Change languageWelcome to the first U21 World Cup covers in mz history. I will try to bring the news from upcoming U21 World Cup during the tournament and hopefully you will enjoy it. The cover will be published first in our official facebook page and then will be translated to your language in mz news for the next day. We thank all our LAs in advance for bringing the world cup news in your language.
This is the 5th edition of U21 World Cup. Due to age restriction, all the nations have tighter competition than the senior tournaments and we will be witnessing another exciting tournament.
First, let's have a look at the cup's history briefly:
2008
The first 4 countries to reach the final-four in cup's history were Belgium, Brazil, Italy and Romania. Italy knocked out Romanians and Brazil won against Belgium, thus became the first countries ever be in the final of U21 WC.
Brazil managed to win the final, although the Italians managed tied the game in the first period. Brazilians became the first nation won U21 Hockey World Cup!
Meanwhile Romania beat Belgium after a tight game with a comeback and won the bronze medal at consolidation match.
The Romanians marked the top 10 scorers table with an impressive record: 7 out of top 10 and all top 5 scorers were from Romania!
2009
The two finalists of the previous cup, Brazil and Italy, faced each other in the second round in 2009. Brazil was gone this time as well as Romania in the same round and Belgium even earlier in the group phase. Quarter finals with only Italy left from previous final-four presented 4 new winner teams for semi-finals: Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and last European U21 Champion Poland.
The Swedes knocked out Finland, while Poland beat Czech Republic after two tight games. The new final would be between mz hockey's two top countries in mz ranking: Sweden and Poland.
Finland won the bronze medal after a breathtaking 3-2 match against Czech Republic. However, it would be the Czechs' turn to be proud of dominating first 5 spots in Best Scorers table.
The final match of 2009 World Cup would be even more breathtaking. Two giants' junior teams performed an unforgettable final. Sweden managed to tie the game in front of Poland from 3-1 to 3-3 just 5 minutes before the final whistle. So, the first extra time of U21 WC kicked out.
With Period #4 provided no winners, we went to 5th Period to see who would be the new world champion. It would be Rakoswki of Poland would say the last word in the cup at 89th minute: Poland was the new world champion for U21.
2010
Last world champion Poland's shocking exiting in the second round, Italy, Romania and Finland's being out in Quarter Finals, and Belgium's not being able to make it more than 2nd round, U21 World Cup proved one more time how much the tournament is keen to offer new winners.
U21 first world and ConFed's last champion Brazil, the silver medal winner of previous cup and last European champion Sweden, a brand new Spain would be in semi-finals along with Czech Republic who experienced final-four second time in a row.
The Czechs eliminated the Spanish with a net result. However, other leg of the semi-final wouldn't be that easy. The victory changed hands 3 times in the same match. Swedes took the first lead, then Brazilians equalized and then took the lead. Swedes stole back the lead one more time but Brazilians didn't give up until the very last seconds with a score 5-4. At the end Sweden marched up.
In the 3rd placement match Brazil lost to Spain with a big score and Spain won their first ever U21 WC medal.
It was their 2nd final in a row for Swedes, but first time ever for the Czechs. The match was again unforgettable. After 3-1 Sweden's lead, the Czechs managed to tie the game. Swedes took the lead one more time, and Czech tied it once again. 10 minutes before the final whistle, Cejpek's goal decided the new world champion: Czech Republic.
This time two players tied for the best scorer, a Brazilian with a Swedish one.
2011
The most shocking results of the cup were yet to come. 2011 offered many upsets and a breathtaking race. Former final-four contender Belgium, previous silver medal winner Spain, two times U21 WC finalist Sweden, and former champion Brazil were all long gone in group phase. None of them could make it to Best 16. More upset were yet to appear in WC scene though. Former bronze medal winner Finland was knocked out by another former bronze medal winner Romania, while ex-champion Poland was eliminated only in 2nd round by one time runner up Italy. Finally, last European champion Romania, as well, packed their luggage right at the Quarter Finals, and their tickets back home were stamped by same Italianos.
Italy as 2nd time and Czech Republic 3rd time in a row reached the semi-finals alongside with two brand new faces: England and last 2 ConFed champion, Argentina, who had been absent at the tops of U21 WC tournaments during first 3 editions.
The Argentinians got the largest victory in a U21 WC semi-final against Italy, while Czech Republic had no difficulty to beat England to proceed the final.
