Asia wins Bronze!

[Greg_Di 1,030]

 

Valeri Morozov scored 2 goals as he helped lead Team Asia to a 3-1 victory over the USA in the bronze medal game in the world junior hockey bronze-medal game. Asia never let go of the lead and beat USA for the 3^rd time in this tournament.

 

"I'm proud to keep this streak going for Asian hockey," Greg said. “This is our 3^rd bronze medal in a row and it just shows that Asia has an up and coming hockey culture. At the beginning of this tournament no one gave us a shot at the medal but we worked hard, our coaching team came up with great tactics and we can be very proud of our accomplishments here”

We spoke to some of the players during the celebration and this is what they had to say

 

"Our players were completely exhausted last night after losing to Canada, physically and emotionally, but we battled to the very end," Anthony Hawk said. "We knew a bronze medal is still a medal to be proud of." Hawk led all players in points with 14 at the end of the round robin.

Yesterday Asia lost 5-1 in the semi-finals to lose all hope of playing for the gold but they rebounded well with little rest for the Bronze game. Asian fans and media, even after being skeptical that a European GM was in charge, celebrated the win and had the team plastered all over the front pages of the state controlled media.

 

“Obviously we were upset after the game yesterday vs Canada we thought we had a shot but it just wasn’t meant to be, but we had to regroup because we wanted to go home with a medal,” said Okada. “The big thing for us was to keep our heads up, be positive on the bench and throughout the game and just play our best for the bronze.”

 

Asia played hard and their hard work paid off as they dominated the game vs USA from start to finish.

 

“Our guys knew that today was all about Asian pride. We had the privilege of wearing the united Asian flag on the front, it’s the last time these guys are going to be together as a team. We’ve grown such a tremendous amount and we’ve become close,” said GM Greg “Ultimately, we finished strong and made sure we left the right impression. They gave everything that they had today and I’m proud of them. This will also inspire future Asian children to take up hockey and maybe this will make the sport more popular. We have played very well in the past 3 tournaments and we have shown that you don’t need the best players to win”

 

Goaltender Clayton Park  made 34 saves on his way to another win in what will most likely be his last ever WJC game and was named first star for his performance. Valeri Morozov finished as 2^nd star and US player Jaxon Walker finished in 3^rd.

It is yet to be seen if GM Greg will return to GM Asia next season or if he will return to soccer management. Many Asian fans will be hoping he can return to bring the Asian team back to glory.

 

In the gold medal game, Team Europe downed Canada 5-2 in a big upset to claim the gold medal.

 

[Banackock 8,220]

@Greg_Di it’s because they’re all ninjas trained in mortal kombat fighting skills 

[Greg_Di 1,030]

1 hour ago, Banackock said:

@Greg_Di it’s because they’re all ninjas trained in mortal kombat fighting skills 

Shhh that's the team Asia secret! That has to stay in the locker room!