Ireland national ice hockey team

Team Ireland is the National Squad run by the Irish Ice Hockey Association. The team gained promotion to Division II of the International Ice Hockey Federation in 2007, but after being pointless in their Division II debut, the team has been relegated to Division III. [http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/romania-promoted-to-div-i.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=218&cHash=9c67c34c47] The team is comprised of members from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and has a working relationship with the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League and new Irish clubs, Flyers Ice Hockey Club and Dundalk Bulls.

History

The Republic of Ireland was accepted into the International Ice Hockey Federation in May 1996 after a nomination by Great Britain and a second by Canada. They have not had a long history of international competition, with the Ireland senior team first competing in 2004.

*First match: March 16, 2004: Reykjavík, Iceland: ih|MEX 8-3 flagicon|IRE Ireland
*Largest victory: March 8, 2005: Mexico City, Mexico: flagicon|IRE Ireland 23-1 ih|ARM
*Largest defeat: April 11, 2008: Miercurea Ciuc, Romania: ih|ROM 21-1 flagicon|IRE Ireland

IIHF World Ranking

In the IIHF World Ranking, Ireland is ranked 40th out of 46 as of 2008.

International Competition

(statistics, standings, and results taken from the IIHF [http://www.iihf.com/hockey/tournam/tournaments.htm#] IIHF Tournament Page)

2004 IIHF Ice Hockey Division III World Championships Reykjavík, Iceland

Game 1. Ireland 3 Mexico 8
Game 2. Armenia 1 Ireland 15
Game 3. Ireland 1 Iceland 7
Game 4. Turkey 7 Ireland 4

Final Result: Fourth Place, One Win, Three Losses for 2 points, 23 Goals For, 23 Goals Against

2005 IIHF Ice Hockey Division III World Championships Mexico City, Mexico

Game 1. Ireland 23 Armenia 1
Game 2. Luxembourg 8 Ireland 4
Game 3. Ireland 4 South Africa 5
Game 4. Mexico 6 Ireland 1
Final Result: Fourth Place, One Win, Three Losses for 2 points, 32 Goals For, 20 Goals Against

2006 IIHF Ice Hockey Division III World Championships Reykjavík, Iceland

Game 1. Ireland 0 Armenia 6
Game 2. Iceland 8 Ireland 0
Game 3. Turkey 2 Ireland 2
Game 4. Ireland 3 Luxembourg 1
Final Result: Fourth Place, One Win, Two Losses, One Tie for 3 points, 5 Goals For, 17 Goals Against

2007 IIHF Ice Hockey Division III World Championships Dundalk, Ireland

Game 1. Ireland 11 Mongolia 0
Game 2. Ireland 2 New Zealand 4
Game 3. Ireland 3 South Africa 1
Game 4. Ireland 4 Luxembourg 3 [OT)
Final Result: Second Place Two Wins, One Overtime Win, One Loss for 8 points, 20 Goals For, 8 Goals Against [Team Ireland are Promoted to Division II of the IIHF World Championships]

2008 IIHF Ice Hockey Division II World Championships Miercurea Ciuc, Romania

Game 1. Ireland 1 Serbia 13
Game 2. Ireland 4 Bulgaria 7
Game 3. Ireland 1 Belgium 9
Game 4. Ireland 1 Romania 21
Game 5. Ireland 1 Israel 7
Final Result: Sixth Place Zero Wins, Five Losses for 0 points, 8 Goals For, 57 Goals Against [Team Ireland is relegated to the 2009 IIHF World Championship Div III]

Notable Personnel

* Jim Tibbets - Head Coach (former General Manager of the French national ice hockey team)
* Scott Fusco - Assistant Coach (Harvard Crimson hockey player, class of '86, American national men's hockey team 1984 Olympic Member)

Future

Early in 2007 Team Ireland moved their headquarters to the Dundalk Ice Dome. It is envisaged that the Ice Dome will become a centre of excellence for ice hockey in the Republic of Ireland and it was here that Team Ireland took silver in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships Division III and gained promotion to Division II.

References

[http://www.iihf.com/hockey/tournam/tournaments.htm# IIHF tournament page] [http://www.iiha.org/news/news_35.html IIHA Website News]

External links

* [http://www.iiha.org/ Irish Ice Hockey Association Homepage]
* [http://www.iihf.com/index.shtml International Ice Hockey Federation Homepage]
* [http://www.belfastgiants.com/ Belfast Giants Homepage]
* [http://www.dundalkbulls.com/ Dundalk Bulls]
* [http://www.bcbruins.co.uk/ Belfast City Bruins]
* [http://www.flyersicehockey.com]
* [http://www.dublinrams.com]