Greek Roster has announced

[jokos_31]

here (http://www.icehockey.gr/indexnew.htm)

[Davide]

any of these players play outside Greece?

[jokos_31]

nah

[Steigs]

I definitely recognize some of those names just off-hand from looking at previous Greek rosters. Hopefully they'll be at a high enough level to be competitive.

What's happening this year with the Greek team that spent last year in the Bulgarian leagues?

[Billo]

I think I have to answer that ;)
We are going every month in Bulgaria for practice and we have played 2 friendly games so far. This year we are not participating in the League because the greek federation won't let us until we become officially a member (which is a matter of time). Now we are trying to organize the 1st greek roller hockey championship (starts in February)

[Davide]

I'm very happy for Greece partecipation at WC, but frankly I don't understand why IIHF allow countries without a national league to take part in a official competition...

[Trim]

I'm very happy for Greece partecipation at WC, but frankly I don't understand why IIHF allow countries without a national league to take part in a official competition...My best guess is to have attention drawn to the national team and thus cultivate interest so more people become players and giving them a sufficient number of teams. It may have worked for Ireland, so why not BiH or Greece (barring their rink problems)?

[27133]

Nikos Papadopoulos - CZE - Spartak Chocen - Regional league - 4th level,
Grigoris (Igor) Apostolidis - AUT - Spittal an der Drau - 3rd level
Tanasis Kesidis - CZE - Rondo Brno - Hobby league

Dalibor Ploutsis played for Vsetin juniors in mid 90's.

[jokke_wiberg]

ive just clicked on top 5-6 players on greek NT.
only one is born in greece :c098:

khm...

now i clicked few more...situation is getting a bit complicated. most of guys are born outside greece.
its nice that they are hoping to establish ice hockey in greece, but this is a joke. these guys never played in greece, probably dont even live in greece and they shouldnt be allowed to play in div3Q. rules should be the same for everyone

just my 2 cents.

[27133]

They played in Greece in times when there was league played (for last time it was in 2000-01. Most of all are living in Greece.
They had problem with uneligible players from North America couple of years ago. It would be no problem to create national team with North American players but they want play only with Greek residents. This national team plays in this squad for many years but unofficial games only, in Czech Republic mostly.

[Göran]

so basically this gives everyone the false impression that the game is alive and well domestically in greece and we are seeing a representative ice hockey team

...while in reality we are seeing a team of players with greek heritage or connections scattered throughout Europe playing in the lower leagues at best and have all or most of their hockey schooling from other countries

[Billo]

hmm, you are both right and wrong Goran. Most of the players are playing for quite some time in Greece and keep in mind that these same people brought and kept this relatively unknown sport in Greece. In addition, many stopped playing after the closing of their rink so those who continued were the ones with the real hockey passion (mostly people who knew what real hockey looks like back from their birthcountry).

On the other hand, I'm also surprised by the selection of the players. Some of them seems that came out of nowhere and there's seems to be no IIHF supervision over it. Moreover the composition of the national team remains more or less the same over the past ...many years, I think it would be better to let more young players to give it a try, because there are good young players (even from the greek hockey school) waiting for a chance. Last but not least, there was no tournament to see who fits the national team, only a training camp after the first selection. Perhaps things were predetermined from the beginning (for example the day that the permission for my team, to be eligible to aply for the greek hockey federation, was issued, was also the day the first selection roster uploaded on the site -- I want to believe that it's a coincidence).

[Steigs]

What we're seeing, effectively is the group that really began Greek ice hockey: mostly Greek resident citizens who were born and learned the game elsewhere. Not so different from the Israeli team for example.

However, from what I've been told or have read, there are many Greek born and raised children who have taken up the inline game and there is a movement to get those young players into ice hockey once a new rink is built. Until then, only those who can afford the high travel costs out of country every time they want to play have bothered to get ice gear (and that's the old guard from the old Greek league of the 90's)

[tomstylee]

One of the players named n the Greek roster plays his trade in the Uk for Nottingham Uni.

[Tokyo Bucks]

so basically this gives everyone the false impression that the game is alive and well domestically in greece and we are seeing a representative ice hockey team


I think it's the opposite. Allowing Greece to ice a team in the qualifier is an encouragement by the IIHF to build arenas, re-establish national leagues, and promote the game of hockey in the country, instead of the national team being any sort of a Wizard of Oz type gimmick. Otherwise, the slow demise of Greek hockey may have just continued on in its descent.

[Göran]

according to this thread however there is currently no domestic competition in Greece - therefore the game isn't currently being played in the country which means that this is more of a Greek Exiles sort of side with players from abroad

...not a true national team

[Hockey_Algeria]

I think it's the opposite. Allowing Greece to ice a team in the qualifier is an encouragement by the IIHF to build arenas, re-establish national leagues, and promote the game of hockey in the country, instead of the national team being any sort of a Wizard of Oz type gimmick. Otherwise, the slow demise of Greek hockey may have just continued on in its descent.


i agree, the national team competing will help with the awareness of sport in the country.

[jokos_31]

I dont know where they live the players but I born in Germany if I was in the national team you all think that i live in Germany right?But I live in Greece for 21 years.I think that is the same with the players they born abroad but they live in Greece.In the past years when there was a rink they made trainings in Athens.We have problems with goverment.Just take a look to other threads for Greek hockey.

[Tokyo Bucks]

So, the team mostly (all) live in Greece, and you travel together to other countries like Bulgaria and Czech for training and training matches, right?

[jokos_31]

Yes because we dont have ice rink.