Per Kasperi led Sweden to victory over Poland on Day 1 of the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia. © • Dule Babovic

Related Videos

Novi Sad 2012: Russia-Netherlands

Novi Sad 2012: Sweden-Poland

Related News

Russia defeat Sweden for sledge hockey gold

Related Features

Poland: Sitting volleyball to ice sledge hockey

Germany’s Disveld wins against his home country

“It’s good for us that the next Games will be in Sochi. We’re now encouraged by this result, as we have a mindset to compete with the world’s best in our own country in Sochi.”

What we learned

After just starting up their programme two years ago, Russia have already become one of the elite ice sledge hockey teams in the world with less than a year and a half to go until they host the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Russia outscored their opponents 20-2 in Novi Sad, recording nearly one-third of the 61 goals scored on the ice throughout the entire tournament.

The Russians, coached by Sergey Samoylov, are able to practice together almost 200 days out of the year, making their team chemistry one of the best. Couple that with their speed, agility and aggression on the ice, and they could be a dark horse to medal not only at next year’s A Pool World Championships in Korea, but also at Sochi 2014.

“It’s good for us that the next Games will be in Sochi,” Samoylov said. “We’re now encouraged by this result, as we have a mindset to compete with the world’s best in our own country in Sochi.”

Meanwhile, after having medalled at every Paralympics from 1994-2002 but missing the podium every time after that, we learned that Sweden could be back in the spotlight for good.

Despite many of their top players being fairly young, Sweden are not a team to look over. The team only allowed four goals in Novi Sad and are now headed back to the A Pool with their heads held high.

Many fans in Novi Sad also kept a close eye on Austria, who were participating in their first IPC event after starting their programme in 2011. Although they only scored two goals in total at the Championships, Austria has potential to become a well-established programme within the next few years.

Under the leadership of head coach Zdenek Vanek – father of NHL star Thomas Vanek – rising star Sandro Kalegaris, 23, showcased his quickness and superb shot on the ice throughout the week. If Vanek’s able to find the pieces to put around him on the ice, he could build up a top team by the next Paralympic Games cycle.

Best game

Without a doubt, Russia’s 3-2 win over Germany in a shootout on Day 2 of the Championships was a highlight of the week. The Russian side were very nervous in their World Championship debut, but thanks to Dmitry Lisov’s two goals during regulation they kept the score even to force and overtime period and then a shootout.

Several shots nearly found the back of the net during the shootout, but it was Russia’s Ilya Volkov who had the only successful attempt, giving his team their first win of the week.

Biggest shock

Everybody was highly anticipating Sweden’s semi-final matchup with Germany, though many were surprised to see the former come away with a 3-0 victory and move on to the finals.

The first two periods were scoreless, though Germany were the ones to come out aggressive and strong from the get-go. Yet Sweden came alive in the third period, recording seven shots on goal and scoring on three of those attempts to pull out the victory.

Top performers

Engeny Petrov (Russia): While Russia proved they have a variety of options on the ice, it was Petrov who proved himself as a clutch player down the stretch. During the tournament, he scored four times and recorded 16 shots on goal, with his most important shot coming as the only goal scored in the gold-medal game against Sweden.

Per Kasperi (Sweden): Nineteen-year-old, Kasperi has quite the future ahead of him in ice sledge hockey. Everybody saw major improvements in Kasperi since he competed at the Vancouver 2010 Games, as he led his team with six goals and 26 shots on goal in Novi Sad. For a small, young athlete, he definitely does not go unnoticed by his opponents anymore on the ice.

Sebastian Kessler (Germany): The Germans were able to dominate their bronze-medal game against Poland thanks to Kessler, who scored three of their goals on 12 of his attempts in their final contest. In total he had four scores and 21 shots on goal during the tournament, and he seemed to always be where the puck was.

Sylwester Flis (Poland): As Poland’s player-coach and ice sledge hockey veteran, Flis led his team with five goals and 13 shots on goal, in addition to his top play on the defensive end in the squad’s win against Austria.

Michael Ten Hoeve (Netherlands): The Dutchman earned Player of the Game honours three times during the Championships, and finished the tournament with two scores and 19 shots on goal – 14 of those shots coming in the fifth-place game against Austria.

