Skien 2024: Norway clinch B-Pool gold in a final for the ages

Talk about saving the best until last. Norway managed to beat Germany in the final match of the Skien 2024 Para Ice Hockey World Championships B-Pool, securing gold in overtime after a 4-3 win that sends both sides back into the top pool. 

Varnes the hero in gold medal game thriller

Morten Varnes is the man who will receive all of the plaudits after an overtime goal edged Norway past Germany, but all who took to the ice delivered a world class spectacle.

In a tie that saw the lead change hands multiple times, Varnes swept home in overtime to clinch a 4-3 win for the hosts and nail down their gold medal credentials. And as Norway captain Ola Oiseth said, “All those in A-Pool…watch out.” Because if this is anything to by, both sides are going with high ambitions. 

In front of a sizeable (and noisy) crowd, Norway fell behind to Joerg Wedde’s strike after four minutes, with Audun Bakke levelling things before the intermission. 

Norway would take the lead after the restart through Alexander Lyngroth’s hit, only for the lead to switch hands before we even made it to the third. Frank Rennhack levelled from close range before Player of the Tournament Bernhard Hering put Germany back in front. 

But cometh the hour, cometh the man. For Norway, Oiseth is a talismanic figure and he swept his way through the middle of the German outfit to lash home. And despite both sides going close – as well as a disallowed goal for Norway in the process – it was all square at the end of the third. And four minutes into the overtime, Oiseth sent Varnes clear to fire in and send the Skien Fritidspark wild. 

Oiseth, so often at the centre of proceedings in Norway colours, couldn’t hide his jubilation before trophy lift.

“Such a great feeling. I told you yesterday how much we wanted to give back to…fans, or family and friends! And it’s the best feeling I’ve had in a long time, it’s amazing.”

Despite the loss, Germany’s MVP Sven Stumpe knows that it’s a case of job done on their way back to the A-Pool:

“In the moment it’s not the best feeling because we thought we could win this game. But in all we are very happy as we are back in the A-Pool, which was our big thing. And next time we meet, I think we will beat them! We had some nice games with high results, and in the end this was really the important game. We lost, but we are happy now!” 

Sweden just behind in third

Sweden rounded off their B-Pool campaign by consolidating third spot thanks to victory by 12 goals to nil against Great Britain. 

Coming into this one after a hard-fought battle the night before against Norway, it was a relatively close first period that saw Sweden go into the intermission two up after strikes from Peter Ojala and Markus Lopez. In the second they added five more, Lopez with three more and one each from Robin Meng and Hugo Liljebaek. 

And they continued their dominance in the last 15 minutes, two more from Lopez taking his afternoon’s tally to six goals, Peter Nilsson striking twice and one more from Meng to consolidate a 12-0 win.

Reflecting on the week of work, Sweden captain Ojala was pleased with his squad and their work in securing the third spot they aimed for in advance.

“The goal was third place. We have a few people who are injured back in Sweden, a few new ones here. So third place is great. And I’m going to sleep a lot now! We will back in B-Pool next year, and we are going to try and take it to A-Pool. We’ll have a lot more guys and girls in our team,” Ojala said.

Kazakhstan end with successive wins

Kazakhstan finish a place behind Sweden in fourth spot after making it two wins in their final two matches in Skien. 

Coming up against a battling French side, three first period goals made the Kazakhstan’s remaining 30 minutes much more straight forward than they may have feared. Maxat Miyanov, Kuat Karipbayev and Aidos Toktarbayev found the net, with two more strikes coming after the break through Player of the Match Sundet Shormanov and another via the stick of Karipbayev. 

The final 15 saw Kazakhstan finish things off with the 7-0 success when Toktarbayev and Miyanov closed the tie off. France’s head coach David Lemetais remained full of pride for his side, with eyes on how they’ll remember this week.

“I’m very proud of the team and of each player. We’re gonna have a beer to celebrate, we’ll take time together, the players will enjoy the moment and we’ll see you next year,” said Lemetais.  

How did it all finish up?

Norway were almost faultless in Skien, leaving it to the final game to concede their first goals of the tournament. But it matters little, because they are gold medallists and heading back to the A-Pool. Germany are going with them, their only defeat coming in that final encounter.

Sweden finish third after three wins from their five matches, with Kazakhstan behind with a couple of wins against bottom two finishers, France and Great Britain. 

What’s next?

The B-Pool might be over, but we have just a few weeks to wait until the A-Pool puck drops! Taking place in Calgary, it’ll be battle out between USA, Canada, Czechia, China, South Korea, Italy, Japan and Slovakia.

Will anyone be able to surpass 2023 winners USA? The action kicks off on 4 May and runs until the 12th. You’ll be able to follow every second of that one live across the Paralympic Games YouTube and World Para Ice Hockey Facebook.