(03.10.05) March is upon us, and with it, my favourite time of year on the sports calendar. Even with no NHL to keep the masses occupied during what would be the playoff run right about now, there is still plenty to entertain me. No, it's not the NCAA basketball and accompanying March Madness that stirs the pot for me, nor is it the overpaid professionals of the NBA that causes me to pause on my way up and down the TV dial (if my TV had a dial, that is). Is it the crack of the bats one can hear around south Florida as 30 baseball teams not playing in Montreal gear up for the upcoming season that entice me so? No, good people, it is something even better.
As I type this, Mexico is preparing for what should be an intense match against South Africa in a tournament being played on Mexico's home turf in the Distrito Federal. The Mexicans are coming off of a close 2-0 victory over Luxembourg on March 7, while South Africa defeated Armenia on that same day. Ireland rounds out the five-team tournament. Why am I informing you of this, you may ask? Because this isn't soccer I'm talking about here. No, it is the 2005 IIHF Division III World Championship...of ice hockey.
Mexico always seems to be the host of one major international tourney a year, thus confirming its hotbed status of Canada's national sport (and you thought it would be New Zealand, didn't you?). They previously hosted the 2005 Under 20 Division III Championship (aka, the 'D' Pool) in January, a tournament won by host Mexico, who coasted to a perfect 5-0-0 record over such ice hockey juggernauts as Iceland, Turkey and, yes, those dastardly Kiwis.
Mexico's meteoric rise up the hockey rankings will depend on how they do against the mighty South Africans. That afore-mentioned victory over Armenia, where the Soviet Red Army hockey team clearly never exerted their influence in the days when Armenia was under the yoke of the USSR, was an ugly one, the final score being 33-1. Yes, 33-1. Let's take a look at this for a second. There were some NFL teams this year that didn't score 33 goals. Heck, that's half the amount of goals the Bee Sharps have scored all year. Yes, 33-1. South Africa opened the scoring 1:10 into the first period, a period in which they scored 11 goals, outshooting Armenia 21-2.
The South Africans scored six more times before the halfway mark of the second period, when they decided that the first period onslaught on their goaltender, Gary Bock, had battered him, and so in went his goaltending namesake Ashley Bock to try and stave off the Armenian assault. Ashley failed in his quest, however. With just 52 seconds to play in the game, and South Africa clinging tenaciously to a 33-0 lead, Simon Yeghyayan slipped one past Ashley Bock, a goal since called "The Shot Heard Round Yerevan". South Africa managed to stem the uncoming tide, and held on for the victory. The final shots tally was 59-5, in favour of South Africa (no, really). Michael Fraquet was Darryl Sittler for a day, registering 10 points (4G, 6A), and finishing the game +12. The sound you hear is that of NHL scouts bristling. One really must question the sadistic nature of Armenian coach Gagik Vardanyan, though, who left poor Armen Lalayan in net for the entire game - clearly a holdover of the old Communist regime.
And this is just one game from one tournament, one of several IIHF tournaments that take place each spring to determine hockey bragging rights around the planet. Similar tournaments are gearing up in places such as Debrecen, Hungary, and Eindhoven, Holland. The dream, perhaps one day, is for a true World Cup of Hockey to take place, featuring the top 32 hockey nations on Earth, as is done in soccer. I can see it now : the opening match of the 2012 World Cup between Canada and Armenia, with a ceremonial puck drop by Armenian-Canadian film director Atom Egoyan. One word of advice for the bettors : bet the over on that one.
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