After a very tight game, the eager English won their first U21 medal (bronze) in front of Italy in WC 2011.
Now Czech Republic takes stage in the final the second time in a row, just like Sweden did last time. Would they share the same destiny with Sweden and went back home with a silver medal, or beat the fresh Argentina? Unstoppable Argentina marked the first easy victory in a U21 final with 4-0 against the Czechs and cup's tradition having a brand new champion in each edition remained intact. Argentina is the new U21 World Champion.
4 players tied for Best Scorer title: Chorbov of Bulgaria, Horsens of Denmark, Turak of Poland and Palomba of Italy.
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Hockey » English » ManagerZone talk
Views: 1752 Posts: 81
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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vince973k - 11-04-2012 17:36We will have two very nice games tonight, I'm waiting for a super show !
Showtime showtime showtime !!!
Make us dream :D
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Ant: 2012 U21 World Cup
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ijsdrieet - 11-04-2012 20:14
You're on day early, but let's stay excited till tommorow evening ;-)
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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krunkymunky - 12-04-2012 06:54
To show where the strength of the USA team came from, USA keeper Nunn had a save percentage of 93% in 5 games, including 3 shutouts.
Sadly our offense couldn't quite help him out very much. A shame, he just gained his 7th in stamina too and is unmaxed. (Future senior NT perhaps?)
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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mrblue74 - 12-04-2012 14:53I didn't calculated Nunn's save % yet, but I was almost sure he had one of two highest save percentages along with Scottish Ashmore. I am planning to make a stats about it at the end of the cup.
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Ant: 2012 U21 World Cup
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lukera - 12-04-2012 20:22My prediction came out , but unfortunalety i think this time it isn't the best team that won after a very nice game of both teams.
Anyway goodluck Finland and Polen but anyway i "am almost 99% sure who is going to win with big numbers.
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Vs: 2012 U21 World Cup
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miklo85 - 12-04-2012 20:28
Well we beat Belgium 3-2 in overtime after a thriller game. First period was terrible from us when Belgium get's the 2-0 lead. That was the time when i was thinking a little bit that we are going down big time, but then in the second period we were able to get hang of this match and the rest is history. Have to give credit for Belgium, they are really good. This was the hardest game for us so far.
Now we are first time ever in final against strong Poland. God, my heart is beating so fast. This is very exciting :)
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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vince973k - 12-04-2012 20:46I saw two very different games tonight,
In a first time, i saw a wonderful encounter : Finland - Belgium. I thought Belgium would easily win as they leaded by 2-0, but then Finland managed to reduce and to get the draw ! Congratulations for both teams, golden goal could have been for Belgium too :)
Then I saw Poland making a real offensive show, witch I compare to fireworks in the end of this match ! I really enjoyed it !
Please give us two finals like the "Finland-Belgium" one ! (my heart goes to Finland and Belgium for sure ;p)
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Odp: 2012 U21 World Cup
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km_pl - 12-04-2012 20:46Hope thriller won't be needed in the Final game ;) There is just one more goal for Poland to achive ... See you on Suturday ... on ICE !!!
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Ant: 2012 U21 World Cup
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ijsdrieet - 12-04-2012 23:10
Really sad we lost against Finland, first period was the best we played in the whole tournament. Than The Fins came back in the match after some powerplays and the played well 3rd period and drawed the score. Belgium really took of well in last period, but than Finland managed to score the 2-3.
Too bad, but so it is. My guess for the final is that Poland will win, cause they're unbelievably strong. Belgium is going for a bronze medal now :-)
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Ant: 2012 U21 World Cup
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silverkhan - 12-04-2012 23:49We could have won this game, we probably should have won it ... Well up to the Bronze medal then against China !!
Good Luck Finland in the Finals. Hope you guys can win it. I like it when an underdog wins against the favourite.
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Edited: 13-04-2012 02:55
Total edits: 1
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Ce: 2012 U21 World Cup
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mrblue74 - 13-04-2012 03:47Semi Finals
1st Period
In 6th minute of the game, Belgian center Ronald Deckers, carried the puck, which he stole in front of offensive blue line, to the behind the center line, then made a U-turn, passed 3 Finnish players, shot and scored. That was the first goal of the match: 0-1.
After missing an important position in 9th minute followed by another steal, Belgians found the second goal with Steurms in the same minute: 0-2.
