Greece national ice hockey team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
| Team Jersey |
|---|
 |
| Association |
| Greek Ice Hockey |
| Current Olympic/World Cup coach |
| Panagiotis Efkarpidis, 2007 - |
| Current national team coach |
| Panagiotis Efkarpidis, 2007 - |
| Most Games |
| Most Points |
| First Game |
| Largest win |
| Greece 10:1 Bosnia |
| Largest defeat |
| Summit Series, Canada Cup and World Cup |
| Olympics |
| World Championships |
The Greek National Ice Hockey Team is the national ice hockey team of Greece, and member of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
Ice Hockey started in Greece in 1984 by players that returned to Greece from abroad. The first official Greek Championship was held in 1989 in the Peace and Friendship Stadium with five teams taking place. It was the first time hockey games were held in a normal size rink. In 1990 the first Junior National Team was formed and took part in the World Junior Championship Pool C, held in Yugoslavia. In 1991 the Junior National Team took part in the World Junior Championship, held in Italy. In 1992 the first ever Men's Greek National Team was formed and took place in the World Championships Pool C held in South Africa. With only two weeks of serious training abroad and the support of the Greeks of South Africa, the National Team won the Bronze medal. It was extraordinary for a team to win a medal in their first appearance at the World Championships.
Despite the great achievement, the start of the decline of the sport came in 1993. Economic help was discontinued by the Greek Undersecretary of State for Sports and all expenses to keep ice hockey alive were passed over to the players. Practices stopped and many players quit.
Since May 2003 the last ice rink in Greece closed and the national team was left without an ice rink. In the next 4 years, players of the national team traveled at their own expense in the Czech Republic in order to train themselves.
Ice hockey was slowly dying until Dimitris Kalyvas, the Captain of the Greek National Ice Hockey Team tried to convince the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) that the National Team is still active and that development of the sport is continuing in Greece despite not having a rink. He later got the support of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation. After many emails, the IIHF decided to send 2 delegates to Athens to investigate. After a review done by the IIHF, Greece retained it's status within the IIHF, and will take part in a qualification tournament against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo prior to the 2008 Division III championship in Luxembourg.
During the Semi-Annual Congress in Vancouver Canada last week, Dimitris was present to hear the IIHF announce that the Hellenic National Team will once again take part in international competition.
It's been 9 years since the National Team took part in a World Championships.Other tournaments they have participated in are, 1992 World Championship, 1995 World Championship, 1996 World Championship ,1998 World Championship, and the 1999 World Championship.
[edit] 2008 World Championship Roster
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Position | Shoots | Date of birth | Club | |
| 2 |  |
Grigoris Apostolidis | F | R | Sep. 5, 1969 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 3 | |
Lazaros Efkarpidis | F | L | Feb. 18, 1979 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 8 | |
Iasonos Pachos | F | R | Aug. 3, 1985 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 10 | |
Alexandros Valsamas-Rallis | F | R | Oct. 1, 1984 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 11 | |
(A) Orestis Tilios | F | L | Nov. 7, 1974 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 12 | |
Thanasis Kesidis | F | L | Apr. 15, 1964 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 13 | |
Ioannis Koufis | F | R | Jun. 25, 1965 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 15 | |
Themistoklis Lambridis | F | R | Aug. 17, 1984 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 19 | |
Giorgos Kalyvas | F | L | Dec. 6, 1978 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 21 | |
(C) Dimitris Kalyvas | F | L | Dec. 11, 1973 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Position | Shoots | Date of birth | Club | |
| 2 | |
Fivos Kaminis | D | R | Apr. 29, 1983 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 5 | |
Nikos Chatzigiannis | D | L | Jan. 20, 1978 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 7 | |
Ionnis Giatagatzidis | D | R | Jan 7, 1964 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 9 | |
(A) Ioannis Ziakas | D | L | Jul. 31, 1972 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 14 | |
Diogenis-Panagiotis Souras | D | R | Sep. 8, 1986 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 22 | |
Kostas Lembesis | D | R | Jun. 6, 1972 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 23 | |
Panagiotis Iatridis | D | L | Oct. 18, 1978 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 24 | |
Nikolaos Papadopoulos | D | R | Dec. 22, 1987 | HC Pardubice |
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||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | Position | Catches | Date of birth | Club | |
| 1 | |
Giorgos Fiotakis | G | L | Jan. 25, 1971 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
| 25 | |
Dalibor Ploutsis | G | L | Nov. 15, 1976 | Iptamenoi Pagodromoi Athinai |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Staff Member | |||||
| Head Coach | |
Panagiotis Efkarpidis | ||||
| Assistant Coach | |
Ioannis Tilios | ||||
| Team Leader | |
Christos Chatziathanassiou | ||||
| Equipment Manager | |
Viktor Mateevitsi | ||||
| Equipment Manager | |
Pavios Kasampoulis | ||||
| Team Staff | |
Georgios Kouleles | ||||
