Greece men's national ice hockey team

The Greek national ice hockey team (Greek: Εθνική Ελλάδος χόκεϊ επί πάγου) is the national ice hockey team of Greece and as an associate member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that competed in Division III of the IIHF World Championships. Greece are unable to compete in IIHF tournaments at present because they cannot fulfill the minimum standard of having one operational "Olympic size" indoor rink. They last competed in 2013.

Greece
AssociationHellenic Ice Sports Federation
Head coachIgor Apostolidis
AssistantsPanagiotis Efkarpidis
CaptainDimitrios Kalyvas
Most gamesDimitrios Kalyvas (41)
Top scorerDimitrios Kalyvas (26)
Most pointsDimitrios Kalyvas (55)
Team colors         
IIHF codeGRE
Home colours
Away colours
Ranking
Current IIHFNR (24 April 2020)[1]
Highest IIHF44 (first in 2011)
Lowest IIHF49 (first in 2015)
First international
 Greece 15–3 Turkey 
(Johannesburg, South Africa; 21 March 1992)
Biggest win
 Greece 13–0 Georgia 
(Abu Dhabi, UAE; 15 October 2012)
Biggest defeat
 Israel 26–2 Greece 
(Cape Town, South Africa; 15 April 2011)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances12 (first in 1992)
Best result29th (1992)
International record (W–L–T)
17–37–1

History

Ice hockey started in Greece in 1984 by players that returned to Greece from abroad. The first official Greek Championship was held in 1989 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium with five teams taking place. It was the first time that ice hockey games were held in an official-size rink in the country. In 1990, the first junior national team was formed and took part in the World Junior Championship Pool C, held in Yugoslavia. In 1991, the junior national team took part in the World Junior Championship, held in Italy. In 1992, the first ever men's national team was formed and took place in the World Championships Pool C2 held in South Africa. With only two weeks of serious training abroad and the support of the Greeks of South Africa, the men's national team finished ahead of three other new hockey nations, winning the Bronze medal, placing them 29th overall.

Despite the great achievement, the start of the decline of the sport came in 1993. Economic help was discontinued by the Greek Undersecretary of State for Sports and all expenses to keep ice hockey alive were passed over to the players. Practices stopped and many players quit.

Georgia and Greece during the 2013 World Championship Division III Qualification. Greece won the match 13–0.

Since May 2003, the last ice rink in Greece closed and the national team was left without an ice rink. In the next 4 years, players of the national team traveled at their own expense in the Czech Republic in order to train themselves. Unfortunately, the IIHF determined in 2013 that the team will not be able to participate in any World Championship programs until an Olympic sized ice rink is constructed in the country.[2]

Ice hockey was slowly dying until Dimitris Kalyvas (currently the captain of Team Greece) tried to convince the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that the National Team is still active and that development of the sport is continuing in the country despite not having an ice rink. He later received the support of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation. After many emails, the IIHF decided to send 2 delegates to Athens to investigate. After a review by the IIHF in 2008, Greece retained its status within the IIHF, and took part in a qualification tournament against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo prior to the 2008 Division III championship in Luxembourg. They defeated both teams, beating Armenia 8 – 5 (although Armenia was forced to forfeit each game 5 – 0), and Bosnia-Herzegovina 10 – 1. They took part in Division III from 2008 until 2013, highlighted by a second-place finish in their group (third overall) in 2010.

2013 World Championship Division III
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Club
2 Pavlos Kasampoulis F L Jul. 21, 1988 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
3 Polykarpos Amanatidis F L Aug. 23, 1979 Aris Thessaloniki
6 Georgios Kouleles F R Oct. 2, 1983 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
7 Eleftherios Fournogerakis F R Oct. 19, 1979 Mad Cows Athens
8 Iason Pachos F R Aug. 3, 1985 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
10 Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis F R Oct. 1, 1984 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
12 Dimitrios Malamas F R May 12, 1973 Aris Thessaloniki
13 Ioannis Koufis F R Jun. 28, 1965 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
17 Panagiotis Koulouris LW L Sep. 2, 1983 Aris Thessaloniki
19 Georgios Kalyvas F L Dec. 6, 1978 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
21 Dimitrios Kalyvas F L Dec. 11, 1973 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
22 Kyriakos Adamidis F L Dec. 03, 1990 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
Defencemen
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Club
5 Nikolaos Chatzigiannis D L Jan. 30, 1978 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
9 Ioannis Ziakas D L Jul. 31, 1972 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
11 Orestis Tilios D L Nov. 7, 1974 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
14 Diogenis Souras D R Sep. 8, 1986 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
15 Antonis Kanellis D L May 29, 1991 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
24 Nikolaos Papadopoulos D R Dec. 22, 1987 PAOK Thessaloníki HC
16 Marios Libertos D R Jun. 14, 1970 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Goaltenders
# Player Position Catches Date of birth Club
1 Georgios Fiotakis G L Jan. 25, 1971 Albatros Athens
25 Dalibor Ploutsis G L Nov. 15, 1976 Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai
Staff
Title Staff Member
Head Coach Igor Apostolidis
Assistant Coach Panagiotis Efkarpidis
Team Leader Nikos Bliagos
Staff Georgia Proimou