The first 10 minutes of the match we witnessed Polish domination, shoots one after another, but there was a China Wall in Chinese post. Finally Crhzan broke the wall in 11th minute and took the lead for Poland: 1-0. Right after this goal, China woke up and in a counterattack they found their first dangerous attack. In 18th minute, China came one more time with another counterattack and scored in an unbelievable passing mistake of Polish defense: 1-1.
Although almost all the period was played in Finland’s half territory, Finnish players finally found two positions towards the end of the period. But the period ended with 2-0 Belgian lead.
Before the period ended Chrzan checked China Wall once again but the gap has been already recovered by Chinese goalie. The period ended 1-1.
2nd Period
In the beginning of the 2nd period China left with 5 men on the ice. Poland couldn’t beat Chinese goalie during Box Play but after BP ended, while China was still in BP formation, Gozdowski pushed himself towards to post, surpassed two players with physical force and scored: 2-1.
A few minutes later, this time Raszek took the stage and scored the third goal for Poland.
Finland had to start the first minutes of the 2nd period with Box Play, but interestingly they were the side who found the only shoot in those minutes. Then this time, it was Belgium to play Box Play but Finland couldn’t turn this opportunity to a goal. The match seemed to be balanced in that point, because now it was always Finland attacks after Belgian domination in first period. Finland attacked again and again, dominated the match and carried the game completely in front of Belgian posts in those minutes. Finally on 32nd minute, Finland stole the puck after a face off gained by Belgium in front of Belgian post, Rahkonen turned around himself, shot and scored: 1-2. Those were the moments Finish crowd started to chant in union.
In 34th minute of the match Poland received 2 minutes penalty. China tried to take advantage of their PP but Polish defense were solid and gave only one single net position to Chinese attackers. Even after Box Play finished China kept attacking without any intermission until the end of the period but the whistle ends the period finally stopped Chinese attacks. End of 2nd period 3-1.
With the support of their crowd, Finland was now playing Power Play once against Belgium in last quarter of the period but this time Finland’s players seemed to be too relaxed and they wasted the PP advantage. The result of 2nd period: 1-2.
Third Period
In the beginning of the third period, there was a tough struggle between Polish and Chinese players. But Iwo Czech of Poland shot from left wing to end the war and hunt the goalie forth time in the name of his team: 4-1.
In the first 8 minutes of the last period, both teams found shooting positions mainly because of too much passing mistakes of their opponents. But in 48th minute of the match, 3 Finland attackers caught Belgian goalie all alone but missed that opportunity incredibly by letting Belgian defenseman to catch them. What a miss especially when considering Finland do have to score!
The more the match went on, the more Chinese men looked liked tired. And not before long, Poland found 5th goal in minute 48. Three minutes later, finally China replied back and brought the score to 5-2 but 9 minutes would be enough for them for a comeback?
When everybody started to think that ‘Finland is wasting their chance’, Haapala drove a crazy fast shoot from right and hunt the goalie in 51st minute: 2-2.
There was only 4 minutes left, Chinese goalie became so tired, it took so long for him to return of his post after he blocked a shoot but meanwhile Wykoswki shot and scored to the half empty net: 6-2. It was unbelievable how Chinese goalie’s energy seemed to be completely spent. Three minutes later he could do nothing but watched 3 more goals in 3 shots in 3 minutes. At the end of the night, it was interesting that his number of saves was 22 despite 9 goal conceded.
Poland is the first semi-finalist of the night!
Starting over from that point, both side seemed to be nervous. 5 steals in 30 seconds was proving this state of panic. In last 2 minutes Finland found two very dangerous positions but couldn’t score. The end of the 3rd period: 2-2. Extra time.
Fourth Period
4 shots from Belgium in first 3 minute of the 4th period. Belgium started the extra time very eager. Then twice Finland, then we lost track of the shots, because two sides gave up their game plans and kept attacking one after another as if there were no tomorrow. In 70th minute of the match, Finland’s right side attacker Koivuniemi was stopped by Wolfs right after the center line, but was just stopped. The two players struggled in the same spot for a long time to steal the puck, none of them could succeed! Finally Koivuniemi pushed Wolfs to the ground with a legal move, shot and scored: 3-2 for Finland!
Finland is in the final of U21 World Cup first time ever after an incredible comeback!! Finland is Poland’s opponent in the final.
