March is traditionally packed with international hockey action, and right after the end of the IIHF U18 Division IIB World Championship in Spain, our interest shifted to Kohtla-Jarve, Estonia. On Sunday, the Israel women’s team kicked off its campaign in the IIHF Women’s Division IIIB World Championship.
Our ladies are relatively new to the sport; the current tournament is only their third, but they have already secured an international victory. The feat was achieved last year on the home soil of OneIce Arena in Tnuvot when they beat Bosnia & Herzegovina 4-1. And now, Danill Eliseev’s team is looking for more glory in the company of well-known European rivals, Estonia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, and two South-East Asian newcomers to this stage, Thailand and Singapore.
Thailand was the opponent on the opening day. The team may be new to the World Championship program, but its ice hockey can boast some history. After all, Thailand has been an IIHF member since 1989, two years before Israel, and its women’s team has taken part in regional competitions for almost ten years. So, it would have been premature to jump to any conclusions while trying to predict who would be the master and the understudy in this game. And, in fact, Thailand’s greater experience played its role as our ladies suffered a 4-0 defeat.
In the second game, on Tuesday against Bosnia & Herzegovina, it was a different story even though the encounter did not start as planned. At the halfway mark, the Bosnians were 3-0 up, and it looked like another defeat was imminent for Israel. And then came a magical turnaround inspired by Lior Leshem, one of the new faces in our team.
She just turned 15 last December, and this tournament presented her with the first opportunity to taste international hockey, but Lior definitely didn’t need too much time to adapt to the new level. Being a defender by trade, she decided to test her luck at the other end. And what a successful test it proved to be!
In the 33rd minute, Leshem smashed home a powerful shot from distance, starting an epic comeback. Three minutes later, in a power play, she found herself unmarked in front of the net and needed no further invitation to cut the deficit to the minimum. 3-2 after 40 minutes, and everything to play for in the final stanza.
Another power play helped to level the score in the 49th minute – this time Pnina Basov took the plaudits, adding a goal to an assist she had in Leshem’s second goal. And with seven and a half minutes remaining, Wonder Girl Lior completed her hat-trick with another powerful and precise blast.
Thus, in the short history of the Israeli women’s team, there is one hat-trick and two victories, both at the expense of Bosnia & Herzegovina. With two more games to play this week, our ladies will be looking for some winning diversity.