World Championship record
YearLocationResult
1992Johannesburg, South AfricaBronze in Pool C2 (29th)
1993Ankara, Turkey2nd in Pool C qualifying Group 4 (NR)
1995Johannesburg, South Africa9th place in Pool C2 (38th)
1996Metula, Israel3rd in Pool D qualifying Group 2 (NR)
1998Krugersdorp / Pretoria, South Africa8th place in Pool D (40th)
1999Krugersdorp, South Africa8th place in Pool D (39th)
2008Luxembourg City, Luxembourg5th place in Div III (45th)
2009Dunedin, New Zealand4th place in Div III (44th)
2010Kockelscheuer, LuxembourgSilver in Group B of Division III (43rd)
2011Cape Town, South Africa5th place in Division III (45th)
2012Erzurum, Turkey5th place in Division III (45th)
2013Cape Town, South Africa5th place in Division III (45th)

All-time Record against other nations

As of April 21, 2013[3]

TeamGPWTLGFGA
 Turkey93063655
 Bosnia and Herzegovina1100101
 Armenia*110050
 Georgia1100130
 Mongolia3300197
 Ireland41031417
 Iceland110086
 Luxembourg72051745
 Israel51041359
 New Zealand41031622
 Belgium2011719
 North Korea3003518
 Australia1001210
 Lithuania1001120
 South Africa5005850
 Spain4004342
 United Arab Emirates3201116
Total5517137187372

Note: Greece was awarded a 5–0 victory over Armenia in the 2008 IIHF World Championship Division III Qualification after Armenia forfeited the game due to player eligibility issues. The score of the game was originally an 8–5 for Greece.

All-time Record against other clubs

As of December 15, 2007[3]

TeamGPWTLGFGA
HC Brod1001212
HC Hradiště1001115
HC Veteraní1001515
HC Popelkou101077
HC Hamag Zlín100119
Total50141658

2010 World Championship

The Greece national ice hockey team competed in the 2010 IIHF World Championship Division III which was held in Luxembourg from April 14- April 17. The team was successful in winning the silver medal; gold went to Ireland and the host country Luxembourg won bronze

April 14
16:30		Greece 7–1
(2–1, 1–0, 4–0)		 United Arab EmiratesPatinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 131
April 15
16:30		Greece 1–3
(1–0, 0–3, 0–0)		 IrelandPatinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 102
April 17
20:00		Luxembourg 1–2
(0–0, 0–1, 1–1)		 GreecePatinoire de Kockelscheuer
Attendance: 1,150

1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships Group C2

Here are the Results of Team Greece's first medal winning championship in 1992.

March 21, 1992Turkey 3:15 GreeceJohannesburg, South Africa
March 23, 1992Luxembourg 5:9 GreeceJohannesburg, South Africa
March 24, 1992Greece 1:10 SpainJohannesburg, South Africa
March 26, 1992South Africa 9:4 GreeceJohannesburg, South Africa
March 27, 1992Greece 7:4 IsraelJohannesburg, South Africa

Qualification-

December 6, 1992Greece 10:2 TurkeyTurkey
December 7, 1992Israel 8:1 GreeceTurkey
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gollark: I do have an archive of all my pastes there, but if they do kill it completely I'll have to fix a lot of stuff.
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References
  1. "IIHF Men's World Ranking". IIHF. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  2. Game over for National Team
  3. "Greece-Men-All-Time-Results-1.pdf" (PDF). National Teams of Ice Hockey. 15 January 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
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