Sandro Kalegaris (Austria): The 23-year-old forward scored Austria’s first two goals at an IPC event and is the star of their new programme. With a bright future ahead of him, Kalegaris will now try to lead Austria in their path to try to compete with some of the world’s best.

Road to Sochi 2014

The ice sledge hockey teams will now compete in the A and B Pool World Championships next spring, as they try to qualify for Sochi 2014. The top five finishers from the A Pool World Championships will qualify, while the bottom three finishers will be sent to the qualification tournament later next year to face the top three finishers from the B Pool World Championships. Two or three teams will advance to Sochi 2014 from there, depending on where Russia finishes, as they will automatically qualify as the host nation.

“The IPC Scientific Award allows the Paralympic community to honour someone who has made great strides in helping us further expand the knowledge behind the science of Paralympic sport and encourages further studies in this area.”

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) opened nominations on Friday (16 November) for the highly prestigious IPC Scientific Award, which will presented at next May’s VISTA Conference in Bonn, Germany.

The award is given in recognition of one academic researcher for his or her contribution to research in the field of sports for people with an impairment.

IPC members and IPC Governing Board members, Sport Technical Committees and IPC Standing Committees and Councils can all submit nominations.

Peter Van de Vliet, IPC Medical and Scientific Director, said: “The IPC Scientific Award allows the Paralympic community to honour someone who has made great strides in helping us further expand the knowledge behind the science of Paralympic sport and encourages further studies in this area.”

Lucas van der Woude, Professor at the Centre of Movement Sciences at the University of Groningen’s Medical Centre in the Netherlands, won the last edition of the award presented in September 2011.

Van der Woude won the award for his work on the restoration of mobility during the rehabilitation of patients with spinal-cord injuries. He organised four different congresses in Amsterdam to bring together researcher and had worked on optimising manual wheelchair propulsion, both in the general wheelchair population and among athletes.

The deadline to submit nominations for the next edition of the award is 1 February 2013.

More information and details on how to submit nominations can be found at www.vista2013.com.

Russia's Vadim Selyukin decided to give his Player of the Game award to goalkeeper Vladimir Kamantcev. © • Dusan Babovic Sweden's ice sledge hockey team finished in second place at the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships B-Pool in Novi Sad, Serbia. © • Dusan Babovic

Related News

Sweden’s Kasperi nets hat trick to open sledge Worlds

Related Features

Germany’s Disveld wins against his home country

"I just hope we can continue to get better and win this tournament to move up to the A Pool."

The second day of action at the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships on Wednesday (14 November) certainly did not disappoint, as Russia defeated Germany, 3-2, in a shootout between two tournament favourites.

Russia and Germany were all tied up at two goals apiece at the end of regulation, and after a scoreless overtime, Ilya Volkov scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Russians the win.

Vadim Selyukin, Russia's team captain, was given the Player of the Game award afterwards, but he opted to put it on the neck of goalkeeper Vladimir Kamantcev, who recorded 15 saves on the day and did not allow the puck in the net during the shootout.

Dmitry Lisvo led Russia with six shots on goal, scoring the team's two goals during regulation in the first and third periods.

He said the team showcased their first major step of progress toward the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games on Wednesday, as they outshot Germany, 23-17.

"It felt so good to win that game," Lisov said, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

"I just hope we can continue to get better and win this tournament to move up to the A Pool."

Robert Pabst and Udo Segreff had four shots on goal apiece for Germany, while Sebastian Kessler and Jorg Wedde each had three. Two of Pabst's shots - at the 11:03 and 16:04 marks - found the back of the net to give Germany some fuel, though it did not prove to be enough.

In the nightcap, Sweden beat Austria by a score of 6-1, as five different Swedish players scored in the game.

Niklas Rakos scored on two of his four attempts for Sweden, while Rasmus Lundgren netted one of his game-high 10 shots on goal. Per Kasperi, Markus Holmand Anders Wistran also put points on the board.

Sandro Kalegaris' goal was the first-ever score for Austria's programme at an IPC event, as this is the first major international tournament the team has ever taken part in. Kalegaris led Austria with four shots on goal.

The third day of play on Thursday will begin with Poland facing Austria at 17:00 and the Netherlands challenging Russia at 20:00. Germany and Sweden will both have practice days.

