Belgium will return to Division II Group A for the first time since 2019 following a dominant performance at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B tournament.
The Belgians went undefeated and allowed just four goals against, with Jelle Lievens, the tournament’s Top Goaltender, collecting shutouts against Turkey and New Zealand. Belgium controlled the scoring race as well, with all but one player on the roster registering at least one point and multiple players reaching double digits. Sam Verelst, who led the tournament in scoring with five goals and nine assists, was named the tournament’s Top Forward.
Belgium never allowed more than 15 shots on net per game. Bulgaria only managed to get seven shots on Lievens as Belgium cruised to an 11-1 win, helped by hat tricks from Verelst and captain Vadim Gyesbreghs. Belgium’s 8-1 rout of Chinese Taipei featured a hat trick for another Belgian player, Iniaz Steyaert.
Georgia had an opportunity to upset Belgium on the final day of competition, and it looked promising for Georgia early on, with Oliver Obologogiani and Ivan Shvetsov giving them a 2-0 lead in the first period. Belgium responded with four unanswered goals however, including two from Gyesbreghs scored just 28 seconds apart, to win 4-2.
New Zealand took the silver medal after finishing off the podium in 2023, their losses being the 6-0 fall to Belgium and a riveting 7-6 shootout loss to Bulgaria, in which both teams took advantage of a plethora of power play opportunities. Bulgaria led 4-2 at the end of a back-and-forth first period, scoring three with the player advantage (with one of New Zealand’s goals coming on the power play). Bulgaria continued to advance their lead to 6-4 in the second period, with yet another power play goal just 31 seconds in. New Zealand owned the third however, outshooting Bulgaria 17-6. Stefan Amston, the tournament’s Top Defender, scored twice, beating the buzzer to tie the game and force overtime. But Bulgaria won in the shootout with a perfect record, scoring three goals and saving all three of New Zealand’s attempts.
Nineteen-year-old Jackson Fontaine had an impressive World Championship debut, following up his eight goal performance at this year’s Division III Group A U20 World Championship with seven goals for the senior team in Bulgaria. Fontaine scored his first in New Zealand’s opening 5-1 win over Chinese Taipei and shone in the team’s 6-2 win over Georgia and 5-2 win over Turkey.
Georgia ended up with the bronze, with three wins and losses to New Zealand and Belgium. Seven different goal scorers led Georgia to an opening 7-1 win over Bulgaria, while captain Ivan Karelin stood out in their wins over Turkey and Chinese Taipei. Down 2-0 against Turkey at the halfway mark, Karelin scored three unanswered goals to give his team a 3-2 win. A game changer against Chinese Taipei, Karelin broke a 1-1 tie in the first period and a 3-3 tie in the third period to help his team to an eventual 6-4 win.
Bulgaria and Chinese Taipei were kept off the podium in fourth and fifth place. Bulgaria managed just one win in regular time, a 5-1 victory over Turkey, with their 7-6 shootout win over New Zealand giving them valuable points.
Just one other game of the tournament required extra time, with Chinese Taipei losing 5-4 to Turkey in a shootout. This was the only win of the tournament for Turkey, who wound up being relegated to Division III Group A for 2025. Chinese Taipei gave up a 3-0 lead, with Turkey climbing their way back (despite a fourth goal for Chinese Taipei in the third period) and eventually tying the game with less than four minutes remaining in regular time thanks to Ege Odabas. Turkish goalie Tolga Bozaci and Chinese Taipei goalie Po-Yu Hsiao both had strong performances in the 11 round shootout, with Ismet Eren Gokcen scoring the game winner for Turkey.
Chinese Taipei avoided relegation on the final day with their first and only win of the tournament, a 4-3 showing against Bulgaria. While Bulgaria opened scoring, Chinese Taipei led 3-2 with mere minutes remaining. Bulgaria’s first attempt at pulling their goalie resulted in an empty net goal for Chinese Taipei. They tried once more after the face-off at centre ice, with Georgi Iskrenov scoring with 30 seconds remaining, but Chinese Taipei held on for the win.