Head coach Igor Apostolidis Captain Dimitrios Kalyvas Top scorer Dimitrios Kalyvas (26) Location Greece | Assistants Panagiotis Efkarpidis Most games Orestis Tilios (30) Most points Dimitrios Kalyvas (49) | |
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Association Hellenic Ice Sports Federation | ||
The Greek National Ice Hockey Team (Greek: Εθνική Ελλάδος Χόκεϊ επί πάγου) is the national ice hockey team of Greece, and as a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation competed in the third division of the Ice Hockey World Championships. Currently Greece is unable to compete in IIHF championships because they cannot fulfill the minimum standard of having one operational indoor rink.
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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 in the Peace and Friendship Stadium with five teams taking place. It was the first time hockey games were held in a normal size rink. 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 Greek 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 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.
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 World Championship programs until an Olympic sized ice rink is constructed in Greece.
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 Greece despite not having a rink. He later got 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 done 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.
All-time Record against other nations
As of May 25, 2009
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
1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships Group C2
Here are the Results of Team Greece's first medal winning championship in 1992.
Qualification-