Thanks to 4 teams for these great semi-final games!Edited: 13-04-2012 03:48
Total edits: 1
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Vs: 2012 U21 World Cup
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miklo85 - 13-04-2012 10:29
About the final game. We have played against Poland in group stage. It was a good game for us and we were really close to winning that game. It ended 5-5 draw. Since that it seems Poland has becoming even stronger. I've noticed that Poland lineups are now little diffrent than it was when we first met. Poland's attack is scary good. I hope we can put the same kind of performance out in the ice as we did in group stage against Poland, then we have a chance to win this game.
Of course we want to win the goldmetal's but no matter what the final game result is i'am very proud of my guy's and i have to thank our players managers. They have done great job training this young starplayers.
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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inno - 14-04-2012 04:11Goodluck Poland/Finland in the U21 World Cup Final.
And Belgium/China in the 3rd-Place Play-Off.
inno, NC Portugal.
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Odp: 2012 U21 World Cup
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jacek1998 - 14-04-2012 16:09Poland - Finland is going to be the best final of WC U21 ever :P
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Vs: 2012 U21 World Cup
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miklo85 - 14-04-2012 20:21
Final game is over and the first feeling is a disappointment. Poland wins 3-2. We came really close to hitting the jackpot. Very close game and with a little better luck we could have win this game too, but this time it was Poland. So that is that.
Congratulations to Poland.
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Odp: 2012 U21 World Cup
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km_pl - 14-04-2012 20:25Thank you Miklo85 !!! Yes indeed the match was close, worth of Final.
But we have Chrzan what in English means "horse-radish" :)
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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vince973k - 14-04-2012 21:59Congratulations to Poland and Finland, it was a very great final :)
I'm a little bit disappointed for Belgium, I hoped them to earn the third place :(
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Ce: 2012 U21 World Cup
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mrblue74 - 14-04-2012 23:47What a final! What a finish! 2012 U21 World Cup ended with the greatest match played in the Cup.
The first dangerous goal position in the match came from Wykowski, one of the best players of the tournament. He stole the puck in a position where he lost it between two Finnish players and skated to the post and shot. Right after this attack, showtime turn in the night was Haapala’s of Finland. He skated with the puck and sent a bullet shot despite to pressure of Finnish defenseman. Polish goalie made a great save, passed the puck to his friends, but Haapala stole the puck from two defensemen and sent another bullet fast shot from almost same spot. These two positions in first 3 minutes of the game gave us an enough hint that we would see an unforgettable match.
3 minutes later Iwo Czech found himself right in front of Finnish goalie, where he found the puck right in front himself, shot but Sauso saved. After that, Finnish attackers paid a visit to Polish post with a well-organized attack but couldn’t score.
10 minutes later, Poland was missing one player on the ice. After a top notch Box Play-Power Play struggle, Poland managed to left BP behind without receiving any damage. 16th minute of the match maybe was the most interesting moment of the night. Poland camed from right wing with ‘Casper’ Kasprzykowski and shot. Goalie managed to block it and but when he wanted to pass the puck to his defenseman on his left, Brytan from Poland intercepted and gained the puck. The bad news was Finnish goalie was on the ground, 4 meters away from his post, so Brytan had the puck when the post was completely empty. With no time to return back to his post, although Brytan lost a lot of time and skated back to find a right angle to shoot, he was still away from the post while Brytan was shooting. But the puck hit the post’s left bar and then to the Sauso’s feet, so the shot was saved with a miracle fashion. The frustration on Polish’s NC team was something to see.
First period ends 0-0.
Both teams were on full-speed in the second period, as described in mz news :) Let’s not get in the details of every position, there are so many but just mention that the competition in the night was top notch from Masali to Chrzan, from Raszek to Dahlman from Koivuniemi to Gorkiewicz. If we skip until minute 29, with wall-passing fashion, Poland came from right wing, Casper, Gorki again Casper, from a narrow angle Casper shot and scored the first goal of the night: 1-0. As soon as face off was whistled, Finnish players rained to Polish zone, as if they wanted to show that the goal was an accident. Rahkonen, another great player of Finland, followed the lost puck behind Polish post, got it, skated it, took a sharp turn, shot and scored only 2 minutes later than Polish goal: 1-1. The rest of the period was a hockey classic from great Finnish and Polish games but no more goals came.
