The Romanians achieved the best result in 29 years, the Lithuanian ice hockey players got to know their opponents in the world championship

The World Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Division I Group A tournament ended in Italy on Saturday.

The Romanian national team was close to a miracle. Candidates for the last place are called Romanians 1:6 had no hope against the Italians, and in the second round 1:6 also lost to the Slovenians. However, later the Romanians stunned everyone when they won 3 in a row: 2:1 against the Hungarians, 3:2 against South Korea and 4:2 against Japan.

Having collected 9 points, the Romanians claimed a sensational promotion to the elite division until the last day. However, the Italians did not score points in the match against the Koreans and the hopes of the Romanians were dashed. However, fourth place is the Romanians’ best finish since 1995, when a different World Cup format was in place.

Romanians, Italians and Slovenians scored 9 points each. According to the results of the matches, the second place in the tournament went to the Slovenians, who returned to the elite division. The Italians were third for the second year in a row, while the Romanians took 4th place.

Hungarians, despite internal problems, with 11 points. won the tournament and moved up to the elite division. The Hungarians only lost to the Romanians, and on Saturday in the decisive match after a goal in the 58th minute 2:1 beat the Slovenians. The Hungarians also beat the Italians in a dramatic way – that match required extra time.

Japanese with 4 points. finished 5th, while South Korea (3 points), despite an unexpected victory over Slovenia, was relegated from the tournament to Division IB.

Tournament table:

The Koreans will be one of the opponents of the Lithuanian national team next year. The Croatians, who became the winners of the II A division, will also join the IB division. In addition to South Korea, Lithuania and Croatia, Estonia, China and Spain will play in the IB division next year.