what you would expect from teams ranked lower than even Great Britain (24). None of these teams would give even West Germany a run for its money, but, hey, it’s hockey, their worst player is better than I could ever hope to be, and for a few hours, it’s like I’m back in Canada.
Over the next week, I hope to get to as many games as possible. Short daily recaps to follow.
Day One: Sunday, April 11, 2010
Spain 6, Australia 0
The first of three no-contests on the day, as Spain completely dominates Australia. It’s not that Australia is terrible, it’s that Spain has more speed and skill than the outmatched Aussie crew. That said, the Australian goalie made some nice saves to keep the score down to 6-0, and some of the individual Australian players made some nice plays, but there’s no doubt that, in this game at least, Spain was the more complete team.
That said, the gold medal in team spirit for the first day goes to the tiny group of Australian fans, whose racket belied their small numbers.
Bulgaria 12, Turkey 3
This game was Canada-women’s-hockey-vs.-anyone-but-the-U.S. ugly.
If Spain outmatched Australia, Bulgaria had their way with Turkey. It was actually painful to watch; at times it seemed like the Bulgarians were just toying with the Turkish side. The Bulgarians would execute their plays seemingly in slow motion, taking their time to set things up just right, knowing that even at half-speed Turkey couldn’t keep up. The score, if anything, is generous to Turkey: after finishing the first period 4-0, Bulgaria let up; but every time Turkey scored, Bulgaria replied almost instantly, as if to deliver the message that they could score at will. And they did, including two classless goals in the final minute, with the game far, far out of reach. I don’t care if goal differentials are important in this tournament: it’s no fun seeing a team get embarrassed when they’re already down.
Oh, and the Bulgarian players? Built like tanks.
Opening Ceremonies
With two games in the books, the by-now-over-capacity crowd, ready to see the home team take on Belgium, is treated to an opening ceremony: girls in tight black outfits skating the flags of the participating teams, as well as the IIHF banner around the ice, joined eventually by the captain of each team, and two kids, dressed in traditional outfits, holding the name of each country.
(Although judging by the outfits, men’s traditional outfits in the participating countries consists of a pressed white shirt and dark pants. Or maybe just women have traditional costumes.)
I’d also never seen this before: the opening ceremonies were actually followed by Mexico and Belgium’s pre-game warmup and a fresh flooding of the ice. An odd choice, to say the least.
Belgium 5, Mexico 2
Easily the best game of the day, and not only because of the overcapacity crowd boisterously cheering on the home team, but because these were the teams nearest in skill to each other. Even here, however, there was no doubt about who the superior team was: Belgium scored on their first two shots, and 86 seconds into the game, the score was 2-0. Of the six teams, on the first day of the tournament, Belgium seemed to be the most cohesive (which will come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Belgium’s sclerotic federal politics, which make Canada’s seem like a model of sanity and rationality). Their passing was excellent; in contrast to the Mexican team, which seemed to be a collection of individuals making individual plays, the Belgians seemed to have set plays that they executed effectively and efficiently. They were easily the smoothest skating side of the day.
And in contrast to the compact Bulgarians, the lanky Belgians resemble an entire team of Zdeno Charas. Maybe it’s something in the water (or in that sweet, sweet delicious Belgian chocolate).
Final Thoughts, Day One
After three games, the tournament seems to be shaping up into two tiers: Spain, Belgium and Bulgaria in one, and Australia, Turkey and Mexico in the other. Turkey is the weakest team in the field: their skating and playmaking reveals hints of uncertainty, although they often play with skill as well. As for Australian and Mexico, the jury’s still out on their tournament: it would be nice to see them complement their individual efforts with a stronger team identity. And I’m really looking forward to seeing Belgium play Bulgaria on Friday.
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