“The easiest way to do this sport on a top team for me is in Germany.”

Bas Disveld was easily one of the keys to Germany’s 2-0 win over the Netherlands to open up the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia on Tuesday (13 November).

The veteran player scored the first goal for the winning side and recorded six of the team’s 22 shots on goal.

But all of that was against his own country.

Disveld is actually Dutch, but he has been a part of Germany’s national ice sledge hockey team since 2002, as that is the nation he now resides in.

As long as both country’s programmes are fine with it – which they are – there is no issue with Disveld playing for Germany.

“I know all of them very well,” Disveld said of the Dutch players. “Of course it’s fun to play against them.”

Living in Achim, it is more convenient for Disveld to play for Germany rather than travel the hours it takes to get home to the Netherlands just for a training session.

“The easiest way to do this sport on a top team for me is in Germany,” Disveld said.

“I’ve talked about it with family and friends, and they have told me it’s the best way to do it. They know it, and they’re ok with it.”

Disveld does play with some Dutch clubs in local events, though, when they are in need of players, however he is not allowed to be a part of their national team in any of their tournaments.

As for his time on the international stage, Disveld was a part of Germany’s squad that finished fourth at the Torino 2006 Paralympic Games and that won the 2007 European Championships.

Since he joined the national team six years after being involved in a car accident, he has scored 22 goals and recorded 17 assists for them.

Those are just numbers for him now, with the one future goal being to qualify for Sochi 2014 to make it back to the Paralympic Games.

“We need more practice, and we hope when we go to the A Pool that we can do well and qualify,” Disveld said.

Germany will now face Russia on Wedesday (14 November) at 17:00 in their second pool-play game in Novi Sad.

Germany's Udo Segreff, left, and the Netherlands' Arthur Overtoom battle it out on the ice in Novi Sad. © • Dule Babovic

Related Features

Germany’s road to Sochi 2014 starts in Novi Sad

“You can’t describe what it felt like to score all three goals, it was just awesome.”

Sweden topped Poland and Germany defeated the Netherlands to open up the first day of action at the 2012 IPC Ice Sledge Hockey B Pool World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia on Tuesday (13 November).

Per Kasperi provided the highlight of the day, netting a hat trick to lead Sweden to a 3-2 victory over Poland, who are led by player-coach Sylwester Flis, Most Valuable Player from the 2002 Paralympics.

At 19, Kasperi is the second youngest player on a Swedish squad looking to qualify for Sochi 2014, and he carried the team on his shoulders on Day 1 in Novi Sad, scoring early and often for the winning side.

“We played as we were supposed to,” Kasperi said. “You can’t describe what it felt like to score all three goals, it was just awesome.”

Meanwhile, in the first game, Germany beat the Netherlands, 2-0, with strong play from 10-year veteran Bas Disveld to help the squad break open a scoreless game in the third period.

Germany went into the contest the heavy favourites, but the Dutch kept the game a 0-0 tie until midway through the final period when Disveld found the back of the net. Just a couple of minutes later Sebastian Kessler scored to seal Germany’s win.

“We had a very hard game against the Netherlands,” Disveld said. “After two periods where we scored no goals we had a lot of the pressure on us so were very happy when we scored the first goal.”

“We didn’t expect it to be so tough. It was very hard.”

But the stats say otherwise, as the Germans outshot the Dutch, 22-8, in the matchup, with Disveld and Kessler both recording six shots on goal.

Michael Ten Hoeve had five of the Netherlands’ shots on goal.

Earlier in the day, Tom Koester, a member of the IPC Ice Sledge Hockey Sport Technical Committee, gave the speech during the Opening Ceremony at Novi Sad’s Park Hotel.

Koester commented: “These Championships mark the start of the final countdown of events ahead of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, which are now less than 500 days away.

“Performances here in Novi Sad will go a long way in indicating which teams we could see on the ice in Sochi, not to mention next year’s IPC Ice Sledge Hockey A Pool World Championships in Goyang City, Korea.”

The Championships will continue on Wednesday with two more pool play games. Russia will face Germany at 17:00 and Austria will go up against Sweden at 20:00. Poland and the Netherlands will have practice days.