Right after the face off of 3rd period, Finland came from left with a counterattack of a counterattack and scored. Now Finland took the lead with Viitaluoma and blinked for the Cup. With this goal, Finland seemed to be much more confident, while Poland on the contrary seemed pretty discouraged. Now only 8 minutes left for Finnish victory, Poland was unable to come to Finnish post with organized attacks but instead with many mistakes. At 53rd minute of the match, Nakonieczny came from left wing with one of these accidental disorganized attacks, stopped by 2 Finish players, fell, stood up but accidentally regained the puck, surpassed three Polish players in a row, shot and scored: 2-2!!!!
What a night of hockey! 7 minutes to go, we have a tie in the final game of the tournament and now both team put everything they have. Rahkonen tried his chance for Finland, but failed. With a very interesting assist from Wykowski, the ‘Horseradish’ Chrzan met with the puck in the right, shot from distance, but couldn’t’ hunt the goalie. Only two minutes left, the struggle on the ice was everywhere. Polish defensemen Kojder gained a lost puck in defense, changed the side of the attack from right to left by passing the puck to Trzaskoma. Koma despite the enormous stealing effort of Finnish attacker, passed the puck Chrzan. Chrzan tackled two Finish players. When he saw the last Finnish defenseman in front of him right before the goalie, he stopped, turned around himself with the puck, oops, the opponent is gone, he shot and scored!!! 3-2.What a goal! What a finish. Only 8 seconds before the final whistle!
Poland is the World Champion second time in Cup’s history! Congratulations to a great team, Poland while we raise our hats for Finland, as well.
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Vs: 2012 U21 World Cup
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miklo85 - 15-04-2012 10:25
And now when i still remember, thanks to mrblue for this great reports!
Are you going to do samekind of writing when the European Championship 2012 start?
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Odp: 2012 U21 World Cup
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jacek1998 - 15-04-2012 12:17Mrblue thanks!!! Because of you/ your reports I survived this championship better than last! Thank you! :)
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Ant: 2012 U21 World Cup
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silverkhan - 15-04-2012 15:59Been a nice tournament. Belgium indeed couldn't get the third place but think we can be happy with our game as well. Nice for China to get third place as well.
Gratz to Poland for their title and Finland for giving the Polish a real run for their money !
Thanks to Ali for the nice reporting on the event !
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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iblocha - 15-04-2012 16:55
Congrats to Poland for the sweet world cup victory. Nice to see that 3 of the 4 nations come from Europe, it makes it more interesting in the European Championship.
Cheers
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Odp: 2012 U21 World Cup
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m_nowakowski - 15-04-2012 18:59
mrblue - big thanks for wonderfull reports throughout all tournament, final match description is better than the real game :) breath taking stuff;
thanks for all the teams in the World Cup, i feel we all did great and proved that MZ hockey is still alive and kickin' :) and the final? a night to remember, hope every final would be like this one, thanks everybody and see You all next time ;)
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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mrblue74 - 16-04-2012 16:24Thanks for the great compliments and am glad that you enjoyed the reports. I want to thank everybody who was encouraging me with their messages here in this thread or in my GB, and especially for christopher_elf, czecher023, mariussalagea, mati_villani, miklo85, lukera and km_pl for their interviews which made the covers much more interesting. Also thanks to thebopper for his support & assistance for the project.
Of course, mz hockey live and kicking in, just needs some attention. This attention doesn't have to come only from crew, only one user's attention might even be enough to trigger some other efforts. This is what I tried to show here.
Good news is that we are working on some future projects with crew to be able to bring you all National Teams' tournament's excitement in same or similar fashion here in the forum, wiki mz or facebook fan page. Can't promise anything, but we have some good ideas, just not sure if we can realize them. If not, still have some back up ideas to bring you at least one NT tournament per year. Anybody who wants to contribute with suggestions, please do it so here in this thread or by contacting to me. And also would like to make a call esp to any RAs; if anybody out there is interested to help covering these tournaments and take part of them please do contact to me.
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Par: 2012 U21 World Cup
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bumsss1 - 20-04-2012 10:35Finland!!! You are the best!!! :)))
Poland! Congratulations!!! :)))
P.S. In next final ... Latvia U21 vs. ... (second place is still vakanc ...) :D
And!!! Very-very Big Thanks, for reports, interviews (and all this topic) from tournament, to @mrblue74!!! :))
It was great!!! :)))
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Re: 2012 U21 World Cup
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flipflip - 20-05-2012 09:26Somebody knows when is the next competition for the U21 NT?