World Para Ice Hockey Championships B-Pool
17-22 September

Ostersund 2021: Top six moments

The amazing goals, the newcomers and the best from five unforgettable game days at the World Championships B-Pool in Sweden 26 Sep 2021
Imagen
Para ice hockey players smiling and posing for a photo with the trophy and medals
Team China won the World Championships B-Pool in Ostersund in an incredible fashion with five wins in five games
ⒸKarl Nilsson/Parasport Sverige
By World Para Ice Hockey

Following five days of intense action, the World Para Ice Hockey Championships B-Pool wrapped up on Wednesday in Ostersund, Sweden crowing China as first-time champions promoted to the A-Pool together with Germany for the next season.

Now it is time to look back at the top six moments from a tournament that saw great performances, amazing saves and fantastic goals in front of a very enthusiastic audience at the Ostersund Arena.

Unstoppable China and Yi Feng Shen

In only its second appearance at the B-Pool Worlds, China went all the way to take the gold medal. They did it in an outstanding fashion winning all five matches in the round-robin system tournament. The Asian team scored incredible 61 goals conceding only two - both in the gold medal game against Germany.

The best forward of the tournament Yi Feng Shen scored four goals against the Germans. He put the puck in the back of the net on 14 occasions in Ostersund which made him the goal-scoring leader. He was second on the assist leaders list with 12 in total.

Seventh heaven for Schrader

Germany's forward Felix Schrader put on one of the best individual performances of the whole tournament against Poland on Game Day 4. The 24-year-old player from Hannover scored seven goals and assisted once in a 14-0 triumph.

Schrader, who took up the sport when he was 12 years old, was Germany's best player in Ostersund with 13 goals and three assists to his name. He almost repeated the performance from the Berlin 2019 World Championships B-Pool where he scored 14 goals.

Shootout win to end the tournament

Sweden and Japan went into the last game in Ostersund with all to play for. Both teams had six points in third and fourth place battling it out for the bronze medal and a spot in the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games Qualification Tournament later this year.

Yudai Ishikawa scored the opener for Japan in the second period, while Niklas Ingvarsson tied the game with only seven minutes to go in the last period. After a goalless overtime, Sweden won the exciting shootout mostly thanks to the goalie Ulf Nilsson who saved all three of the Japanese shots with Rasmus Lundgren scoring one for the hosts.

The wall Kamil Zgorzynski

Although Poland lost its five matches played in Ostersund conceding 50 goals altogether, their best player was the goalie Kamil Zgorzynski. He had 100 saves in four games played with a 73.53 per cent success rate.

Zgorzynski was the goalie with the most saves in the tournament with one less game played than his colleagues from other teams. Krzysztof Sekulski got the chance between the post against Germany in the fourth round.

Finland secures another B-Pool campaign

In its first appearance at the B-Pool level, Finland made history and secured the place in the competition for another season. Eemi Rovio scored Finland's first goal in the B-Pool Worlds against Germany, while Markku Vesikansa and captain Harri Kangastie delivered in the last round against Poland.

It was the most important game of the tournament for both teams as a defeat meant relegation to the C-Pool. Finland won 2-1 with Sylwester Flis scoring for Poland with two minutes to go in the third period and making it for a nail-biting finish.

Wonderful Ostersund

The Local Organising Committee in Ostersund provided all teams and spectators with an excellent tournament on and off the rink. The B-Pool Worlds was a test for January 2023 when Are and Ostersund will jointly host the 2023 World Para Snow Sports Championships.

With a population of about 60,000, Ostersund is known to be a winter sports hub, having also hosted the biathlon World Championships and the World Cup together with other major international winter events.