THE YEAR OF THE CAMELEON
01.05.2006
.... and so ... the tournament is over. The home team took gold after having to battle hard in all of it´s games. But if there is a unifying theme for the tournament, it is has too be the checkered performance of the participating teams. From the stanpoint of the locals, those well informed, felt that along with Turkey, the Luxemburg team, and even more probably Ireland would be a strong contender for gold. Armenia on the other hand was considered to be weak, and not a real contender for a medal.
The start of the tournament was the game between Armeina and Turkey. As often before, the first game is simply strange, chippy, slow with two travel weary teams. Turkey was victorious, and so preconseption was reinforced. Irelands first performance was dismal while Luxemburg gave Iceland a really hard time. Luxemburgs goaltender had a stellar performance against Iceland, and came close to securing a point for his team. But towards the very end of the game, Iceland managed to secure a victory against Luxemburg. Ireland again had a poor performance against Armenia while Armenia had a great day. Armenia skated and scored, at times it seemed, without much difficulty. Ireland did not show upp until their third game against Turkey, then Ireland played a conservative and defensive game, kept a close check on Turkey's top scorers and played a game of simple and smart hockey. The reward was a two to one lead late in the game. Turkey was fortunate to get the equalizer before the final whistle. In their fourth and final game Ireland took it to Luxemburg and handed them their fourth defeat with a 3 - 1 victory. Luxemburg had never recovered from loosing against Iceland in what in retrospect, was by far their best performance. But the story of the tournament is the Armenian team. Written off as the underdog the team surprised everyone with a convincing victory over Ireland (6 - 0). In their third game, Armenia jumped to a 2 - 0 lead against the host team, followed by a 3 - 2 lead early in the third period. But eventually Armenia had to accept a 4 - 5 loss. In their last game Armenia beat Luxemburg handily with a historical comeback from a 4 - 1 first period deficit to a 6 - 10 victory. After three consecutive victories Iceland faced off against Turkey. Turkey had 5 points after victories against Luxemburg and Armenia and a tie against Ireland. Iceland had 6 points after victories against Luxemburg, Ireland and Armenia, the game against Armenia being by far the most difficult one. In the final game Iceland seemed motivated by tremendous force and fought to a convincing 9 - 0 victory against Turkey. The final game ended with a 9 - 0 score capping a convincing performance of the home side, who after all had by far the most consistent performance of all the teams in this "the year of the Cameleon."
The start of the tournament was the game between Armeina and Turkey. As often before, the first game is simply strange, chippy, slow with two travel weary teams. Turkey was victorious, and so preconseption was reinforced. Irelands first performance was dismal while Luxemburg gave Iceland a really hard time. Luxemburgs goaltender had a stellar performance against Iceland, and came close to securing a point for his team. But towards the very end of the game, Iceland managed to secure a victory against Luxemburg. Ireland again had a poor performance against Armenia while Armenia had a great day. Armenia skated and scored, at times it seemed, without much difficulty. Ireland did not show upp until their third game against Turkey, then Ireland played a conservative and defensive game, kept a close check on Turkey's top scorers and played a game of simple and smart hockey. The reward was a two to one lead late in the game. Turkey was fortunate to get the equalizer before the final whistle. In their fourth and final game Ireland took it to Luxemburg and handed them their fourth defeat with a 3 - 1 victory. Luxemburg had never recovered from loosing against Iceland in what in retrospect, was by far their best performance. But the story of the tournament is the Armenian team. Written off as the underdog the team surprised everyone with a convincing victory over Ireland (6 - 0). In their third game, Armenia jumped to a 2 - 0 lead against the host team, followed by a 3 - 2 lead early in the third period. But eventually Armenia had to accept a 4 - 5 loss. In their last game Armenia beat Luxemburg handily with a historical comeback from a 4 - 1 first period deficit to a 6 - 10 victory. After three consecutive victories Iceland faced off against Turkey. Turkey had 5 points after victories against Luxemburg and Armenia and a tie against Ireland. Iceland had 6 points after victories against Luxemburg, Ireland and Armenia, the game against Armenia being by far the most difficult one. In the final game Iceland seemed motivated by tremendous force and fought to a convincing 9 - 0 victory against Turkey. The final game ended with a 9 - 0 score capping a convincing performance of the home side, who after all had by far the most consistent performance of all the teams in this "the year of the Cameleon."