Poland and Great Britain will return to the World Cup next year.
Eishockey, Länderspiel, Polen – Ungarn BYTOM 21.04.2023 MECZ TOWARZYSKI HOKEJ NA LODZIE – Ice hockey, Eishockey FRIENDLY MATCH POLSKA – WEGRY POLAND – HUNGARY MACIEJ MIARKA FOT. MICHAL CHWIEDUK / FOKUSMEDIA.COM.PL / NEWSPIX.PL — Newspix.pl PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxPOL 230421CHW014 PDO
Poland and Great Britain will play in the main series of the Ice Hockey World Cup in the spring of 2024.
For Poland, the really long wait ended. The red and whites last played in the World Cup in 2002. After that, Poland played year after year in the 1st division of the World Cup.
In this year’s 1st division games, Poland finished second. It won four of its five matches and lost one match in overtime. With 13 points, he took second place in the wake of the tournament’s host country, Great Britain.
Great Britain secured promotion in a thrilling final match against Italy. The match had a huge stake: The winner rises, the loser is disappointed. Great Britain won the tight match 5–3 in the end.
Great Britain is returning to the World Cup after a year off. Before that, it appeared in three races in a row.
Great Britain is the medal runner-up in hockey statistics. There you can find Olympic gold and a world championship, although the medals are from the 1936 Games.
Poland has not been profiled as a strange hockey country either, but older fans of the sport remember that in the NHL it was tough Krzysztof Oliwan. He played 410 games in nine seasons. As a counterbalance to 45 (17+28) power points, Oliwa collected a whopping 1,447 minutes on the ice.
Krzysztof Oliwa in his element. Picture from the 2005 1st division games. EPA / AOP